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I am returning to riding at age 52 (so I am a little compromised right there . . .) so that my son age 8 and I can get into dirt riding. I got him a CR50F and I got a CRF450X. I think in hindsight I could have gotten by with CRF250X but as it is I figured I could use the heft since I currently weigh a little under 250 lbs ( and working my way back down to 220 hopefully). The problem I have had in the first 50 miles is that when I am standing up in first gear at low speeds I occasionally break at the waist falling into the "back seat" if I goose the throttle accidentally (this happens when I am relaxed often after doing fairly well on some hills) and then the bike is a rocket leaving me behind usually bruising my bum and tweaking my spine a good bit (four times so far) and the bike plastic is getting a bit scratched. I must loose my grip on the clutch and forget to regrip my right hand and forget the foot brake all arr once. I wear two carbon fiber knee braces which may be why I can't hang onto the bike. I am frustrated and came back yesterday with a bad attitude. My son is having a ball and I want to keep up with him. So far I have decided to sit down when in first gear especially when tired and to buy hockey pants just in case I forget. Any other suggestions as to how I can improve besides not forgetting to regrip and clutch in and step down on the foot brake? Maybe I should rest up more often and drink more water or wear an innertube around my waist of take up golf or knitting

ive never ridden a dirt bike until i took my saftey course...but it really helped me to get the hell out of first gear as soon as possible...2nd gear seemed alot smoother and almost imossible to bog out...hope that helps!

You may have bought too much bike... But you did buy the X version which is a little less mean than the non X but still.

Imagine if you un-cork that thing....

1) Get yourself a good Gripper Seat Cover
2) Squeeze more with your legs
3) relax a bit and go with the bike, you need to feel part of it and be read for that power hit.

You said that when you're standing up, that it will put you back down. You should always be bent at the knees and at the waist. Support your body with your legs. Don't 'hang' onto the bars. IF you have the grip of death on the bars then that will happen. You'll also get a lot of arm pump.

Relax, get to know that bike. It will come.

install a seat belt.

Practice and exersize. Dirt biking is a very physical activity and uses lots of muscles you don't normally use. Gotta strengthen them up. And throttle/clutch control is critical.

Keep at it, 50 miles is not much time to adapt. You and your boy will have years of good times ahead.