Neddog wrote:Personal height and even physical strength has absolutely nothing to do with the type of bike you should ride. ...Riding a motorcycle is all about balance. ..For the record, I'm 5'5", have had 8 bikes, ridden over a million miles, and have never in my life owned a bike I could straddle flat footed, not even as a new rider - so don't believe anybody who tells you that you should be flat footed sitting on a bike.
If this is your opinion, you would do well to admit a couple of things.
1. Your first sentence, while your opinion, is far from true for most people learning to ride. For example, a 5'0" 100 pound woman, who does no extra physical exercise would be hard pressed to learn the ropes on a gold wing, or any "standard" in stock configuration. Even many cruisers will simply be to bulky for her. Size and strength can be a very big deal for a new rider.
2. Your second statement is partially true, but not really at speeds above a walking pace.
Your experience is clearly different from many folks, but advising a new rider not to believe many other experienced riders is generally not considered good behaviour, regardless of how many miles you have ridden. For example, I have forgotten more about B52 navigation and bombing than most men will ever know. That doesn't make me qualified to argue with a B2 pilot about the way he does it now.
I'm not trying to be a jerk, and I won't argue a response to this, but many people read the advice written here, and most of it is very good. When bad advise slips through, we all have a responsiblity to make a kind correction as quickly as possible. Most of us are simply trying to reduce the variables for the new rider, understanding they will ultimately make their own decision. When it comes to "Absolutes" in motorcycling, the physics are a good example. Physical size and strength , on the other hand, can easily be adjusted for, and should be, with a proper choice of bike size and type, and possibly saddle /bar/shock variations.
If at all possible, get a bike you can flat-foot (at least on one side) at a stop, especially if you are light weight or weak-muscled. You will not be "balancing" at a complete stop very often, or for very long in day-to-day traffic situations.
Which can be really fustrating.