My son turns fifteen this year. In Texas, he's allowed to have a motorcycle license at that age as long as he wears a helmet and the bike is under 250cc. He wouldn't think twice about the helmet because he's use to wearing one at the kart track and is huge on safety, anyway. We've talked about it and he said he'd also want gloves and a jacket at least.
Would you get one for your kid? Why or why not? This would be for back and forth to school and to a job, mainly. No freeway travel nor "dangerous" roads. He stated last night one road he'd avoid at all cost because "People drive like berkelying idiots on that road."
Second question is, what bike? I know almost zilch about motorcycles. Searching CL, I can specifically type in 250 or 250cc, but something tells me there's still a bunch I'm missing. He's said that he does NOT want a moped, but we'll see. So far, I've found Ninja 250's, Honda Rebel 250's and a couple of Korean brands (Dong Fang?). I know there were lots of classic bikes in the 250 range, but have no idea what to look for. Of course, he leans more towards the Ninja, but he likes classic cars and some of the classic bikes he's seen. He's already said that if we got a Ninja, he'd want to convert it to a cafe' racer style.
Oh, and he would absolutely take a motorcycle course. I don't ride, so I don't have the experience to teach him and I'm 99% sure it'll be required by the state, anyway.
Learn me!
-Rob