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Re: [ST] Bikes for the vertically challenged



On Mon, 5 Dec 2005, Marc Van Est wrote:

> I've recently had a taste of what it must be like to want a decent bike but not be tall enough.
>
> My wife wants to have her own bike next year, instead of being perched on the back of mine. She is not that tall, but still taller than some of my male friends, so I didn't expect much of a problem in getting a bike she can ride.
>
> So far we've tried out the SV650 Suzuki and the new ER6N twin Kawasaki 
>for size. No can do, the balls of her feet are still a few inches off the 
>deck.( On my sprint she is miles from the deck.)5D

Don't give up on the taller bikes necessarily. The easiest height 
conversion is to have the seat redone. The foam from the factory I think 
most of us can agree is pretty crappy anyway. By replacing the factory 
foam with a much higher quality foam that is thinner, you can get an even 
more comfortable seat that shaves up to a couple of inches off the height.

I know and can recommend this guy:
http://www.erston.com/

> She doesn't want a Harley, so it looks like we are limited to the Ducati Monster 620, which wouldn't have been my first choice because of the price and running costs. At least the Italians build bikes for all sizes.
>
> There are so many nice first time bikes, but only if you are tall enough. IMHO the manufacturers are losing out on sales by not offering decent lower alternatives.

My girlfriend has been very pleased with her Ninja 250. It is a great 
first time bike and not tall at all (and it is cheap!). I can vouch that 
it is a lot of fun for a more experienced rider as well. As soon as I lost 
my concern for "it can't *really* be healthy to rev at 10,000 rpms for an 
extended period of time can it?" that little bike became a total hoot! 
VrrrrrrrrOOOOMM.

Once she gets more confident she may find that not being able to get both 
feet on the ground is not such an issue anyway. Some riders still care 
about it, some don't.

But if she does care, and when she is ready for her 2nd bike, have her 
check out the Buells. Other than the new Ulysses (which is a tall bike 
even for me at 6'3"!) they are all *very* low and also carry their weight 
very low. Noone else makes anything like it.

And another recommendation for the Superhawk - it is the one bike that my 
girlfriend and I both sat on and said "that's comfortable." For her I 
think the narrowish low seat gave her a good plant with both feet. Too 
often the lower bikes have wider seats, making it still a difficult reach 
for shorter people.

Paul
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