Short bikes for shorter riders

Tree

I'm planning on moving up in the world, sadly not in height but in engine capacity. looking to move up from my suzie vanvan to something aroudn the 250 mark. fallen in love w/ the honda cbf250 but im not sure if im just that little bit too short for it, can just about get the balls of my feet on the ground in the shop w/ it, i have to slide over to one side to get the whole foot flat down.

any short riders out there w/ thoughts on the matter?

am five four btw not the tallest girl in the world.

Quint

Have you thought about a custom style bike? Yamaha Virago 400 or 535? Most of the custom type bikes have low seat height

Thinkingaboutit

There are versions of the 883/1200 Sportster that are specifically lowered for shorter riders, the XLC I believe. Most Harleys are fairly low, though the VRSCR can be very awkward if it has the mid peg position and someone needs to be fairly long legged to manoeuvre it easily when the engine is not being used.

gipi

Tree, I'm 5ft 2 ins and have a Suzuki Marauder 250cc (cruiser-style bike). I can reach the ground comfortably - something I considered carefully before buying the bike!

tk123

gipi wrote:

Tree, I'm 5ft 2 ins and have a Suzuki Marauder 250cc (cruiser-style bike). I can reach the ground comfortably - something I considered carefully before buying the bike!

I'm the same - moved from the VanVan to the marauder 250. I'm only 5'1 so it was a bit of a stretch on the VanVan - the guy in the shop even lowered the front of it for me when I got it.:o Its cruisers all the way for me now. The difference between the marauder and the vanvan was unreal - so comfy and just as easy to handle. Also you don't feel the wind as much etc when you're lower down. I'm hoping to move up to a 650 pretty soon..

Tree

unfortunately im not a fan of hte custom shaped bike. so marauders and the like are out the window the van van was perfect for me and i like sitting up on a bike rather than back.

pooh to my short legs!

What about one of those big scooters like the burgman? They have pretty low seat heights and are reasonably powerful.

Tree

a scooter? O_o
i have street cred to maintain :P

Chunkylover

Im 5ft 6 and Ive had no problem on the cbr250 and f650, the gs has an easily adjustable shock ( a little knob under the seat)and can really get down low if you get the lowered seat, those wacky germans think of everything, both very low, another option is to pile on the weight and it will drop the suspension for ya

Tree

sadly the suspension seemed to deal with my oversized frame wehn i sat on the cbf, being a fatty doesnt help

need to stick to a 250 so i can afford the insurance too

Wossack

you can only just get both of your feet to touch the ground on the cbf250? sounds perfect to me...

Shane_C

Once you can get 1 foot down and have the bike almost vertical you are grand. You would want to be a monster to be able to get 2 feet down on the likes of a BMW enduro bike or a lot of supersports bikes. Except for reversing you should never ave 2 feet down anyway.

irish fighter

jap import yam xjr 400 not to bad for the small rider

Tree

there appears to be a ten mm difference in height between the cbf and vanvan according to technical specs. didnt think that'd make that much a difffernce tbh.

i think ill go sit on one again at the weekend.