Parents saying no to a motorcycle...

There is a good chance that if you'd have bought one at 16 your parents would have buried you before you even got to college. Maybe not but the odds are not in your favor on this one. Like someone else said an accident with airbag deployment in a car would have been fatal on a bike. A near miss or skid in a car would have turned in to a single car accident on a bike. Who knows what the results would have been then.

 

My dad almost died in a motorcycle accident on his wedding day...

I wanted a bike, and pushed for years until I got one in college. Mom finally caved in. Owned 4 different sport bikes, and I am by nature a cautious person. Hated wearing a helmet, as it totally ruins the experience...

I loved riding on the highway, wind in my hair, blade type sunglasses...felt like the king of the world....

Wiped out once, no biggie...

Wiped out a second time (took a turn too fast for conditions/gravel), and could have been killed. Half the helmet was destroyed - I don't want to think about what my face might have looked like without it...

I loved riding the motorcycles...but no way in hell my kids are riding one...

 

There's only so many years you can be young and ride a bike. He's commuting to school, missing out on the whole dorm thing, so I think this would be a good experience for him to have.

All parents are going to be against their kids riding a bike. I say screw it, go have your fun.

YMMV

There's nothing cooler than a tinted sports bike helmet. NOTHING

 

I was not wearing a helmet and almost looked like DarkMan:
.

Not too mention completely tearing my right front deltoid muscle in half, the hole in my right upper arm to the bone, the slash over my right eye that severed a nerve making the entire right side of my head virtually numb and the 40+ stitch's that reconnected what I had left of my right pinky finger. Just imagine having to wash and clean it daily until the skin died and smelled of death and then pulling it off as if it was a helmet, not pretty. Then having to pickout splinters of bone with tweasers, kinda makes one re-evaluate their choices I would say.

 

For all I know, you may a fantastically gifted rider, Aaya. But you're also very lucky, and you don't even know it. The reasoning in your advice is terrible.

I'm not telling the OP to not get a bike. (Though if he still lives at home and the parents are footing the bills, it's their house and their rules, regardless of his age.) But he should be making an informed decision, not an emotional one. Because if you're ever lying in that hospital bed, you have to be able to say, "Yeah, it was still worth it." See below:

 

Holy Cow! You know what else is fun? Russian Roulette! Most parents are against that too. The rush you feel before you pull the trigger and the relief after you hear the click of an empty chamber! WOW nothing like it. Any other advice for the OP?

 

C'mon. Russian Roulette? Now you're being ridiculous. I mean, what's the likelihood the OP's legally got a gun in Kalifornia? Sheesh.

 

I was in a similar situation myself: it started with a NO for a simple bycicle and I ended up buying one with my own money; then it was another NO for a moped and I bought one the same way. When I was able to drive a motorcycle I ended up trading the moped for one (to someone who had his driver licence revoked).
Soon enough I had 2 bikes and then on and on until now.
I fell many times and had a few minor accidents, but the bike, any bike, is a driving school like nothing else:
it keeps you alert like a car never will
it teaches you to keep an eye on the road surface like a car never will
it teaches you to watch the drivers around you and guess their next move
it makes you scan the road and the vehicles around you for possible dangers
it is definitely safer than a bycicle, if you use your brain when you ride it.
Like other have already stated, it is not so much fun when the weather is lousy and it can be dangerous when it rains or when it snows, but I have ridden my bikes in the rain, with snow and even ice on the road and I have managed to remain still in one piece.
I am not instigating you to go aginst the will of your parents, but do not give up on the bike: they are a lot of fun and are safe if ridden responsibly.
Good luck,
A.

 

My wife is a physiotherapist.

She will not let me get a motorcycle, and I am 50 years old.

Sometimes those who care the most about you do it for the right reasons.

 

My wife put her foot down as well.

"I don't want to be feeding you through a straw" as she loves to say.

"You've got a Ferrari. NO motorcycle."

We live in south Florida. It is wise not to have one here.

 

Last two post are aces!!

 

get a pickup. then get an sv650 to put in the back and go to the track and ride. riding on the street is no fun anyway and way more dangerous. at least at the track the ambulance is already there, you are in full gear and no soccer moms in suv's trying to wipe you out.

 

+1

 

Not much to add to these. As long as people treat cars like phone booths, they will keep killing others, and motorcycles are the plankton of the freeways.

 

Some of you really are open to letting OTHER people control your life. Doesn't matter if your parents, wife, gf don't approve. If you have a passion to do something you should do it.

If the OP is looking for basic transportation then yeah, get an old Civic. But if you really love motorcycles then go get one. Doesn't matter if your parents are footing the bill. Have you seen the deficit we're inheriting from that generation? I think they're coming out ahead.

When you are riding a nice sports bike to 13,000 rpm with a pretty girl on the back you won't care what your parents think. They'll probably treat you better if you stand your own ground.

 

While I don't completely agree with this, my parents were very against with me getting a bike. Once I got it and they saw how happy it made me, and that I am being responsible with it, they are ok with it. My mom still gets nervous when I tell her I am going to go out riding.

But, I do think you need to respect your parents rules and wishes if living under their roof. I waited till I was out on my own to get my bike.

 

If you're spinning 13K on the tach (unless it's a Ninja two-fiddy) with a pretty girl on the back, she and you are both idiots.

 

My parents never allowed me to get a road bike either...I can get one now but don't really want to anymore. If anything, I'd just get a yamaha YZ450F supermoto spec...

Be careful though. Friend of mine fell of the other day:

Broken tibia, femur, bunch of ribs and wrist. Came of, crashed into a tree and bike followed him. Whoopsie. He wore full protection, all the pads you can get pretty much.
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Noah, there you go using common sense again. Boy the Pearls of Wisdom just keep on coming don't they?

 

Mine were completely against me getting one when I got my license. I got one anyways.
20 years and six bikes later, I've been fortunate enough to have never gotten hurt worse than some minor scrapes and bruises.

They are dangerous, but you take steps to minimize the risk.

Helmets do not ruin the experience. I don't know how people ride without them. Not just from a safety standpoint, but from a comfort standpoint too. Getting hit in the face by a rock or bug hurts a lot.

If you're 20 and you want a bike, get one. The best advice I would give is definitely get rider training, read and study the books mentioned already, and don't buy a sportbike to learn on. Get something light and easy to handle at slow speeds. 250 or 500cc twin, preferably used because you will probably lay it down. Don't be tempted to get a faster bike until you've got seasoning. And always wear gear. A $600 Arai or Shoei doesn't really protect you better than a $150 HJC, but they're more comfortable. And that will encourage you to wear it.

 

When my daughter got her first motorcycle I told her "You know what the last thing a motorcyclist hears as he is laying on the pavement.... But I didn't see him!"

I isn't that you are going to crash, but some woman in an SUV talking on the phone can easily kill you. The roads are a lot more busy and drivers are much more distracted with cell phones, gps systems tell them to "turn now", which they do even though you are oncoming traffic.

For a weekend fair weather thing a motorcycle is a wonderful toy. If you commute on it every day you are pushing the odds in the wrong direction. Rush hour traffic is just too risky. Other drivers can be blinded by the sun and are in a hurry to get to work on time so they jump into the first hole in traffic they see, which you happen to be occupying, or the housewife is driving the kids to school while talking on the phone, poor visibility and high traffic content make morning and afternoon rush hours a nightmare on a motorcycle.

 

I wanted a motorcycle from around the age of 17 onward. I loved them. I always would bring it up to my parents and my brother and they would always tell me "Absolutely not!" My father wasn't as harsh about it as my mother and brother though. When I was about 20 I took the MSF course and had an absolute blast despite the bikes being slow and sluggish. That was the last time I was on a bike until I was 23 (turning 24 in a couple of months).

My first bike was a Ducati 750S. I'm honestly very glad I waited to get a bike. I most likely would not have been mature enough when I was first talking about getting a motorcycle and first took the MSF course.

Do yourself and your parents a favor and just wait a while. It's a combination of all of the others on the road and you simply just not being ready. Just give it some time and when you're ready ... You'll know it! Good luck

EDIT: Didn't realize this thread was 20 days old, my bad!

 

First bike at 13. Never crashed on a public road, and Ive had street bike for over 55 years. I make a very good living representing motorcyclists who've been hurt by car drivers. The real question is are you good enough, smart enough, and lucky enough to avoid the idiots on the road. A negative answer to any one of the above disqualifies you.

Art

BTW: over 30 bones broken on the track though (raced pavement for over 20 years)

 

OP.... this is what i did....

Challenged their authority... bought a bike... kept it at my g/f's.... when I thought I was ready to put it on the road, i told them about it.

They stopped paying for college.... 1 week later it was sold.

2 years later, I was now 21, I bought a bike... they understood.

3 months later, I wrecked it. (not badly, thank god)

I've since had 8 bikes... I'm much older. And wiser now.

I ride a AS MUCH TRACK as I can now.


Bottom line.... wait until you're no longer dependent on them. Then do what you want.

They have your best interest at heart, and arguing fuel economy is pointless.....

Get a prius. lol. or an old EF civic.

If you want it for fun, buy a track bike.

I could write a book on this post... lol, we've all been through it, esp if our parents dont still ride. (or never did in my case)

Good luck!


Side note.... on the original bike, I nearly doubled the money I had into it.... and she lived on a private drive, so i put about 100 miles on the bike before getting rid of it

(after it was gone... i rode her 1985 yamaha maxim 550 and her fathers virago 1100 for an entire summer, and my parents didnt really care as long as I was riding with her dad)

I miss those days... he's a great guy.

 

I rode dirtbikes for years in the field behind the family cottage. I wanted a street bike from the age of 16 on but waited until last year of university (mid 20s) to take the MSF course and get one. That made sense as I did not need parental help to pay for school the following year.

I was not too much of an idiot on my old, battered Suzuki GS 750 at first, but even being cautious I still had one accident (unfortunately on a borrowed 96 GSX-R1100 with badly adjusted mirrors). I got lucky there. I have always liked sport bikes (some say they are more dangerous, I disagree, they handle well and have good brakes - but you have to know how to use what they offer). After 3 years of street riding I bought a track bike and have ridden track almost exclusively since. I started roadracing in 1997 in amateur lightweight superbike (I now ride a privateer superbike in the UAE national series). Don't scrimp on gear - even after many crashes, Dainese + Arai have always kept me safe. I have a few sport bikes now, none of them have license plates on them. I am pretty boring on the street on my BMW GS - I hope that you will become a boring street rider too.

My suggestion - get a used dirt bike and a friend with a trailer or pickup truck - ride that for at least a summer. Ride as much as you can. You will fall off and get dirty. Then, when affordable, take the MSF course and get your license but do not get a street bike right away.

If possible, borrow / rent some equipment and take the Level 1 California Superbike School (or the like) at a track near you. Learning what is possible without even getting close to the limits of the bike can save you.

I could not even imagine what I would be like if I had never ridden motorcycles. Probably wealthier.