Motorbike for a 16 year old?

[Ronkworth]

Hi all, I'm living in Ao Nang, Krabi, and facing a common parental dilemma. My 16-year-old son wants a 110cc motorbike, like several of his friends have. However, my health and safety concerns are significant, and I'm strongly inclined against it. He has no prior road experience, and I find the local traffic conditions and driving standards genuinely alarming. As much as he desires a bike, I believe that as a responsible parent, I shouldn't permit it at this time. Perhaps in a few years, when he's older and more mature, he can make such decisions. This situation is causing me considerable stress, and I'd appreciate hearing other perspectives. Am I being overly cautious? Thanks for any input

[IvorBiggun2]

Start him off on a motorcycle with side cart.

[CharlieH]

MOVED to Motorcycle forum

[gargamon]

Can/does he ride a bicycle or starting from nothing?

[fredwiggy]

Drive the scooter, explaining things and letting him see a competent driver in action. Watching how you avoid things, stay away from others, signalling, staying to the left, using mirrors, not weaving in and out of traffic or following too close will have him above the average learner here, who just gets on a scooter and lets it fly. 

 

Let him drive around your home while you watch. Buying an automatic helps learners in the beginning. If he doesn't want that,a Honda Wave is a good choice. Letting him wait will still have him starting out fresh with no experience. Being a passenger teaches. 

 

Living here, you obviously see how many others drive scooters but you don't want your son to be a statistic. If you have a large field near you, set up some things like they do cones, and sit back and watch. Driving dirt roads awhile before entering traffic areas also. The more practice he has, the better he'll be when he's around other drivers. I see kids here at 8 driving scooters, but what happens when they get into a think fast situation?

[Hummin]

33 minutes ago, Ronkworth said:

Hi all, I'm living in Ao Nang, Krabi, and facing a common parental dilemma. My 16-year-old son wants a 110cc motorbike, like several of his friends have. However, my health and safety concerns are significant, and I'm strongly inclined against it. He has no prior road experience, and I find the local traffic conditions and driving standards genuinely alarming. As much as he desires a bike, I believe that as a responsible parent, I shouldn't permit it at this time. Perhaps in a few years, when he's older and more mature, he can make such decisions. This situation is causing me considerable stress, and I'd appreciate hearing other perspectives. Am I being overly cautious? Thanks for any input

The worst scenario, he riding with his reckless friends on their fine tuned bikes doing 150km/h intoxicated.

 

Teach him and do your best so he is able to take the right decisions, but dont let him outide of the social circle. He learns from his mistakes, and hopefully from others as well. Guaranteed he will experince carnage, but pray it will not be him

[Hummin]

14 minutes ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

Start him off on a motorcycle with side cart.

Absolutely not, you going to make him looking stupid for his friends?

[IvorBiggun2]

Just now, Hummin said:

Absolutely not, you going to make him looking stupid for his friends?

 

Better to look stupid than dead.

[marin]

If you love him have him wait 2 more years with the promise of driving lessons and a car upon graduating from M6.

[Hummin]

3 minutes ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

 

Better to look stupid than dead.

In that age, look stupid is worse than death.

 

Better to keep him busy, so he do not have time to do stupid things. 

 

Spirts, music or whatever he have interests for, and it that is motorbikes, teaching him is the only and best thing he can do.

 

Every day we are driving out, we see kids 2 and 3 up on motorbikes driving recklessly, you do not want that to be your son, because he do not want to drive the saleng meeting his friends 

 

 

[jvs]

Buy two bikes and take him camping a few times.

A good bonding experience and you can teach him how to ride safely.

Age does not have much to do with it either.i see some older guys ride like there is no tomorrow.

One more important thing,make him pay for it !

When you make him pay he will value himself and the bike a lot more!

 

[Moonlover]

4 minutes ago, Hummin said:

16 minutes ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

Start him off on a motorcycle with side cart.

 

4 minutes ago, Hummin said:

Absolutely not, you going to make him looking stupid for his friends?

Yes I agree, a motorcycle/sidecar has no 'street cred' at all. Plus the fact that they more difficult to handle than a solo bike. I agree with @fredwiggy above. A scooter is the best starter machine for a youngster, but I would suggest finding a riding school to teach the lad initially. 

 

[connda]

1 hour ago, Ronkworth said:

Hi all, I'm living in Ao Nang, Krabi, and facing a common parental dilemma. My 16-year-old son wants a 110cc motorbike, like several of his friends have. However, my health and safety concerns are significant, and I'm strongly inclined against it. He has no prior road experience, and I find the local traffic conditions and driving standards genuinely alarming. As much as he desires a bike, I believe that as a responsible parent, I shouldn't permit it at this time. Perhaps in a few years, when he's older and more mature, he can make such decisions. This situation is causing me considerable stress, and I'd appreciate hearing other perspectives. Am I being overly cautious? Thanks for any input

You can't protect them forever.  What you can do in attempt to install your knowledge of Western defensive driving into his head.
Educate him to Western driving standards, then pray.  Fyi - I lost my 18 year old daughter to a traffic accident.  Her boyfriend was driving - he walked away.  Killed her.  

You don't get over that - ever. 

[connda]

2 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

 

Yes I agree, a motorcycle/sidecar has no 'street cred' at all. Plus the fact that they more difficult to handle than a solo bike. I agree with @fredwiggy above. A scooter is the best starter machine for a youngster, but I would suggest finding a riding school to teach the lad initially. 

 

He'll just take it off and leave it at a friend's house.  I mean, if I was a 16 year old I'd take the side cart off too.

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

Start him off on a motorcycle with side cart.

I'd have 20 drunken pals in that sidecar ............

[bubblegum]

Make sure he wears a helmet.

[NoDisplayName]

Bike not too fast, but with enough power to get out of trouble.

 

Riding lessons from a legitimate driving school.

 

Protective gear.

 

Good helmet.........use required.  Any riding without helmet, ever for any reason, and bike will be sold.

 

[hotsun]

Skipping motorbikes completely and buying him the car he wants is what id do

[JBChiangRai]

My daughter got an MX125 at 14 years old.  Before getting it I took her down to government hospital and we walked around the trauma ward.  Afterwards I asked the nurse how many of the 15 or so beds were motorbike accidents and she said “all of them”.

 

My daughter was told if she was caught with no helmet she would lose the bike for 3 days, 2nd offence would 3 weeks and 3rd offence the bike would be sold.  We got to 3 days only.

 

When she was 16 she got a new Kawasaki Ninja 400.  That was 7 years ago, we still have it, it’s done 10,000km only (for sale if anyone wants it).  I just had it serviced and new tyres put on it, the technician told me from the tyre wear she never leans it or corners fast.

 

I got her a car as soon as she was old enough to drive it legally.

 

Girls are mostly different.  They want to show off how nice and top of the range their ride is.  Boys unfortunately want to show off their high speed riding skills and don’t seem to appreciate the danger.

 

Three times she came home from school to tell me a boy had died on his motorcycle.

 

I don’t know what I would do if I had boys, but I’m sure it would involve everything I’ve already done and as long as possible professional riding instruction.

 

I would also test his riding with a hidden tracker on the bike.

[Agusts]

Most comments here are from people who have no clue about teenagers these days, even forgotten their own teenage years..., it's near impossible to shield them in a bubble just because you're worried..., all you can do is to give them all the good knowledge and care you can, and hope for the best ... 

 

A small car if can afford and he accepts maybe an option... 

 

After that Honda riding school, and maybe go there twice, and another riding school, educate about using helmet and spotting danger early..., specially how reckless others can be..., should be part of upbringing anyway..., risk aversion = survival. 

 

Experience rider parents can help a lot with their kids, but otherwise, it's not easy.. 

 

Good luck...! 🤞🏻

[watchcat]

2 hours ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

Start him off on a motorcycle with side cart.

 

Aren't they more difficult to drive.?

[Ronkworth]

3 hours ago, gargamon said:

Can/does he ride a bicycle or starting from nothing?

He can ride a pedal bicycle but has never been on a road with one 😁

[connda]

1 hour ago, Agusts said:

Most comments here are from people who have no clue about teenagers these days, even forgotten their own teenage years

I find it amusing that it seems most people my age (70+) completely forget what they thought and how they acted when they were teenagers. I have not.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  How I managed to survive past 20 is beyond me.  <laughs>

[connda]

16 minutes ago, Ronkworth said:

He can ride a pedal bicycle but has never been on a road with one 😁

Can you drive a motorcycle?  Can you teach him? I took classes in the US before getting my MC endorsement.  That class gave the bare-bones minimum of knowledge about riding.  Here in Thailand it seems it is though MC riding is genetic.  If you're a Thai boy you know how to ride.  The 80% of fatal accidents on Thai road that are MC related sort of belies that.  Most Thais shouldn't be riding.  To this day I'm just floored at the suicidal behavior of pulling out of side street and making a left-hand turn onto a road without even glancing to the right to see if there is any oncoming traffic.  After my first close encounter with one of those suicidal morons, I bought a car camera.  S**t like that happens wayyyyyy too often.  When I rode a motorcycle I was 110% defensive, and yet it took three accidents in the first year of riding to wrap my head around how dangerous it is to ride here.  Your kid, if he is taught how to drive by a competent Western rider should NEVER be seen doing things like pulling out into traffic without looking.  So?  Are you a competent Western motorcycle rider yourself, or is it just the blind leading the blind - toward a suicide motorcycle not-so-happy-ending? 

[connda]

3 hours ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

Start him off on a motorcycle with side cart.

It's a pretty good way to get killed.  If you're depth perception is off, you can wrap that side cart around concrete poles on the side of the road. I've seen that happen in our village.  Killed the guy.  Best to start off just with the MC as there are a whole set of skills involved in learning how to correctly steer and gauge distances. 

[Ronkworth]

8 minutes ago, connda said:

Can you drive a motorcycle?  Can you teach him? I took classes in the US before getting my MC endorsement.  That class gave the bare-bones minimum of knowledge about riding.  Here in Thailand it seems it is though MC riding is genetic.  If you're a Thai boy you know how to ride.  The 80% of fatal accidents on Thai road that are MC related sort of belies that.  Most Thais shouldn't be riding.  To this day I'm just floored at the suicidal behavior of pulling out of side street and making a left-hand turn onto a road without even glancing to the right to see if there is any oncoming traffic.  After my first close encounter with one of those suicidal morons, I bought a car camera.  S**t like that happens wayyyyyy too often.  When I rode a motorcycle I was 110% defensive, and yet it took three accidents in the first year of riding to wrap my head around how dangerous it is to ride here.  Your kid, if he is taught how to drive by a competent Western rider should NEVER be seen doing things like pulling out into traffic without looking.  So?  Are you a competent Western motorcycle rider yourself, or is it just the blind leading the blind - toward a suicide motorcycle not-so-happy-ending? 

Yes, I can ride a motorcycle and drive a car competently. I see reckless driving and driving every day of the week and I think you can ride as well/super defensive as you can but the danger can still come from others recklessness. I use a dashcam in the car after hearing that crashes are usually blamed on the non-Thai in a crash. 

Thanks for your comments

[jas007]

I don't know about teenagers these days, but when I was 15 1/2 back in the USA, in my state you could rent a motorbike, no questions asked. They were Honda 50cc, but enough to get you killed.

 

And back then, for all practical purposes, I was an idiot. I had no understanding, whatever, of what would happen if I had a wreck.  We had no helmets.  Just idiot kids trying to be daredevils. 

 

I'm lucky to be here today. 

[riclag]

4 hours ago, Hummin said:

The worst scenario, he riding with his reckless friends on their fine tuned bikes doing 150km/h intoxicated.

 

Teach him and do your best so he is able to take the right decisions, but dont let him outide of the social circle. He learns from his mistakes, and hopefully from others as well. Guaranteed he will experince carnage, but pray it will not be him

 

4 hours ago, connda said:

You can't protect them forever.  What you can do in attempt to install your knowledge of Western defensive driving into his head.
Educate him to Western driving standards, then pray.  Fyi - I lost my 18 year old daughter to a traffic accident.  Her boyfriend was driving - he walked away.  Killed her.  

You don't get over that - ever. 

Sound advice!

Teach them and include a little structure!

Dont modify the bike & be mindful of the laws.

[Magictoad]

Well; he's not going to get any road experience with current situation is he?

I was a bit surprised when my GF bought her 13 YO son a motorbike recently.

[Magictoad]

5 hours ago, Ronkworth said:

Hi all, I'm living in Ao Nang, Krabi, and facing a common parental dilemma. My 16-year-old son wants a 110cc motorbike, like several of his friends have. However, my health and safety concerns are significant, and I'm strongly inclined against it. He has no prior road experience, and I find the local traffic conditions and driving standards genuinely alarming. As much as he desires a bike, I believe that as a responsible parent, I shouldn't permit it at this time. Perhaps in a few years, when he's older and more mature, he can make such decisions. This situation is causing me considerable stress, and I'd appreciate hearing other perspectives. Am I being overly cautious? Thanks for any input

He will only ride as a passenger anyway on his pals bikes and HE will have NO control of what is happening!