First ride with my Son

[lucabond]

My Son bought a Gs650l from Tas850g his first bike. I have driven it down to a local parking lot for him to practice a couple of times and he seemed to be a natural (proud Dad).
So this morning before he had to go to work we took our first real ride together. When we left the house it was around 40 deg but no wind thankfully, when we got home it was 48 so it warmed up alittle.
I took the lead for our ride and picked a nice country loop from and to my house. We did about 60 miles round trip in about 2 hours time. It was a beautiful fall day with the color starting to show in the trees. WE hit 55 mph on a nice long straight section of country road I figured that was fast enough and he could get her into 5th gear. WE just took our time I didnt want to over do it on his first big trip.
We both made it back home in 1 peice much to my wife's delight. Other than his hands being cold he said he felt fine and only stalled her twice, still needs a little pratice with the starting off part but that comes with tme. From what I could see in the mirror he did fine just a little wide in some turns but that to will get better with more miles under his belt.
He plans on taking the ridder saftey course in the spring and I said I would take it with him. I have been ridding for 30 years and there were no classes back then so I'm sure I could learn a thing or two myself.
So I now have a new ridding buddy and something to share with my Son how nice is that... He has even registered here on the site as CraigD44 and I have him reading the safe ridding tips. My Daughter has expressed an intrest in ridding too so maybe some day the whole family can go for a ride of course my wife will be a passenger lol.

[kerrfunk]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing. Great that you're both taking the class.

[boathead]

excellent paul. not to mention that the son has a pro mechanic in the house.

good for you.

[chiphead]

Seriously Sweet.

[Steve]

Congrats on another father-son team.

It has been nine years, but I also took my #1 son out for a few rides before taking the BEGINNER class with him.
I had already been riding for 25 years, but I took the class for a few reasons:
One, I could take what the instructors showed him and expand on that.
Two, we would both know what the instructors had said, so there would be no BS-ing about what was presented in class.
Three, it was a bit of bonding time, as he was getting over a rocky relationship with a girl.
Four, there was always the possibility that I might learn something.

Yes, we both learned in the class, and he has gone on and become a very accomplished rider. We even did a long family weekend before my wife was riding her own bike, where #1 son had Mom on the back of his bike and I had #2 son on the back of mine. Mom declared that he was a good rider and would feel comfortable with him any time.

.

[Redman]

Luca,

Yes, taking the class with your son would be a good expereince. I too took the class with my son (19 at the time) after I had 20+ years expereince. Was a lot of habits I had developed that they wanted me to do differeent, like how many fingers on the brake-clutch and which foot to have down at a stop. And was some other more significant things that I learned.

.

[Octain]

Awesome!
I look forward to this day myself.
My kid(Just turned 16) has been riding dirt since he was 6 and we are both very excited to take a ride on the road.

[tas850g]

the class will show you little things like which foot to put down first and why, shifting down during quick stops and weaving cones at a slow speed in second gear. It'll be fun.

[kerrfunk]

I too took the class with my son (19 at the time) after I had 20+ years expereince. Was a lot of habits I had developed that they wanted me to do differeent, like how many fingers on the brake-clutch and which foot to have down at a stop. And was some other more significant things that I learned.

haha

I took the class in April and the ERC in September, so I notice these things now... I primarily use my handbrake, and I brake with two or three fingers, reserving the index finger for the throttle in case my bike threatens to stall.
Both feet down at a stop. Left, right.

[/tangent]

[haggis905]

Seriously Sweet.

I second that.

[67fire]

As my father had never ridden a motorcycle or well anyway, he beat me every time that he found out that I had been riding friends' bikes.
I rebuilt my first motorcycle engine when I was 15 years old. My father, never knew.
My argument that they were actually safer than bicycles, never went well and ended in me getting a beating every-time.
With my boy's, I started them out on an old DR125 that I found when they were about 12 years old. Later, I bought a pair of old DR250's for them.
By the time that they were 16, I had them riding 400's and 600's.
Now that they are in their 20's, they can ride my 650, 1000's and 1100's NO Problem! They ARE scared to death of them which IS a GOOD thing.
It is always GREAT to go riding together!!! You are a good father!

Eric