Would I be showing my ignorance of US culture if I wondered what the hell kids under 12 were doing riding around on motor bikes anyway, never mind owning them?
I got my first motorcycle when I was 7.
Is this a form of natural selection in the States, to weed out people at an early age who are not naturally suited to living in a place where motor travel is considered as essential as breathing and eating?
I don't guess so. I only know one person in my life that has died on a motorcycle. He was an adult, was drinking and riding without a helmet. Because of his example, I've never been on a bike without a helmet.
I grew up on them. My father used to race motocross (way back in the late '60s)...and ride street bikes. My 85 year old grandfather recently put a sidecar on his Harley because grandma can't straddle the bike anymore (she's got a bad hip).
Of course, I've heard this same argument about people in the south giving children guns. I got my first shotgun when I was 11...and in my neighborhood that was considered late in life to get your first real gun. Still, the only person I know who has been killed with a firearm shot himself in the head on purpose just last summer.
