6 ways to convince your parents to let you ride a motorcycle

So you want to get on two wheels and experience all the benefits motorcycling has to offer, but your parents might have other ideas. Don’t worry, it’s not the end of the road, and we’ve got a few tips that could help you win your parents round to the idea of life on two wheels.

Suit up

This is important, make sure your parents know you’re aware of the risks and tell them you’re planning to wear the best protective gear you can afford. If there’s a piece of clothing you can’t afford, maybe ask your parents if they’ll help you out, with the understanding that you’ll always wear it when riding.

Act like an adult

Show your parents that you can handle responsibility. Start helping more around the house, Get a job, or a second job, and save up some money. If you’ve already got a car, drive sensibly and don’t rack up any points on your licence. If your parents can see you’re more mature than the average teenager they’ll treat you more like an adult and trust you more.

Hit them with the facts

Chances are if you’re parents are against you getting a bike, they’re focusing on the negative facts of motorcycling, such as the danger. What they probably don’t know is that bike are incredibly advanced now. The majority of new bikes come equipped with ABS and traction control to make them safer than your parents might think. Motorcycles generally get much better fuel economy than cars too, as well as being able to beat traffic and aid in stress relief.

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Be aware of the risks

It doesn’t matter how you spin it, motorcycling is more dangerous than driving a car, so it’s important you’re aware of this, accept it and are honest about it with your parents. Have a discussion about it and outline your plans for decreasing the danger when riding, such as always wearing protective gear from head to toe, wearing hi viz clothing, or taking an advance rider course.

Compromise

You probably want to get your leg over a 200bhp superbike and learn to wheelie as soon as possible. Your parents probably have a completely different idea so have a chat with them and reach a decision that everybody can be happy with. Maybe they want you to take an advanced riding course, or they want you to get a less powerful bike. If they know what you want, and you know what they want it should be easy to reach a decision.

Invite them along

There’s no better way to get people onboard than to invite them along to see for themselves what it’s all about. Maybe you’ve booked a day of off-road training that they could come along and spectate at – or even have a go! If there’s a Get On event near you they can have a go at riding for free! It could even be as simple as getting them to come along to a dealer or bike meet. Surround them with the things that got you interested in motorcycling and they might just see why you’re so keen on it.

Don’t tell them

If all else fails then go straight to the first page of the rebel’s playbook and do it anyway. It’s easier to seek forgiveness than permission, but who cares about forgiveness anyway when you’re riding off into the sunset on your shiny new bike?

 

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