When my daughters were younger, I had a different bike and took them around the neighborhood on a nice slow ride. They always seemed to enjoy it.

My son was very hesitant to get on. He finally mustered the courage and I took him around the cul de sac so, if he didn't like it, he could take a break and try again later.

He loved it.

I took him on a somewhat short trip around the neighborhood. He had a blast and it was all he could talk about last night.

Today, he came up to me asking to go out for a ride. We took a nice long first-gear ride.

He gets it.

 

How old is your son? I have a 5 yr. old grand daughter and a 7 year old grand son that we are raising and the both want to go for a ride. I haven't test fit them on the bike yet or looked for a helmet that would fit them. How young is too young has been my question. I started with mini bikes at 10 and loved it. No one else in my family rides. So they don't share the enthusiasm as we all do.

 

To be a passenger here in TX you have to be 5yrs old IIRC.
But for me, as long as their feet reached the pegs and they could hold on and follow directions....it's a go.

 

That's a general rule/law here in Germany. There's no minimum age but the kids have to be able to comfortably reach the pegs and be able to hold on to the rider or available grips/handles securely.

I sat my daughter on the back of my Breakout when she was 7 and then it wasn't safe for her. She turned 9 recently and I'm gonna take her for a short ride soon.

For longer rides I think a kid would need some kind of backrest to prevent from falling off the back of the bike though.

 

He's 7. The helmet he uses is mine. Not a perfect fit but fits snugly enough for the 10 mph cruise around the neighborhood. We don't have much in the way of traffic in the evenings so it's pretty safe. I don't think my son is where he needs to be to handle a small bike by himself. He's just too scared. Maybe in time.

NV, USA has no specified minimum passenger age.

 

My grandson still can't comfortably reach passenger pegs at 7, but I got a ride for him that works just fine, and he loves it. Especially when I swapped places with him on a dirt farm road last month (sig pic).

We don't let a little snow stop us, either.

 

Nice! That is a great picture. My son can't reach the pegs either. I have the guard bars in front of the bags that he can rest his feet on. That with the padded back makes it a decent enough fit for a slow turn around the neighborhood.

It will be probably several years before I am comfortable with him as a passenger on the roads as the roads outside of my community are fairly busy.

 

Thanks for ALL the replies. I'm certainly glad to hear that this is common place. My grandson hit me up this evening on my way out to work about a ride. So, I think I'll fit him this week and if he can reach the passenger floorboards, I'll throw the wife's small helmet on him and take him for a spin.
Thanks again

 

Yeah man. Even if doesn't touch the boards, there may be a safe place you can do something low speed if your comfortable with that.

 

Glad to see I'm not the only one lol. Very kool to see kids interested in riding. My daughter is 9, she loves to ride around the back roads with me, we live in the middle of nowhere so hardly any traffic.