Clutching for juniors

[kaarelj]

Hi,

Your suggestion, how to get kids to master throttle and clutch control? First on the very basic level of get moving and stopping. Mastering clutch and throttle is endless journey.

Kids 10 and 11 are both okay with Oset and quite confident on wheels. Now they have their first Beta 80 jr. We took our first small step and made first circle with all expected issues like frog jumps, stalls and extensive throttle etc 😅 They kind of get the logic and mechanics, what is the gearbox and clutch and why they pull it. They also kind of know the sound when its too much revs and where is the safe level.

I would imagine to start with just start-stop on flat ground and then on easier slopes for so many hours till they feel somewhat confident. And then take some 8's and slaloms. At least I practiced this way and get to some level.

But do you have some suggestions, practices to carry out with kids to make the process as smooth as possible?

Cheers

[teamferret]

The way I've done it is to up the tickover slightly then instruct them not to use the throttle, Spend some time just letting them feel the bite of the clutch without actually moving helps too

[arthritic]

On a Beta 80  Jnr I only allowed him to use 2nd in practice sessions, and plenty of figures of eight. Problem now is that he won't use 1st even when its the best option.

[Glayne]

My 7 year old is on a Beta 80jr this year when he is not on his KTM 50. He seems to be preferring the Beta clutch and gears bike over the 1 speed KTM. The Beta is still large for him for sure but we are having fun and will be able to hold on to this bike for many years. My only suggestions are to ride with him, as much as possible and try not to have too many days between rides. Keep it fun, just ride, make it a little challenging and use lots of encouragement. He learns best by imitating others, I try to exaggerate many of the skills, when I do he has lots of questions of why which is good.

[Goudrons2]

When I taught our boy to ride and others to ride on the road, I found it important to "mentally" link the throttle, clutch and rear brake together.

Get them to set the throttle, feed the clutch in and modulate the results of that with the rear brake rather than the throttle, so they have the bike pulling against the rear brake as the crawl along.

It keeps them from working the throttle back and forth (and lurching about) and shows them they can set the throttle, release the clutch yet control the speed with the rear brake rather then the throttle.

It takes a while, but when it sinks in you can throw all those tight control turns at them and they find them a breeze.

Edited September 16, 2021 by Goudrons2

[kaarelj]

Nice, thank you guys.

We were able to make first proper circle. At the moment keeping the "training" short but goal is to make bike run every day even for 5-10minutes. So the muscular memory would start to kick in.
They are just not used to the first punch the petrolengine gives you when releasing the clutch and kind of scares them. Because the electric has this short moment of power buildup and the acceleration characteristics are completely different.

[trapezeartist]

If you're concerned about them starting too fast, hold the ignition lanyard and walk beside them. Then if they do shoot off with uncontrolled acceleration, you'll pull the lanyard off and stop the engine. 

[kaarelj]

Fast is not an issue, as the First gear is slow and there's a lot of room around them. Plus they are going much faster on their Oset, so all good there. Even if the initial acceleration frightens them, then nothing can happen as the max speed will reach momentarily.

But yeah, it took some practice, on third day one of them is capable of doing quite ok in terms of slow slalom and eights. Even trying to do some wheelies with clutch, failing in timing or overdoing completely 😂

Other one is more cautious and takes some more time. Kids are different.

Most useful so far has been just riding time. I've  let them to free ride and every once in a while give some tasks to do like slow slaloms or stop and go's. And then just free ride, so they start feeling ok.