One for the Girls

[dogman]

My GF would like to get into biking. But she is worried her height, 5'2" in her bare feet, will be a problem in her goal to get biking. Any help or advice from the female members of the forum would be great. How you got started and what was your progression to your present bike,,, thanks in advance.

[hornet]

I'll post for my missus

she's 5"2 and to help get her size 4 1/2 s down she wears daytona boots that are built up

her bike history

honda express 50cc to college
test on 500 failed as bike was far to tall
so passed on a 125 much happier with lower lighter bike
Then 2x honda hornets (1st one should have been restricted but wasnt)with seat cut down and stupidly soft suspension balls of feet only (handled really poor)
xt225 (serow) for trail riding its an awesome piece of kit that just works (yes still to tall for her really)
now rides Z1000 kawasaki with a custon spring 130 bhp at the back wheel and yes she can ride it( I hate it, handles like shite but its not my bike)

attitude can overcome high hurdles

good luck

hornet

[bull]

my daughter is 17 years old and stands around 5,2 to 5,3 tall and very very bold, she can ride any bike better than most men even myself no matter of its size or height. She has no fear at all when it comes to motorbikes and i once caught her doing wheelies on my varadero xl 1000 when she thought i was gone off some where and she dropped it too as it was full of scratches although she denied it, there is no talking to her at all., although she has been riding trail bikes from a very young age, it is still all about confidence and not the size of the bike.

[herman]

My wife is not overtall, she had an H100, 250 superdream custom, gs650l, sv650 and now a 250 virago for the rare sunny days we get now. The bikes she did'nt get on with were the ones that seem low but splayed her legs round the tank and then the reach to the bars had her boobs resting on the tank. stuff like my vfr were very uncomfortable for her. She prefers customs no question.

[fionaann]

Hi, I'm also 5ft2, I started biking 5 years ago, i started with a sr 125 Yamaha then 600 Diversion, 535 Virago, F650GS BMW and now have a G650GS BMW I can only get the balls of my feet on the ground but as long as you slide to one side that way you can get one foot flat on the ground, its all to do with confidence, the more you do it the better you are. she will get there, ive took my bike all round Europe which was brilliant, i loved it. hope this will help her, all the best

[Mr Toad]

My best girl is away but certainly the confidence thing is a biggy. Though she does stand 5' 6/7".

Not many bikes to choose from as you need to put one foot down, unless you are very confident, not all roads or junctions are level.

Might be worth looking at a BMW X Country 650 made from 07 to 09/10, not cheap but a really underrated bike.

Overall a low package, and if you drop the front forks through the yoke and lower the rear suspension and possibly narrow the seat a little, you may get the balls of both feet down.

Take a look at the UKgser site to see how well the bike is rated.

Just a thought.

PS the Suzuki Van Van is great too, but only 125cc's, though for many thats enough depending upon what you want to do. Certainly a good confidence builder and I think it looks cool, as does the best girl and our daughter.

[AndyB]

My GF would like to get into biking. But she is worried her height, 5'2" in her bare feet, will be a problem in her goal to get biking. Any help or advice from the female members of the forum would be great. How you got started and what was your progression to your present bike,,, thanks in advance.

Height in itself isn't the important part, it's inside leg measurement that makes the difference. My wife is 5' 4" but she's got fairly long legs and can ride most bikes. This will probably go against the grain on here but she finds sports bikes easier to ride than anything else because the seats are usually pretty narrow and you don't lose any leg length spreading your arse/legs across the seat.

She's just traded in a 2006 R1 against a new Triumph Sprint and had to have a shorter shock fitted so she could flat foot it, she's also got an FZ1 which she won't ride with luggage on it because it's too tall and an ancient old 350LC which causes no problems. She always used her R1 for our summer European jaunts in preference to the FZ1 because of the height and only chopped it in because she wanted a bike capable of carrying hard luggage.

Remember that you can get shorter shocks for most bikes, can put longer suspension links on which lowers the bike, get the seat trimmed to reduce the height and can then modify the sidestand so the bike sits right on it. Get her started on a smaller bike then keep pushing the limits once she's got some confidence because without confidence on a bike it all falls apart very quickly.

[peterekins]

I was just watching the BMW GS history you tube thingy posted on here.
That wee belguim fella Gaston Rahier riding a fully speced Dakar bike, its definatly how big you feel, not how big you are..Good luk anyway, our Trace has just got herself an '88 honda C90.
You dont even have to cock your leg over, takes CBT week on saturday..

[Tonibe63]

Her indoors is 5'4" on a good day and did her CBT in March on a YBR125. We ended up then buying a Vanvan which she can flat foot both sides. Looking ahead she sat on a CB500 school bike a few weeks ago which felt tall and top heavy but the new Yam XJ600 felt much better so that's what she's booked some lessons on.
Unfortunately my Versys is waaay too tall even if we could lower it 100mm so that will be going soon.
Any shorties tried the Suzuki Gladius?

[Elle]

It's not just a girl problem
And it doesn't depend on height, inside leg measurements count....

I'm not tall and many of my friends struggle with the seat height of a bike.
As she gains confidence she'll handle bigger and heavier bikes.

My last bike was a Honda CBF1000 - had a very low seat for a big bike (around 780mm) and the CBF600 (2008+) has exactly the same dimensions.

Frustratingly, many 125's are tall unless you get a "custom" style bike but it would only be for a short time if she didn't do the DAS test.

BTW - the law is changing again in January 2013, so if she's considering taking her test - do it soon!