How do you get them to shift?

[monkey_man]

I'm looking for tips/suggestions on teaching my 8yr old son to up/down shift.

He recently moved from a crf50 to a kx65 and I'm struggling to get him to up/down shift. When he was on the crf50 he would usually "pick" a gear and go with it. At the time I didn't think too much about it, but as you can imagine on a kx65 this doesn't work quite as well. He can work the clutch just fine, start/stop and all that, it just that when he is riding he is still trying to use the "one gear fits all" mentality. He will start off, quickly shift into 3rd and stay there no matter what the situation. I figured with seat time he would work past this, but he doesn't seem to be. Any suggestions??

[cmtbiker]

maybe just spend a day workin with him on upshifting and downshifting, and when to do it? this is kind of a tough question..hopefully someone else has better ideas.

[Thumpin n Bumpin]

Try this, worked for my son when first learning.

You stand in a large open area, no one around. Have him ride towards you and you yell out to shift up or down, doesn't really matter. The idea is to have him just running through gears, have him tell you what gear he's in, talk it up. You have to bring the whole gear thing to the front of his mind. Don't just ignore and hope he'll get it, just slows the whole process. Have him ride first gear only a little bit, then first and second only, and so on until he has done them all. Don't be afraid to yell SHIFT.

Hope this helps.

Good Luck!

BTW Never let bad habits fester.

[Thunderbug]

I told my boy to remember, shift down for power, shift up for speed.

Than I'd just keep pestering him to "upshift", "downshift", "upshift" "downshift"

He finally got it, just took some patience.

[but head]

nothing can sub exsperiance take him to a flat open area where he can go though the gears up and down he will have to get use to the power band of each gear 1st gear is a gear he should never use just like the big bikes 3rd and 4th on most tracks if he just starten out he will use 2nd and 3rd more often. pratice up shift with clutch down with out use of clutch he has to get use to slipen the clutch out of turns and feathering it when doing hard breaking and useing the gears to slow down. face it it going to take awhile but keep it simple for him remember 1st gear is not a gear more less. he will get the feel of the power band after while because its all by feel and sound that you know what gear your in manytimes you cant tell if your in 3rd or 4th at times its just gauged by how much momentum you need to clear things or exit corners it will take sometime to learn power bands and what you can and can,t do trial and erro

[Motocross26]

nothing can sub exsperiance take him to a flat open area where he can go though the gears up and down he will have to get use to the power band of each gear 1st gear is a gear he should never use just like the big bikes 3rd and 4th on most tracks if he just starten out he will use 2nd and 3rd more often. pratice up shift with clutch down with out use of clutch he has to get use to slipen the clutch out of turns and feathering it when doing hard breaking and useing the gears to slow down. face it it going to take awhile but keep it simple for him remember 1st gear is not a gear more less. he will get the feel of the power band after while because its all by feel and sound that you know what gear your in manytimes you cant tell if your in 3rd or 4th at times its just gauged by how much momentum you need to clear things or exit corners it will take sometime to learn power bands and what you can and can,t do trial and erro

Why is first gear "not a gear"?

[glenrmz]

I have the same problem with my boy. He has been on a 65 for over 6 months now. He starts in second shifts to third and thats him for the race. The last race he did he was taking guys in the tighter sections and when he came to the main straight he would bounce up and down on the bike in frustration. I took him to the jetting strip which was tucked away out of sight. As i got near the jetting strip I heard a guy riding on the jetting strip changing perfectly right through all the gears. I was hoping that my boy was watching how its done. As i turned the corner I saw it was my boy going through the gears like a pro.

He did a couple of runs on the jetting strip absolutly perfect.

Next race same thing as before. Starts in second hits third and thats it. I'm running out of patience. I have allready replaced his bottom end which went after 4 months of screaming around the track in 3rd. I've threatened to pull him off the track mid race untill he learns to change, no joy. I stand on the side of the track screaming for him to upshift also without results.

Next thing I'm trying is to lift his gear lever a notch. Don't think its going help but I'm runing out of ideas.

[adam13]

first gear isnt a gear because if your going to quick in first your backwheel will lock and your gearbox can lock in 1st, take him to a big open field and get him to take it through all the gears turn around and come back again taking it through all the gears, keep getting him to that till he's got it and then take him to somewhere with corners and tell him what gears he should be when he takes the corners then learn him to come into corner and accelerate out of it properly

[stknrdr]

My son and I were going through this for awhile too...its not uncommon i guess...it just takes some time to learn shifting. My sons biggest problem was that he was riding around seated a lot...and that he couldnt reach the shifter well from that position, so he would have to stand up and shift and so forth.

What it amounted to was a PITA for him to shift, so he didnt do it often enough.

The solution was that I finally recognized the problem and put him and his bike on a stand and taught him how to reach the shifter in all postions, whether hes seated or standing. Now he rips through the gears braap braap braaap.

Brings a tear to my eye to hear him shifting up through the gears on his way to a stepup we have thats just out of a corner.

[roostu912]

For my son I layed out markers on our track where I thought he should shift. The markers were traffic cones so there was no mistaking when He was suppose to shift. It worked. I tried the the yelling approach it is very disruptive. Good luck

[glenrmz]

For my son I layed out markers on our track where I thought he should shift. The markers were tyraffic cones so there was no mistaking when He was suppose to shift. It worked. I tried the the yelling approach it is very disruptive. Good luck

I'm gonna try that at his next outing. Will let you know how it turns out.

[Junior426]

This one may be harder, but maybe its possible for you. Find another rider that is a bit older than your son who has a bike similar in size to your sons to ride with. Have the other rider simply talk to him about it and if possible, have them ride together and make sure the other rider makes many abrupt shifts. Sometimes all it takes is a little peer support. Hope this is possible and works for you, if not then sorry. Good luck and ride safe.

[monkey_man]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. We went out yesterday and put a combination of them to use. I started by having him ride on the 450 with me. I worked the clutch and brakes and had him shift. All along I was over exaggerating the feel of the bike. After about 20 minutes of this we switched back onto his bike where he rode on a flat track just practicing starting and shifting up through the gears. It gave him a feel for when the engine was topped out in a gear and he need to shift to the next one. After about 10-15 minutes of this we went onto the MX track where I placed some signs at various locations with the gear I thought he should be in. It wasn't perfect, but after 4-5 laps he seemed to start really getting it. When I would hear the engine start to bog down (like 4th gear through a tight turn), I would soon hear him grab a lower gear and take off again. I guess the real test will be the next time we go out to see if it sticks with him, but I think he is well on his way. My next question may be "How do you get them off of your bike?" He seemed to enjoy that way too much.....

Thanks again for all the great suggestions.