children as motorcycle passengers

My 4 year old daughter has been riding on the tank of my moto since she
was two. In a different country.

Here in the usa it seems to be frowned upon. Helmets are of course
necessary, but is there a minimum age for a child to be a passenger on a
motorcycle?

 

I'm pretty sure the law in CA reads that they must be able to reach
the passenger footpegs and be able to hold on to the rider or pillion
strap securely. I don't think there is a specific age limit. Tank
riding is not allowed.

Check the DMV motorcycle regulations to be sure.

 

I could rig up higher pegs in back I guess. This on a W650.

 

Riding on the tank is a definite no-no. The first cop who sees you
will pull you over and probably take your daughter into protective
custody.

If you absolutely have to carry a kid that small, I wonder if anyone
makes MC seats like those kiddy bicycle seats, you know, a plastic
seat that fastens on to the back of the bike and you can strap the kid
into. All things considered, that might be the safest thing. You
can't carry a 4-year-old in a CAR these days without some kind of
special seat.

 

CVC 27800 says that passengers have to sit on the seat, behind the
driver, and they must have footpegs.

A rider I knew installed a set of "bitch pegs" for his girl friend's
three year old daughter.

They were right under the seat.

 

Try one of these....
http://tinyurl.com/b5pj3

I got one when my daughter was 5 (the Mama-agreed-upon minimum riding
age), and it worked very well...hell she couldn't even fall off when
she fell asleep on the back of my Shovel. as fer pegs, I lucked out
with the HD 4-speed frame design....the upper shock studs were
perfectly placed and of the proper size to simply screw on a cheap set
of hi-way pegs.

--
Big Ben
BS#266
1979 FLH - fix, ride, repeat as needed
1981 XS400 - Mama's Bike
1974 GT550 - the project
1980 TS125 - first bike...needs some minor repairs
1992 Mercury Sable - 326,000 miles and counting and still getting
better than 20mpg

 

We used the CRV belts when our kids were young. Had the same great
experience as you, too. I highly recommend them for really young kids.
They tend to outgrow them by the time they are 10 years old, though.

The closest we ever came to tragedy when using them was my hubby going
down on a rain slicked road with baby daughter on the back. She was
dressed up properly, and on the back of her Dad's full dresser, so other
than a wide-eyed "what happened" she had no injuries. Neither did Daddy,
thank goodness. I will admit that the incident put some religion into
us, regarding riding in poor weather with the kids on the back.

No problem in getting rid of the CRVs thru the newsgroups when the kids
outgrew them, either.

--

Becky -- etcetera, etcetera, etcetera....

I'm half Amish. I work as a computer technician, but I still think that
zippers are the work of Satan.