Suzuki Jr50
SUZUKI JR50
A Mini-Motorcycle for Little Kids
There were skeptics around the office when I said that I was planning to buy a mini motorcycle for my 5-year-old, Damian.
“Are you sure a kid that little has the coordination to work the throttle and brakes?” asked one.
“I have trouble with the idea of a 5-year-old on a motorcycle,” said another. “My kids were at least 10 before I let them loose on a bike.”
They hadn't come home from work one day to find Damian shooting down the driveway on a skateboard, standing up. (The week before, he was kneeling and paddling slowly.)
They hadn’t been there the time he rode past at speed on a neighbor’s 24 in. Stingray bicycle, waving and shouting. (Last time 1 had seen him, he was riding his Big Wheel tricycle.)
Then there was his collection of motorcycle magazines and posters; his enthusiasm for and constant wearing of the old, battered Bell Star 1 gave him; his reluctance to give up his falling-apart molded plastic Fonzie motorcycle riding toy in favor of the new. trick Big Wheel we gave him for Christmas. (“It doesn't have an engine.” he said at the time.)
If ever a 5-year-old was ready for a real machine, Damian was.
Obviously, there were legitimate questions.
What machine? Could Damian learn to ride safely? How could we teach him?
Those questions are the same faced by any parent with an eager-to-ride youngster.
Picking the machine was the easiest. Suzuki's JR50 is a 49cc two-stroke Single with oil injection, a one-speed transmission and a centrifugal clutch. With half of the 0.3 gal. tank full, the machine weighs 85 lb. and has a seat height of 18.2 in. The bike fit Damian perfectly, wasn't too heavy for him to balance, and came with a removable exhaust restrictor plate. With the plate in, exhaust flow (and thus power output) is limited, and the machine can reach a maximum speed of only 13 mph. With the plate out, the bike will run 30 mph. As Damian grew and became a better rider, the bike’s power could easily be increased to suit him.
Those features, plus the fact that Suzuki has a good dealer network and parts availability for its tiny machines, offset the steep $369 price (just two years ago it was $199) and made up my mind.
The first task was outfitting Damian for the ride. I worried about buying Damian a helmet, because the only child-sized one I could find didn’t have Snell 1975 approval. On the other hand, any helmet is better than no helmet, and because the exhaust restrictor would limit the Suzuki’s speed to 13 mph. 1 decided to go ahead and buy the helmet (for about $22) at a local shop.
Finding good quality gloves and goggles wasn't as difficult. Castre kiddy gloves come in three sizes and sell for $12.95. Carrera kid-size goggles also cost $12.95 at a nearby dealership.
A long-sleeve shirt, heavy, long pants and hiking boots (which he already had) completed Damian's riding outfit.
The lessons started with the engine off and the bike on the sidestand. with Damian aboard. Because the JR50 has a centrifugal clutch. Damian didn't have to worry about a clutch lever or manual shifting. All he had to do was learn how (and when) to speed up. slow down, and brake. After an explanation of controls, 1 had Damian work the throttle and brakes upon command while looking forward—not at the controls. It took several practice sessions before he could do it w ithout looking down. I kept the dry runs short—10 to 15 min.—to match a 5-year-old’s attention span, and rewarded Damian after each session by giving him a ride on either the little Suzuki or one of my street bikes.
John Ulrich
Despite the practice. Damian was nervous at the start of his first solo ride on a large, flat dirt lot. We ran through the controls once more, then started the engine. I walked alongside, holding the bars, as he tentatively turned on the throttle. When I let go of the bars, Damian instantly tumbled over in a heap, unhurt but surprised. I picked up the bike, set him on it, and told him to go. All at once he was on the gas and rolling. I walked alongside, within reach, shouting instructions:
“Go. Stop. Go. Stop. Go. Put your feet up. Stop.”
Next, 1 walked to a spot about 10 ft. in front of where Damian waited, then told him to ride toward me and stop just in front of me. I wanted to make sure he could (and would) stop when he should, and 1 knew' that if he was out of control and headed my way, 1 could lift him off the bike safely before he hit anything.
Each riding session lasted about 20 min. Sometimes we practiced one session a day, sometimes several days intervened between practices. For four sessions, Damian rode toward me and stopped at my feet, practicing getting under way, keeping feet on the pegs, and coming to a halt. The distances gradually increased until he was riding 60 ft. on his own, reaching the bike's maximum speed, and then stopping fully under control when he reached where I was standing.
In subsequent sessions. Damian rode about 60 ft. away from me, stopped, turned around by pushing the bike, then rode back.
I knew the kid had things well in hand when he decided—without consultation— to simply make a u-turn at the end of his run, instead of stopping. The next thing I knew, he was braking into the u-turn and gassing it off the apex, putting his foot down only when one wheel or the other started to slip. Soon he started seeking out bumps, and stood up on the pegs to cross them.
A few sessions more and Damian could be trusted to ride without moment-bymoment supervision. He fell a few times as he learned to use the brakes and ride sand, but always got right up and either rode off or yelled for help restarting. He built a small hump (he calls it a jump) with a shovel in the backyard and actually gets the front wheel airborne as he comes off it.
The bike seems bulletproof. After hours and hours of hard use, the only attention it demanded was a chain adjustment. It doesn’t use much gas, runs forever on one fill-up of CCI injection oil, hasn't fouled the spark plug and has proven immune to damage from minor crashes. With the restrictor in, the engine never gets on the powerband, slogging along at a steady pace with a dull, droning exhaust note. The bike is quiet enough that backyard use during the day hasn’t raised any ire from the neighbors. It’s a civilized recreational toy.
Damian is living proof that a 5-year-old can be taught to ride without serious trauma. He isn't the youngest boy or girl ever to learn to ride, (California dirt tracker Larry Bird’s boy rode at about age 3, if memory serves right) and there’s an English boy of 5 who jumps barrels and rides through rings of fire as part of a stunt show. But that’s not important.
What is important is that Damian is having a good time and developing a feeling of accomplishment at the same time. He isn’t the biggest kid on the block, nor the fastest runner, nor the best baseball player.
But w ithout a doubt, he’s the motorcycle champion of the neighborhood. SI
SUZUKI
JR50
DiMENSIONS
SPECIFIATIONS
$369
