Total Motorcycle Community Forums

For what it's worth, my MSF course taught me to always have the right foot on the break therefore only putting the left foot on the ground at a stop.

Regardless, you have to be comfortable with the height of your bike for how you will ride it. Lowering it might be a good option.

We need High_Side in this thread... his wife has had a bike lowered...

Gummiente wrote:

IMO - it's best to find one that fits you out of the box and make upgrades to the suspension (better shocks, etc), rather than mess with the geometry by lowering it.

This is bang on however if you are a shorty (as is my wife) there are very few bikes that will work for you. Add to this that most smaller bikes are geared for newbies and you have a need to find an option that you can't get with a stock bike. Like others have mentioned, shaving the seat (at a loss of comfort), taller boots (to look like Sir Elton John), or lowering the bike are all options. All I can say is we have been down these routes and can conclude that you need to consider using all of these methods and not just one exclusively. Lowering links for rear suspension are available for some models and if you drop the the forks in the triples while keeping things in proportion the bike will still handle quite well. The downside: ground clearance - of lack thereof. You think that you can be careful around speed bumps and potholes but something will always get you if you go too low. When you are remounting an exhaust at the side of a highway in the rain in Idaho - you think about not going quite so low!

As for touching with one foot, not a problem for some of us but you can get yourself easily in to trouble with a little sand in a parking lot, or a low spot etc. If you are comfortable with this go for it - but it may be a concern.

Hope that this helps,

High_Side

P.S> now lets lobby the manufacturers for some options for shorter riders!