Too Short To Ride - Advice?

[EViS]

Me and the girlfriend have got through the CBT and have our Theory booked for next weekend, then onto the DAS. However, during the CBT we discovered that she's not the tall legged blonde we always thought she was . At 5ft height and a petite frame, she's having to keep the bike upright on her tiptoes. At the end of the road ride, she stopped at a junction with a severe camber, lost her footing/didn't have enough strength to keep the bike upright, and dropped it. No harm done to her or the bike. However, this 'incident' does bring up questions as to how she will fair with a bigger bike when it comes to the DAS.

Back at the school, our instructor got her on a big bike and popped a piece of 4x2 timber under her feet to show how much more the suspension can be dropped (circa 45mm). This helped, but again, she's tip toeing, only this time with a much heavier machine.

Are there any solutions and/or tips for those vertically challenged riders? Do (big) bikes exist which can be lowered sufficiently? Or is this one of those moments in life when you simply have to suck it up and admit defeat before you even start'?

[arry]

Girls can get boots with a big ass platform which will help.

[secretagentmo...]

[kgm]

You only really need to get one foot down. I rarely put both down. I'm not tall but have no trouble riding really tall bikes that I can only get the very tips of my toes down on, ball with one foot. You get there with experience. Maybe some time on something small and light will help her to begin with, like a grom.

Big bike wise the er6 is quite low and can be lowered further. My 5'4 GF would have little trouble with one at full height. There will be others. Nothing wrong with a smaller, lighter bike to begin with either. There's a lot of fun to be had on 250-400s.

It mainly comes with experience as I said but there's plenty of ways to make it work including high soled boots. I wouldn't worry about dropping it either. Most of us have managed it about some time.

Get something cheap to begin with!

[WD Forte]

[Snowdonia Rider]

My wife is 5'2" and can do my SV fine. She can get a foot down on my EXC too but it's quite a stretch, but doable. You could look into a Harley Superlow or if that's too cruisery (sp) a Harley Street 750 which is more like a traditional naked.
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[pinkyfloyd]

For seriously short people we have suggested someone gets their own bike, provided it is within the DVSA list of approved bikes, then we can do the training on that.

Some of the lower cruiser style bikes may well be perfect for her
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[Rogerborg]

[andy-b2]

https://youtu.be/Bwjpc8I-0kw

[TUG]

[BumpingUglys]

The training school I went to had three CB600s, one of which was significantly lowered for this very reason.
Might be worth checking round your local schools to see if someone has something similar?
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Ducati M695

[kev2b4]

I'm 5ft 3", i/s leg 29", 55 kg, tried lowering back of my bike by 25mm-- couldn't do it - as has already been lowered- so put up with toes only on the floor, don't really want to lower it any more as not sure what that would do to the handling, but with a pillion is easier as back goes down a little
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previous C50,CD175,GT500,GSX250,CB750KZ,GSX750E,GSX1300R

[tom_e]

I've got a 27 inch inside leg and with the lower seat on my SV I can just and I mean just get tip toes on the ground if I put both feet down but in the time I've been riding I can't remember a single time where I had to get both feet down and I can happily flat foot one foot and have the bike lean with me.

I'm probably almost triple her weight though which will obviously make it a bit easier but I'd say it's more about gaining the confidence to let the bike fall to just before it's tipping point and knowing where that is so you don't end up a heap on the floor.

[andyscooter]

I have a 27" inside lweg and I managed a bandit and now a Enfield
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[hellkat]

Sportster (Harley)

Mine is quite low slung, and I'm only 5'5" with a 28" inside leg.
It's perfect.

When you ride a Harley, you take a certain amount of flak from other riders, so you have to have confidence in yourself. Harleys are not for sensitive little flowers But "the public" (as opposed to other riders) think Harleys are wonderful for some mad reason, so you get a decent amount of admiring attention.

It's a bit agricultural, but it's not heavy : I can even reverse it just by walking backwards with it (I have a famous lack of strength for holding up bikes). And it has a decent centre of gravity

Although I do/have had quite a few other bikes (Jap) which are considerably taller or heavier, I just find other ways to deal with it, there are few bikes I have been unable to get on. Once you have a confidence in your own ability to ride, you can ride just about anything. Why restrict yourself just cos you'r a short arse. I have a blokey mate who has a proper dinky little best friend blokey mate, and he's ALWAYS ridden a Harley. In London. So don't ever think "Oh I'm too short".
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[Amber Phoenix]

My wife is similarly short at just 5' 1 1/2" tall. She was generally fine on smaller 125/250 bikes, due to them being pretty narrow. As for bigger bikes, we've had to be really choosy.

A local training school had a lowered CBF500, which she did a back to biking session on (after many years no riding). She handled it fine, so we've picked up her own one. Shortened rear shock, dropped forks, lowered seat and cut down side stand. She's grand on this, though still can't quite get feet flat on floor.

She did briefly try a ZZR400 (sleeved down ZZR600, so no smaller and heavier!). Not good at all, too wide, big stretch to bars, tits on tank, tippee-toes on floor and heavy clumbersome bike. And that was with seat cut down.

The key thing is to avoid stuff that is wide (pretty much any inline 4), stuff that's bit of a stretch (most sports bikes). There's a fair chance you'll need something with lowered suspension (either shock or dog bones) and a lowered seat (either oem or custom cut down). The BMW F650GS is also a good shout, as this can be had in very lowered form from factory. My sat on one from the Herts BMW training school at a bike show, and was pretty much flat footed on it.

Cruisers are also an option, so long as your arms'n'legs can reach the bars and foot rests!
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[talkToTheHat]

My sister is about 5'1" and could flat-foot the virago I used to have. That should mean 125s like the suzuki GZ Marauder might be an option. You can get through a mod1 on such bikes, but the u-turn is tricky. I took my pass for a 33bhp licence on a GZ, and when I got my virago and called in to the riding school's shop for some minor consumable they asked if I thought it would get round a mod 1 course so I demonstrated on their mock up of such, which is a little tighter. Worked well.

Bigger cruisers tend to be wide, which doesn't help short legs. There are all kinds of things with halfway modern engines and low seats worth trying.
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Bandit. does. everything.

[Billy Balthorpe]

Kawasaki VN 800. Low seat height, cheaper and (IMHO) better than a Harley 883. Just make sure your feet can reach the forward controls before you buy one tho.
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M.O.B. Successfully taking the piss since 2014.

[petalbriefs]

Ahhh hello

I am just about 5"0 and I have an R6.

Its lowered to the max and I can still only get the ball of one foot down, but I manage.

Confidence is a big factor, once she gets some confidence, she wont need to get both feet down.

You just adapt!
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Proud owner of an R6 + ZXR400
Honda CBR 125 R - Stolen

[BTTD]

FFS.

Thread needs pics.


Edit: On a more serious note, monkey bike.

[Billy Balthorpe]

This lady is a new rider, yes? Therefore I would recommend something that is very easy to get both feel flat on the floor, hence my VN800 suggestion, a Virago 535 would also be suitable but has less in the way of umph. Once she has confidence in her own riding and realises that she doesn't actually need to put both feet flat on the ground, she can progress to a taller "lowered" bike. Plus she wont lose much, if anything on a £1500 VN when she comes to sell it on.
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[c-m]

My girlfriend was too short to ride the bikes at two schools. In fact one school took her to another school on the day of the CBT as the duke 125 was too tall. This despite the fact that the person how does bookings for the school sat her on the bike and told her she'd be fine for it. Needless to say, she couldn't confidently touch the floor.

Anyway here's some ladies bike gear in petite sizes

https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=318132

[Recluso]

Look at the Yamaha XJ6 range for a first bike. I had mine lowered (specially shortened shock from Wilbers) and it made a massive difference. It's also fluffy enough to not be intimidating. They're discontinued now but you can still find them fairly easily.

There's a lot you can do to adjust bikes without automatically going to sit on the cruisers (pet peeve to be told that cruisers are all you can fit on) but people are right in saying that confidence is a big factor.

I've just upgraded to a Tracer 900 and have brought the seat height down considerably with a lowered seat and shock and for added kerpow, invested in a pair of Daytona m-star boots with the internal lift.

No such thing as too tall for a lot of bikes these days. Just don't let your missus have her confidence flattened by people telling her she needs to consider bikes she may not like as it won't inspire her to persevere. I stubbornly refused to try a cruiser as that just wasn't what I was wanting and magically all these other options (lowering etc) appeared. Just remember that if you do adjust a bike with a lowered shock that you'll likely need to adjust the forks as well with a different sized set of springs and spacers.
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[EViS]

Thanks for all the replies, most helpful . Today we rented the bikes for the day to get more accustomed to riding on two wheels before the DAS in April. Spent the afternoon riding around towns, villages, A and B roads in the country. We both gained more confidence and specifically Mrs EViS put into practice the advice of watching out for road camber and sliding her ass onto one side of the saddle at stops which comfortably got her entire foot onto the ground :thumb:. We haven't got her any boots with platforms yet, so when we do, she reckons she'll be more than comfortable.

Onwards and upwards, literally .

[Polarbear]

As said in numerous other threads by others and myself, Daytona Ladystars. Brilliant boots for the shorter girl, My missus swore by them when she was learning/inexperienced.
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