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I was wondering how many of you have had to get your motorcycles lowered in order to ride comfortably. I have a number of friends with VERY short legs, and once of my friends got a Valkyrie, and was okay with the size and did not have to have it lowered, but one of my friends is really interested in riding (especially now that all I talk about is restoring my new to me motorcycle) she did great on a small electric scooter but dropped out of the safety course because of leg shortness, and not being comfortable on the bikes they provided. Yet I have spoken to a number of slight built women who were riding 600's and had them lowered and loved them...Thanks

Rather than hitting the suspension, I went with getting the seat shaved as the first try to getting better foot placement. I just took it to a local bike shop, told them what I needed and it was ready in about a week. That did the trick without needing to get in the suspension. Not just the thickness of the seat, but the WIDTH is a very big factor. The wider a person's stance is, the longer the legs of the 'triangle' have to be in order to reach the ground.

Shave the seat and contour the sides to a more narrow profile, should cost about $100. Now, don't turn it into a full on banana seat from the 80s bicycle, that'll be a bit rough for longer rides. But the sides need to be shaved to match the lower top, otherwise your might actually widen the seat even though it's lower




Edit to add: My inseam is 26.5", I'm 5'3" tall. Bike was 780mm. I had 3-4cm shaved from the height of the seat and the sides better contoured.

Shorts wrote:
My inseam is 26.5", I'm 5'3" tall.

Don't you ride a Ducati ST? That bike is pretty tall for someone with an inseam of 27"! Impressive!

HYPERR wrote:

Shorts wrote:
My inseam is 26.5", I'm 5'3" tall.

Don't you ride a Ducati ST? That bike is pretty tall for someone with an inseam of 27"! Impressive!

lol I wish! But no, the ST2 is hubby's. I'm on a 2000 Honda VTR250.

Shorts wrote:

HYPERR wrote:

Shorts wrote:
My inseam is 26.5", I'm 5'3" tall.

Don't you ride a Ducati ST? That bike is pretty tall for someone with an inseam of 27"! Impressive!

the ST2 is hubby's.

Oh!

I rememebered talking about the 944 with you....

HYPERR wrote:

Shorts wrote:

HYPERR wrote:

Shorts wrote:
My inseam is 26.5", I'm 5'3" tall.

Don't you ride a Ducati ST? That bike is pretty tall for someone with an inseam of 27"! Impressive!

the ST2 is hubby's.

Oh!

I rememebered talking about the 944 with you....

Yep - I'm the garage junkie gear head in our household. It's unconventional that for sure

mazer,

I'm 5'4" and ride an '03 Harley Dyna. I've shaved the seat and put on smaller shocks. It now "fits" me perfectly - flat footed when sitting. At least in my case, you can make a bike fit you. (When hubby takes it for a test after after he "gives it a once over", he looks like one of those circus clowns on a miniature bike. He's 6'3".)

NancyP

Ha, I remember when I got my 400. One of my co-workers wanted to see it, so I brought it down to work and when he got on that bike, I thought "oh my gawd, he looks like he is on a little kids toy!!" Not the BIG motorcycle I thought I had just upgraded to (I had sold my 200). Now that I have the 700, I almost feel like it is too big. We will see when I get it going if I will be comfortable on it or not.

I am 5'2" and ride a 99' softail. I have shaved the seat in half, lowered the front and shortened the shocks. Works well for me, almost flat footed now!