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Minimum (legal) riding passenger age in Texas

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Adan

Adan

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Is there such a thing in Texas/Federal law?

Took my 4 YO out for a ride around the neighborhood and now he is hooked! :rider: :lol2: :clap:


I am thinking a car seat (with 5 point harness) on a sidecar rig would be the best way to go for me, but not sure this is "legal" in Texas...
 
No minimum passenger age in Texas. The only thing is under the age of 21 they must wear helmet.
I have seen folks that bolted a kids car seat on the back of the bike and carried the kid there all strapped in.
Marty
 
While there is no minimum age, your pillion should be able to touch the footpegs if they aren't in a side car, and hang onto you. I started taking my daughter with me on my RT when she was seven. I'm not sue I would start much sooner than that. She has learned some very bad habits (never holding on for example) because she always rides with me on a bike that has a topcase.

Wayne
 
Sarah insisted I let her sit behind me on the KLR the other evening in the garage. She wanted to see if she could reach the passenger pegs yet. She's got about 8 inches to go... :doh: We were both disappointed. She's probably more excited about me going camping to Big Bend this weekend with the bike than I am :lol2: It makes me want a Ural realllll bad :ponder: I'd get the DS version, with the spare tire, shovel, extra gas can, etc,... I would love to take her or Daniel on some DS rides around here.
 
So here's my question: Everything I've been taught has been that the passenger must reach the footpegs before riding on the back. Yet, the below little excerpt from the above referenced page contradicts it...

Passenger Footrest - Not Required


Passenger Age Restriction - None

Can we get some input from our resident law enforcement?


:ponder:
 
Reaching the pegs may not be a legal requirement, but it is certainly a good safety requirement. Use of the pegs makes stabilizing the body MUCH easier.
 
While it seems like a contradiction, it's not.

A bike is not required to have passenger pegs as standard equipment.
But if you have a passenger, you must have passenger pegs (seems like common sense but I've seen pillions on some customs that sat on the fender-not even a pad, and had no pegs either :doh:). And a passenger must be able to reach said pegs.

But I'm a Taurus, not a LEO. ;-)
 
Tourmeister you beat me to that thought..... I would greatly advise that the passenger be able to reach and use the foot pegs for stability and keeping the feet from dangling and have the chance to get caught in the chain, shaft, wheel etc.... Yes it's fun to have your kid with you but the safety is the upmost importance......
 
Txstomper67 said:
Yes it's fun to have your kid with you but the safety is the upmost importance......
Click to expand...

Which is what I was pointing out. I picked my daughter up one time on my wife's bike (it was at the shop, so I stopped by to pick it up, then pick up my daughter after school). She nearly fell off because she was so use to having a topcase and suddenly she had nothing to lean on. I ended up calling my wife and she took her home in the car.

Safety first with my child on my bike.... that's my motto.

Wayne
 
My son started riding with me at 5 and is a great passenger. My daughter just started riding with me (She can touch the pegs thanks to kids MX boots from Dad for Christmas :trust: ). I havent taken her for any long street rides but we go do some DS on the DR and she loves it "Daddy can we go through the water again?" to which my reply is "As many times as you want".:rider:
 
OOOH! I shouldn't post in this one because I'm bad! Rick my son started going for short rides sitting in front at 3 or 4 not sure. With gear of course. Then as soon as he was too big for the front he went to the back. We were very lucky and never had any wrecks riding 2 up.
SRAD
 
SRADkneedragger said:
OOOH! I shouldn't post in this one because I'm bad! Rick my son started going for short rides sitting in front at 3 or 4 not sure. With gear of course. Then as soon as he was too big for the front he went to the back. We were very lucky and never had any wrecks riding 2 up.
SRAD
Click to expand...

I believe a lot of are guilty of that and most of us are very thankful that nothing has ever happened. My son when he was young loved to ride. He was always tall so he could reach the back pegs at a way to early age so he still got front seat till I thought he was old enough for back.
 
Ooh, used to do two in front on the XR100 until the got too big. Then one in front. But that was mostly just running around the yard.

I've got to put a backrest on the XR1200, since they can both reach the pegs on that one. As a result, Mom's giving the blessing for short trips soon. I'm looking forward to riding weather!

(No, 28° is not riding weather for the kids!)
 
We've started taking the 6 (almost 7) and 8 year olds on the back but both have something behind them. One bike has a hard topcase and on the other we stuffed a tailbag and mounted it to give them a backrest.

Since it's still a new concept for me to have a passenger at all, I think I spend too much energy making sure they're still ok back there - always checking in with a thumbs up at lights/stop signs, etc. If they like it for more than just short rides around town, it will be worth getting two more Starcom headsets so we can talk to them (since the bikes have Starcoms for the pilots anyway).
 
we used to ride in front of our uncle/parent... hand on the tank or bars and feet on the frame or case.
 
I've taken the kids around in front of me since they have been able to sit up. Well, in a parking lot anyway. They started riding with me around 5 simply based on reaching footpegs.

I did pick up "Luv Handles" to make it easier for them to get a grip. It's a web belt with handles for them to hold on to. $20 at Cycle Gear.
 
Tourmeister said:
It makes me want a Ural realllll bad :ponder: I'd get the DS version, with the spare tire, shovel, extra gas can, etc,... I would love to take her or Daniel on some DS rides around here.
Click to expand...

The Ural seems like lots of fun, but I am thinking more along the lines of an G-Old Wing or even HD :-P
 
Kids don't have the ability to comprehend the dangers of riding on a motorcycle so we as parents need to provide the proper risk assessment. For me, it's a reasonable risk to put my little one in a helmet and stick to my closed neighborhood loop at slow speeds on my GWing. No intersections, merging traffic, etc. Anything else would be not worth exposing him to. Most young kids don't even have enough strength to hold on tight during an evasive manuever if required.

I couldn't live with myself if something happened to him by after putting him in a risky situation he didn't need to be in in the first place. Life doesn't have to be so short and I don't have to be impatient. Kids grow up fast enough. Excessive risk is something you can take for yourself, but never should be something you put others into. Especially a child you're supposed to care for.
 
We started taking our daughter on the back of our bikes about a year ago...when her feet coudl reach the passenger pegs and she had the proper gear. Neither one of our bikes have a back rest so, we took a strap and made a belt out of it which we put around our waist. She then, holds on to the belt. We started slow...there were many trips just in and out of the drive, then down the street, then around the block, then a couple of blocks, etc....She has now worked her way up to about a 150 mile round trip ride. We eased her into it and that seemed to work the best for us. I would love to be able to find a back rest/sissy bar for my Legend because eventually, we would like to go on long, overnight rides....

However, every child is different. What worked for us, may not work for others...Just my input...
 
On our summer trip, we met a guy who was riding with his toddler behind him. She couldn't have been more than two. She was strapped in some sort of booster seat and wearing a helmet. When we first saw her, she was sleeping.

I wouldn't carry a passenger who couldn't reach the foot pegs.
 
ctoons said:
On our summer trip, we met a guy who was riding with his toddler behind him. She couldn't have been more than two. She was strapped in some sort of booster seat and wearing a helmet. When we first saw her, she was sleeping.

I wouldn't carry a passenger who couldn't reach the foot pegs.
Click to expand...

:eek2:

But out of curiousity, I wonder what the contraption was that he used... Do they make helmets that small??? :huh:
 
I've got three girls. Each one of them loves to ride. The oldest is 21 so no problem there. The 7 year old likes to ride but, has just got her own CRF50 so she would rather pilot herself. The 3 year old.... well, she loves riding too. But, although she is probably the most intelligent (at that same age) of the three, she is really lackadaisical about the dangers of riding. She thinks that since daddy has her, nothing could happen to her. So she doesn't give me the vibes that she is in tune with what's actually going on. Last summer before Ike tore up the beach, we brought the TW and XR to the beach. While riding down the beach she kept leaning over and shifting her wieght a lot. Luckily I realized she was falling asleep before something bad happened. Even at 5-10 mph, the thought that she could have fell really shook me. I think I made a mistake by assuming she was as capable as the other two were.
 
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