How old do you have to be to ride a bike pillion?

We both have motorbikes and my daughter is six, we want to be able to take her out with us but we are worried she is too young. Does anyone have any experience of taking small children as pillion passengers on the back of their motorbikes and what sort of helmet size do you go for?

In Britain there are only 3 requirements for pillion passengers:

1) They must be able to reach the foot-pegs safely. It is perfectly legal to move or modify to foot-pegs to achieve this.
2) They must wear a correctly fitted, safety approved crash helmet.
3) If they are under the age of 16, they must have the parent's or guardian's permission to ride on the back of the bike.

There is no minimum age for pillion passengers in Britain.

I was riding pillion with my dad at the age of 5.
I had a good lid and leathers etc and I always held on to him and not the bike grab rail.

This was going back a while but its still perfectly legal.
He had a Gpz600r new and I never had any trouble holding on. It was all we had as he never had a car licence.

Ive also seen a belt that you wear that has small grabhandles on it to enable the pillion to hold on better. . Maybe thats a thought. I saw it in the MCN

In the UK there is no hard and fast rule. The general accepted theory is that :
A: they must be strong enough to hold on
B: Their feet must comfortably reach the pillion foot pegs
C: Get them protective kit at least as good as yours, JTS do armoured kids textiles.

http://www.jtsbikerclothing.com/cgi-bin/...

that is thier kids page, made the same as their adult kit.

If you can get one for your bike, consider fitting a topbox, this gives them something to lean against and goes a long way into getting rid of that "gonna fall off the back!" fear.

Def NOT on the back
Put her in front on your seat when my kids were little i even made a foot rest that just slid under the front of the seat sometimes my jacket belt around them
But never open road or highway speeds just a putt around the hood to the cafe or whatever
The old blue haired ladies love to see that

You can be any age as long as you wear a helmet, have a proper pillion seat fitted to the bike and footrests for the pillion.

I aint taken a small child on the back of my bike, but if you go into your local bike shop they can size your daughter's head and give your her size.

In ohio:

No age limit, no size limit, they must wear a dot approved helmet if under 18 or if the driver is required to wear one, and they must have eye protection (sunglasses are usually sufficient) but a full face helmet is better...

aside from that, they are YOUR kids...

there is no minimum age in UK they have to be able to sit astride the seat & have both feet on the foot pegs , but you can fit footpegs higher thats what i did for my sons age 4 they started going to rallys with me,
helmet you need to buy child size's

Hey thanks for your level-headed answer, it did help me a lot.

There definately isn't a problem because I remember my mum's boyfriend taking me out on his motorbike when I was 2-4 years old. Just tell them to hold on for dear life and don't let go until it stops! Matt x

You don't say what state you're in (varies by state), but in California, they have to be big enough to have their feet rest on the pegs.

the ruhle is any passenger on a motorcycle must be able to place both feet on the passenger pegs and that is it so there are not a age limit but a size limit

Bring her to some bike shops and try on the helmets.
Different brand helmets use their own sizing methods.
Ask someone in the parts department to help you out.

no age limit,thier feet have got to reach flat on the factory installed foot pegs.
i would think a xxs helmet,maybe custom ordered ?

I took my 6 year old. No issues.