My Grandson's "Ride"

I have a 1.5 year old grandson, Reece (One of my Daughter Claudia's two kids and my son Ryan has two more....Damn that makes me feel old just writting that!)......Anyhow.....Reece is a complete motorcycle NUT! He will come out into the garage with me and sit on one of the bikes for hours if I let him. The other day I was over my son Ryan's house and I was watching the AMA Superbike races on Speed Channel, Reece stood at complete attention infront of the TV and watched just about the entire race! This is a kid that shows no interest in TV. He rarely watches "Barney" or "Tommy Train" or other kids programs....But when ever a motorcycle is on TV...There he is, totally enthralled........The other day I saw this little red motorcycle at the store and just had to buy it for him. You should have seen his face when I brought it into the house!
Having your Kids (and now grandkids) ride is always a delemma for me. Although there is almost nothing on this planet I would rather do that ride a motorcycle, I fear for my kids that ride. My daughter Angela was the first one to take riding seriously. She attended the Motorcycle Safety Foundation training and got her license, progressed up through three bikes, did a bunch of riding and toured one or twice with me. She always wore the gear and was (is) one of the best motorcycle riders I ever had the pleasure of riding with. Although currently she doesn't have a bike, I was always concerned for her safety when she was riding.
Ryan rode for a bit. At one point he had a Ducati 996 "death machine" and as much as I tried to get him to wear the gear, he is a confirmed "squid"........What can you do.........Al least he wears a helmet.......and recently he has been know to wear a Joe Rocket jacket......
My son-in-law Mike has come a long way in his riding. He started out on a Honda 600Fi "crotch rocket", but found that bike very uncomfortable and decided to adopt the Harley lifestyle. Thank God that only lasted about a year. Beenie helmet, sleeveless shirts, sneakers......a recipe for disaster! Now that Mike and my Daughter have two children, he's approaching his riding in a whole new way...Sold the Harley and bought a Honda VFR 800 Sport Touring motorcycle. Fantastic bike! He's outfitted it for serious touring and bought all the gear....Boots, full helmet, fully armored pants and jacket...........His riding skills have improved measurable, but most of that might have been that Harley........We took our first long camping tour last weekend and I think I can say Mike had a good time......It was so much fun riding with him up on some great curvy roads we found in New Hamshire, and camping out at night.....He was a bit sore after 450 miles, but he'll get used to it. I told him long distance riding uses mucles you don't usually use, it takes a while to work them in..............I can wait to get back from the trip and do some touring with him......if he can get a pass from my daughter :-)