I grew up riding dirt and motocross bikes. When I began riding I was 5 years old and my dad bought a Honda 50. Remember those? Three speed automatic transmission, very little suspension travel and big balloon knobby tires. My older brother and I rode the wheels off that thing. Mini bike riding clothing was for the most part non existent back then, this was around 1965, but the one thing dad insisted my brother and I wear was a youth motorcycle helmet and goggles. Mine was open face with a duck bill visor and I put all kind of motocross stickers on it. Stuff like Belray Oils, BSA, Husky, Maico and CZ motorcycles. By the time I out grew that motorcycle helmet it was scratched and scraped all over but had I not been wearing a motorcycle helmet I would not be as dang handsome as I am today! Next bike we moved up to was the Honda SL 125 as soon as Honda brought this model out. By this time my brother had lost interest in riding so much but I was hooked big time. I bought a new motorcycle helmet to match the color of the bike, switched from the street and trail tires to knobbies, lowered the gearing, added a performance exhaust pipe, motocross grips on the handle bars and one of those front fender rubber dirt flaps to the front of the fender. I was 8years old now and I rode this bike all year round, even in the snow. Several guys in the neighborhood had bikes and at times there would be 4 to 10 of us trail riding or racing around a track we made. We all wore a motorcycle helmet and by this time most were wearing motocross boots and gloves. On our race track we had a jump and I actually broke the frame on that old Honda after an especially hard landing. Dad had it welded back together and I was right back out there. Today's young motorcycle riders have a great selection of bikes, clothing and choices for a motorcycle helmet. And with the Internet these future motocross racers can buy youth helmets online for a great price from a huge selection of online motorcycle helmets companies along with performance parts and riding gear.