So, your kid wants a dirt bike. What do you do? If you’re sick of hearing ‘I wanna dirt bike… pleeeeeeseeee….!’ then this article is for you, especially if you have zero experience with anything dirt bike related.
First, just breathe… This could either be a lifelong obsession or a fleeting trend. Either way, owning a dirt bike isn’t as tricky as you first might think, especially if you look into electric dirt bikes – the best thing is to tackle this by informing yourself. I’m a Mom of 2 young kids, and have owned many types of dirt bikes throughout my life. So, I get it from both the kid’s point of view and the parent’s point of view.
I’ll cover all the first steps, how to choose a bike, what’s involved, the risks, and more. Jump to the section you need, or grab a cuppa and read top to bottom.
Let’s get you the info you need to help guide your kid through this exciting stage of their lives.
First steps:
Here are the first steps for you to take right now:
- Read this article fully. Get an idea of what you’ll be up for.
- Work out what dirt bike your kid would be most suited for. This is age and ability-related, as well as temperament-related. I’ll discuss shortly how to work this out.
- Work out how you’ll transport the bike – this is actually easier than you think with electric bikes.
- Get the correct riding gear.
- Find a place to ride – this might be private property, or a club.
- Help guide your kid through the learning process of riding and maintenance.
For some evening reading, check out this article that will get you up to speed on electric dirt bike terminology. While this article discusses a high performance e-moto, the terminology is the same.
Ongoing steps:
If your child is really interested, and this interest stays past the initial craze, then there will be ongoing steps you’ll need to take.
- As your kid grows, you’ll need to get a bigger dirt bike. E-motos help with this because some let you restrict the power or upgrade to larger wheels.
- This also happens to the gear – you’ll need to ensure it is always top quality in terms of safety, but also the right fit. There are tons of trading groups for kids’ riding gear – every dirt bike parent faces this challenge!
- You may have competition entry fees, club fees, or the dirtbike may need upgradable or consumable parts replaced over time.
Now that you have a rough idea of the process, let’s go back to the start and work out how to choose the right electric dirt bike.
Choosing the Right First Electric Dirt Bike
Firstly, if you’re completely new to the world of dirt bikes, you may not know that you can get both gas powered and electric powered dirt bikes. In my opinion, electric powered dirt bikes are the way to go, especially for beginner kids and parents.
Just to be clear, when I talk about electric powered dirt bikes, I’m not talking about the bikes you can buy from toy stores. I’m talking about high-quality, ‘real’ e-dirt bikes. Check out this article where I talk about the differences.
They are a bit more expensive in price, but are better quality, will last much longer, and are typically safer due to more robust parts.
How do you know which electric dirt bike to buy?
There are a few different things to consider when choosing the right electric dirt bike to buy your child. Think about:
Size
Get your child to sit on the bike. Can they reach the ground with at least one toe on both sides? If not, that bike is too big for right now. Age doesn’t really matter; it’s more about the physical size. If you’re buying online (or don’t want to take your child shopping!), you can measure the ‘inseam’, which is the inner part of their leg, to gauge the height of the seat.
Ability
Again, forget age at this stage. What is your kid’s ability to follow instructions? Can they manipulate the controls? What is their balance like? You’re the best one to judge this; you know your child best. This will determine the power output, safety features needed, and if it’s the right time for a dirt bike or not. A good reference to go on is, can they ride a push bike – and not just “can they pedal and turn,” do they seem to get on with it?
Power
Now you’ve thought of the size and ability of your kid, the next thing to work out is what power output do they need?
As an example (I’ll use age as a rough guide, but go on their physical size and ability first up):
- Age 2-4: Electric balance bike like a Stacyc.
- Age 5+: Small electric dirt bike like the Razor MX125, which is low powered, 100-watt 12V bike.
- Age 8+: Small electric dirt bike, but more powerful with better suspension to support a growing child. Depending on the child, you may like to go for something like the Razor MX500, which is a 500W bike with 16 Inch tires.
Or, if your kid is physically taller and has a mature temperament, you could start to consider a bike like an ETM RTR Lite, which is starting to get into the higher performance range. The ETM RTR Lite from Electro & Co. is a 5kW (5000W), 60V machine that is capable of up to 45mph. This starts to get into the category of competition-ready machines that can win races with minimal changes to suit the track.
- Early teen: Again, depending on ability and physical size, a larger e-moto like the ETM RTR – the not-Lite version. The ETM RTR is 8kW and 72V, and this could be a bike to look at. It has suspension that can support a growing young adult, parts that will be great on the track, and an adjustable power curve in case your child isn’t ready for the full 8kW on day one.
- Teen: At this age you could start throwing brands like Surron and Talaria into the mix, but having done this for years myself, I would consider something from E Ride Pro. For an entry-level bike, you could look at the E Ride Pro SS 2.0 – it’s a great starting point and will do everything you need it to do at that age.
- Beyond: The great thing about electric dirt bikes is that most bikes can be upgraded as your child’s abilities grow. This is when it gets serious, and you can find a lot of overlap between something a full adult could ride and something a teenager or young adult could still enjoy. I would highly suggest joining our newsletter community to get up to speed on everything electric dirt bike related!
Where do I buy an electric dirt bike?
GritShift.com can help with any of the larger e-motos from around 5 years old all the way to adult-sized. We have a great team to help answer any questions – all of us here at GritShift love e-moto, and most of us have kids, so we get it! You can buy directly from our website and have the bike delivered to your door.
For the smaller-sized electric balance bikes like Stacyc, you can head to their website, and they have a section that locates Stacyc dealers. Make sure you always buy from an authorised dealer, so you’re covered if you ever need any warranty claims. Likewise, for Razor for the small electric dirt bikes.
Word to the wise: Please don’t buy from Alibaba or Temu or places like that. That might be fine for some small thing around the house, but I will give you an example of why not to buy an electric dirt bike from a place like that. The gigantic e-moto brand Surron only allows their bikes to be sold by authorized dealers. You can still find resellers on Temu and Alibaba, but those bikes carry zero warranty support because they were sold by an unauthorized reseller. We’ve had calls over the years from people getting caught off-guard by that and suddenly finding themselves stuck with a lemon. Whether you buy from us or not, at least buy from a reputable storefront or direct from the manufacturer.
Why go electric?
Now, you may be thinking, is electricity better than gas? You may be thinking long term and have seen guys and girls race around MX tracks on gas-powered dirt bikes. Well, e-moto is an up and coming sector in the MX world. Have you heard of Stark Varg? Google them if you haven’t. The Varg is an electric dirt bike that has higher performance than most professional gas powered dirt bikes.
But, it is also easy to swap from electric to gas-powered in the future if your child decides to.
For a young kid (and their parents), electric is just simple.
- It doesn’t require as much maintenance, and is cleaner, with no fuel smells or oil changes needed.
- You can transport the bike on its side in the back of your van or wagon. Slide it into the back of your car if needed!
- If you have a backyard, your kid can ride it at home without annoying the neighbors – even at night!
- An electric dirt bike also has no gears, which means it is easier to learn, and your kid can be out on the track sooner. Think – less frustration and giving up!
Being electric, it is also much easier to upgrade parts. Most upgrades are simple plug-and-play, especially if you look into the bikes I mentioned earlier from Electro and Co. They make all their own upgrades in-house! If you need more power, you can upgrade the motor, battery, or controller with ease.
I learnt on gas powered dirt bikes as a kid, still own gas powered dirt bikes, but my kids are learning on electric bikes. Kids take up lots of time, so I don’t have the time to maintain lots of gas powered dirt bikes now! I now also own electric dirt bikes – the downside is the garage is full!
Here is an article that discusses electric bike vs gas dirt bikes in more detail:
Safety Gear and Where to Ride
Possibly the most important part of riding: the safety gear. I’m a big one for wearing all the gear, right from the start. Ever since my kids have been riding balance bikes, they’ve always had a helmet and shoes on. As they’re getting bigger, we’ve now added long pants, a long sleeve top, and gloves. It’s now second nature to them, and they know we don’t allow riding if they don’t have the right gear on.
So, what is the gear that you need:
At a minimum, a helmet. A good quality dirt bike helmet. These are the full-faced type that you can get from most motorcycle dealerships. If they’re too big, then a simple bicycle helmet will be fine while your kid is on an electric balance bike.
Then, as bikes become more powerful and faster, more gear is essential. The sooner you can get your child wearing the full gear, the more natural it will be for them.
- Boots: To start with, enclosed shoes are fine, preferably with no laces, as these can get caught in chains/wheels. Then progress to motocross boots.
- Pants/Top: To start with, long sleeve pants/top will be OK, then progress to motocross style pants, which have extra padding and are more ripproof.
- Gloves: A pair of motocross gloves. Easy.
- Goggles: As your kid progresses, goggles are important to protect their eyes from any flying rocks. It is also much more comfortable to ride with goggles.
- Other Protective Gear: As your kid progresses, protective gear can be body armor, which is like a padded vest that goes under or over your jersey, depending on the type. You can also add neck braces and more, depending on what type of riding your kid wants to do and how much of a bubble they need to be in.
If you have an older child who wants to ride a higher-performance bike from the beginning, I would highly recommend all the gear. Competitions won’t let you compete unless you have the correct gear anyway!
Common Fears
I’ve added a section to hopefully answer all the most common questions when it comes to families new to dirt bikes.
Safety: Are dirt bikes safe?
This is the most common question that I get asked. Short answer: Yes, and No. I’ll start with the obvious: they can go fast, and your kid can fall off. It’s not a surprise. However, the risks can be minimised by wearing the right gear, riding in places designed for dirtbikes, learning the correct skills needed, and being guided to respect the power dirt bikes have.
I like to argue the point that dirt bikes kept me safe as a kid (and now as an adult). All my spare time and money went to dirt bikes. All my hypo ADHD teenager energy went into racing around properly designed tracks. I looked after my body in terms of fitness and nutrition so I could ride better. It gave me goals to achieve. (Extra cool now that I get to write about bikes too!) However, I was properly guided and had great mentors from local clubs.
My kids now get to see Mom riding, so I’m even more careful to be a good role model for them. I would much rather see my kids tackle jumps on an MX track than head off into the city at nighttime… Just saying 🙂
I’m not a mechanic…
This is one of the top reasons why I suggest electric dirt bikes are an excellent starting point – and something that can continue as an adult. Electric dirt bikes require almost no maintenance. You don’t need to learn how to change oil, service spark plugs, or replace clutches.
What little maintenance remains is more similar to push bike maintenance. Keep the chain lubed, periodically check that bolts are tight, and charge the bike correctly. If you need to make any upgrades, if you can Google and have a bit of common sense, you should be able to work it out. Otherwise, you can take your bike to a mechanic to get this done for you.
We always send out tips and tricks when it comes to maintenance, so make sure you subscribe to our free newsletter here.
What about the noise?
Electric dirt bikes are quiet. Much quieter than gas powered dirt bikes, so noise won’t be an issue. Kids can ride day, night, urban, rural, or anywhere in between without making a ruckus.
Where do you ride?
In most places around the world, kids can’t ride on the roads. You need at least a car licence or a motorcycle license, depending on the laws in your area, to ride on the road. Where your kid can ride is on private property. Your own backyard, if it’s big enough, or local dirt bike clubs.
There are also some bike parks that allow electric dirt bikes, but check first. Usually, an e-moto on pushbike tracks is frowned upon. But off-road parks and MX parks like those found all across the US are generally welcoming not only of e-bikes, but kids as well!
Your First Day as a “Moto-Parent”
The next step, once you’ve worked out which bike to get and have the right gear, is the first ride.
I would suggest, before your excited kid knows what you’re doing, have a read of the instruction manual. Are there any safety features that you need to turn on? Is there a throttle limiter that will restrict top speed? Turn these all on before your kid sees – it will be much easier!
Then charge the battery. Take precautions and do it right with a good charger. Not on a pile of towels on a carpet floor in a damp garage – and trust me, we’ve seen fire hazards even worse than that!
For the first ride, head out to a wide open space. Start by getting your kid to wear all the right gear, and then it will depend on their age and ability on how you’ll tackle the next part. For the younger kids, it will need to be a slow introduction, and for the older kids, you’ll need to explain a few things to them. You can work it out together.
This will be very dependent on your kids’ abilities, but start with them on the bike and show them the controls. Get them to go for a few meters and stop. You may need to walk with them a few times first. Show them how they control the speed. Slowly progress to turns.
They will likely fall at some time. If so, stay calm, discreetly check for actual injuries, then encourage them to try again when they’re ready. It’s all part of the process.
You might find that your child will only be able to do 10 minutes or so to start with, don’t push it – it’s a big learning curve and they’re using lots of energy!
Read your kid’s behaviour and try to encourage a break before they really need it. It’s all about having fun and building confidence.
Now what?
Congratulations on getting this far! If your child has shown an interest in dirt bikes, this can be a lovely experience for you both. If your kid is an older teen, then include them in your learning process. You can work it out together. If they’re younger, then concentrate on learning good habits and having fun.
Head to your local dirt bike club to ask questions, meet others who are going through the same thing, and find good mentors who can help guide your kid with the right skills – right from the start.
Join our newsletter for electric dirt bikes news. If you would like to continue reading, then I suggest checking out these articles:
For more reading about the electric side of dirtbikes and how they work:
More info on the Electro and Co ETM RTR
Here is a great video that explains starting out:
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