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Teaching a 7yr old to shift?

5K views 7 replies 8 participants last post by  JS 
#1 ·
My boys ready to move up to his 65, but I'm having a hard time teaching him to shift. Well he's got no problems shifting up, but he wont down shift. I think he's scared of the lower gears because of the powerband.

Oh, and I guess I should tell you, I put a clutchless shift kit in it thinking that would make it easyer, but I'm not so sure. I think you have less control of the powerband with out the clutch, which makes 1st and 2nd a little scary. It even surprised me the first couple of times.

I tried looking for a you tube vide or something, but I didn't find anything that would relate to a 7 year old kid. Any ideas, or tips?
 
#4 ·
I lot of the shifting has to do with Vision, work to keep him looking up, and working the controls by feel, will take a little time, but after an hour it will go really well.

I teach the MSF Dirt bike school, get kids from 5 and up, always a fun day. Kids are fun to teach.
 
#6 ·
I found that sometimes it is better to have another person teach a child certain things. I think it relieves some pressure off your child, And or the parent getting frustrated too quickly. I will agree with trying it out on a small four stroke.
 
#8 ·
With kids, it takes a little time for them to grasp cause and effect concepts. Try using an example or mnemonic, when I would teach kids sciency type stuff, I would use examples that they could relate to. So for shifting down, perhaps something like "Pull the lever, squash the bug."

Also just dry runs would help, have the bike upright and guide him through the process several dozen times until you forge those neuro pathways for him. :)
 
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