Against my Better Judgement

Well my middle son has been badgering my wife and I about getting a motorcycle. I said no way! He said well you road snowmobiles your whole life and those go faster than the motorcycle I want to get. He’s been badgering for a week. I said I am warming up to it, but not ready to say yes. First off, he is 18, works 2 jobs and never gets in trouble. I dont worry about him I worry about everyone else.
Last week he asked my wife to meet him at the bank to co-sign for a loan. She read me the riot act thinking I said yes, she said you co-sign for it Im not since you said yes. I never had said yes! Little turd!
Anyway, I said IF I did say yes I would not be co-signing any loan. I said I will lend him the money and he would pay me each month but I am not paying for all of it.
Well, I caved and he now has a ninja 300. Nice looking bike, but if something happens to him I will never forgive myself. Tell me I didnt make a huge mistake!

That’s the situation you make him pay for it him self. He would have had all winter and fall to save his own money for it.
Tell him I’m sorry he’s a kawi owner lol jk kind of.

Hopefully he gets the crap scared out of him without getting hurt and sells the bike lol

When I was little we had mini bikes, I dreamed of one day having a motorcycle.

When I turned 16 I started driving a wrecker. By the age of 18 I had “seen enough” with my own eyes and made a lifelong promise to myself that I wouldn’t buy a bike until my 80th birthday. I’ve stuck with it and have zero plans of getting one.

Tell him to be DAMN careful. There’s a lot of things out there that are out of his control that are trying to kill him (traffic, inattentive drivers, wildlife, etc)

I have always liked Suzuki and Kawi bikes, but never owned one. Id get a Honda too, but not much else.
I wanted to make him wait, but this was a really good deal by the looks of it and every single one he sent me sold in like a couple days.

B-man wrote:

Tell him to be DAMN careful. There’s a lot of things out there that are out of his control that are trying to kill him (traffic, inattentive drivers, wildlife, etc)

That is exactly what I said. I told him NO driving at night ever. I told him about gravel on the road and how that will make you wipe right out if you hit it just right. Mainly an issue in the Spring after all the dang sand and salt.

I assume he has zero bike experience if he wanted a 300 ??

I bought a 2011 Honda cb 600rr in 2011, in 2012 I was hit head on by a lady with no liscense and got pretty messed up. I never wanted a sport bike again. Not because that accident but more so because the stupid stuff I did thinking I’d never wreck. And I grew up on bikes.
Tell him a helmet and saftey gear is mandatory. When I was hit it was on a quick 2 mile ride to a buddies house. I had no gear on because it was a 3 minute ride back and forth. I’m lucky It wasn’t worse.
I’ve since owned other bikes but not rockets. That 300 is a dog so your lucky in that aspect. But it’s still plenty to get himself in trouble. Sounds like he needed a 80s cb to learn on.

B-man wrote:

Tell him to be DAMN careful.

Had road bikes from age 17-35 when I sold my last one. Had to lay 2 bikes down to avoid crashing. Can’t drive scared, but don’t want to be over confident either. One piece of advice I always rode by >>> Always drive like you are invisible. Assume no one sees you and drive like it.

Don’t take this the wrong way. Tell him to make sure he has the Organ doner box checked on his license. Hearing that from you will make a difference.

-J.

Bearcat89 wrote:

I assume he has zero bike experience if he wanted a 300 ??
Tell him a helmet and saftey gear is mandatory. When I was hit it was on a quick 2 mile ride to a buddies house. I had no gear on because it was a 3 minute ride back and forth. I’m lucky It wasn’t worse.
I’ve since owned other bikes but not rockets. That 300 is a dog so your lucky in that aspect. But it’s still plenty to get himself in trouble. Sounds like he needed a 80s cb to learn on.

He has never ridden any motorcycles so yeah that is why the 300 plus cheaper to insure and his buddies all have similar sized ones. I told him high quality helmet and gear before he is riding anything. He just went to transfer the title.

I had a Ninja when I was that age. All of my friends had them. Bye the time I was 22 I had two less friends. Lost a 20 year old cousin a few years back on a bike also. 1 caused his own demise the other two were killed by idiots who pulled out in front of them.

I dont think the blame would be with you no matter what. Hes 18 he could have saved up and bought it anyway if he wanted it bad enough. Nice of you to help him out though.

No person’s comments on an online forum will help console your feelings when a loved one gets mangled on a bike you helped purchase. To each their own, life carries risk in everything we do, but it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to know motorcycles greatly increase that risk.

I know he’s an adult. He could have just went and done it when he had the money. Hopefully it’s just a phase and it burns out quickly. Everyone I talked to said it’s a bad idea.

Only you know if its the right decision. The sad thing is a fender bender in a car if often not a big injury risk, A fender bender on a motorcycle can be a whole different situation. Like you said its not just his own actions and decisions you need to worry about. Its all the others on the road you mostly have to worry about. The one thing I’d worry about the most is ridding early morning or at Dusk in rural area’s. Motorcycle deer collisions happen way to often and almost never ends well for the rider. Sorry about the amount or worrying this is likely to cause both you and your wife. Nothing new there. Parents are always going to worry about their children.

In todays world bikes are a No Go. I used to ride a Kawasaki Ninja 7R that would do 180mph, pop a wheelie in any gear. With cell phones NO way would I ride today. Just look at the news people can not even make to work in the morning with out rear ending the car in front of them.

Deuces wrote:

No person’s comments on an online forum will help console your feelings when a loved one gets mangled on a bike you helped purchase. To each their own, life carries risk in everything we do, but it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to know motorcycles greatly increase that risk.

Agreed. It sounds like your decision has been made. I hope your son finds the enjoyment he’s looking for and nothing more. All the cliche advice I remember being given was already mentioned above and still would hold true today if I had a bike(check the organ donor box, drive like nobody can see you).

My father had the same moment with me when I was 19. He told me I could buy whatever I wanted but it wouldn’t be stored or used on his property, insured by him, paid for by him, and he handed me a flyer on life insurance to read up on. At the time I didn’t purchase one but did later on. I had some fun but ultimately looking back it was generally a waste of $$$. The bike itself I bought and sold for roughly the same price, but the crazy high insurance + all the gear that went with it were basically 100% lost monies. I don’t have the itch to buy one ever again. I’d be more inclined to buy something for off road use on my own property where my decisions are what decide if I live/die/get injured versus some idiot I meet on the road.

take a 10 minute drive anywhere these days and watch all the people on their phones not paying attention. I don’t care how safe of a motorcycle driver you are, you can only do so much against the other idiots on the road. Not a chance in hell I’d sign off on an 18 year old riding a motorcycle. I’d never forgive myself if god forbid something happened. Sure, he’s an adult and can do what he wants but you can lay down the law in other ways. For example: If you get a bike, I’m cutting you off from my insurance/cell phone/living at home/etc. I don’t think I’d ever sleep well at night knowing my 18 year old is out there running around on a bike. We were all his age before and know all the bad decisions that get made at least once.

Tell him to make sure he has the organ donor box checked, he has his will written, etc. Hopefully you can scare some sense into him.

The one good thing about this particular bike is it has ABS which I dont think many do.
He just called me from the DMV saying they needed the engine number. I said I have NO idea where that is and its covered up with covers everywhere. Then I looked in from the front and found it.

Make it understood that if you ever catch wind of him riding without proper protection, the bike is gone, period. You bought it so the title should be in your name til he pays you back.

I had an accident on my way to work several years back. I was approaching an intersection where cross traffic had a stop sign and I did not. I could see the car stopped on my right. I could see him look both ways. Then just as I was reaching the intersection he gunned it to cross. Never saw me. I was only going 25 at the time and was barely able to lay the bike down to avoid major injuries. it scared the crap out of me.

“Assume you are invisible” was something that I was told when I started riding as well. It doesn’t always work. In the situation above, the only way to avoid that crash would’ve been for me to stop in the middle of the road where I didn’t have a stop sign, which is a good way to get rear ended— and not really feasible to do that at every intersection with cross traffic.

I haven’t been back on a bike since. For some reason I keep renewing my endorsement on my license.

dirtywater wrote:

Make it understood that if you ever catch wind of him riding without proper protection, the bike is gone, period. You bought it so the title should be in your name til he pays you back.

Yeah I told him that. He knows and will listen. I didnt want the dang thing in my name and he will pay be back pretty quickly.

Last year my oldest (16 at the time) wanted a dirt bike. I said no but he kept bugging me. This summer now 17 he still wanted a dirt bike. I still said no. How about a 4wheeler? No, I want a dirt bike. Then I said we don’t have room to store it at the house. He said he can store it at his girlfriends farm. He now has a dirt bike and it’s still sitting at my house. I have the same concerns as most here about him getting hurt and I hope he gets bored with it and sells it.

I’m the exception,,,,,, and I know it. I’m 73 years old and have ridden motorcycles since I was 14. Probably won’t quit until I can’t handle the weight and or balance.
Yes I’ve had people not see me. Slammed the brakes on hard to avoid a full on collision. Ended up sliding under a truck once when the driver from the opposing traffic, came around a blind hairpin turn completely in my lane.

On the otherhand, I cringed when my 25 year old daughter bought a bike for herself. Her and her husband both got bikes and rode. One day they along with their young daughter were riding along, when a deer broadsided her husband who was in the lead. My daughter and granddaughter got to witness their husband/father sliding down the roadway.
They don’t ride anymore.
I still ride because I enjoy riding. I just hope my luck holds out as well.

My wife was unfortunate enough to be dispatched to help clean this up this weekend (see link). It was her day off so she wasn’t running the Emergency Room, but as a first responder ended up being involved anyways. It sounded like a truck came across the center line and hit the motorcycles that had experienced riders, full gear, and 2 were killed instantly. When they first arrived they were unsure how many victims there actually were, as the human remains were displaced all over.

After the scene was recreated and pieces of the bikes were shoveled into a county truck, the fire department had to use their firelines to wash blood and human tissue from the road.

https://www.wqow.com/news/two-killed-one-injured-in-motorcycle-crash-in-buffalo-county/article_af649ce8-7d2f-11ef-a880-df5f352bc65e.html

I’d never tell someone what to do with their kid/kids, but inform yourself of every danger present before green lighting something.

Looks like a done deal , you hope nothing happens . Thinking back i came so close to dying on a 750 Suzuki multiple times. Most of the times it was my own stupidity a few times it was other drivers . Good luck .

I rode bikes while still young and enjoyed them. When my son was born (45 years ago) we moved to another town and I rode my bike to our new town and about got hit 3 times along the way. I told my wife that was it, I am a new father and could not take the chance. I sold it right away, but I still have a license to ride and I have ridden a few around the block a few time, but don’t want to go out on the road ever again. Good luck

“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should…”

I probably would have gone the same route as BC, he’s 18 and he can save up and buy one in cash, along with 1 years worth of insurance. And by the time he saves up, hopefully he has something else piquing his interest. But also don’t beat yourself up Musky, kids are going to do what kids are going to do. Me and some friends on this board have almost died doing all sorts of things with far less HP than that little Kawi. Heck just that stretch of river in Sartell gave us plenty of experiences.

bigcrappie wrote:

With cell phones NO way would I ride today. Just look at the news people can not even make to work in the morning with out rear ending the car in front of them.

My parents got rear ended in the drop off line bringing my girls to school. Just sitting there and the car behind decided to go.

Oh in the days when I rode high HP snowmobiles I did a lot of stupid crap and could have probably died a bunch of times. I was racing down the ditch on Hwy 10 one time with probably 2 feet of fresh powder hit something, no idea what got launched in the air and flew off the sled. I could have ended up in the road, but thankfully I didnt. Another time I was riding the crow wing river with about 3 inches of fresh snow but flat light so you couldnt make out any anomolies in the snow. I was doing about 100 hit a ice heave and was straight up and down about 50 feet in the air. Somehow I never busted the sled or even fell off! Heck, when I was dating my now wife in College I had a brand new zrt 600. Went down on the river in Hutch with us riding 2 up. I see a guy in full leathers on a polaris with his new equivalent acting like a hot rod while I was just putting along. I turned my head and said hang on! I blew the doors off him so bad it wasnt even funny. The speedo was passed 100 and between the C in Arctic and Cat. The next day the dude was at the AC dealer LOL.

I guess I must be the exception. My kid rode BMX until he was ten, around then he showed interest in dirtbikes, I was already prepared and had a 110 fourstroke semi auto in mind. We picked it up and I taught him how to ride. He lost interest in 6 months or so, so I sold it. A short while later he asked for another one, I told him it needed to be a clutch bike and we picked up a 125. He loves it. And I get to rip around the neighborhood with him and have quality time with him doing something we both like. He also rides our grom around with the neighbor kids.

Growing up I cannot remember a time where my old man didnt have some sort of harley or cruiser around, I had dirtbikes, switched to sport bikes at 18, and now ride a harley as much as I can. Sure, people are dumb and get distracted, Ive had close calls, but part of riding is being aware and watching everything around you. When my kid reaches the age where he wants a harley or sportbike, ill make him take an MSF class, insure it, help him finance it, and drive him to purchase it. Ive pounded it into his head the be vigilant and respect the machine.

Being a dad has its “oh crap” moments, but in the end Id rather cheer him on and teach him the safe way to do things than have his know it all evil knieval friends teach him.

72 and still riding my Harleys