Which Bike?

[T.W.R]

Actually mate thats exactly what i meant to say,didnt have any visions of her rushing out to hubbys shed to make one.Fair call though i should have worded it a bit different.

knew I'd get a bite. Only said it because I've seen the results of someone actually having attempted to such a thing & the result wasn't pretty plus the repair bill for fixing the damage to the bike got ugly too

[GurlRacer]

Woah! Lots of replies, I didn't think short bikers were such a common thing! (Mind you, everyone seems tall to me! )

I remember I tried to get on Mum's Suzuki 250 and I could JUST touch the ground, and that was with the suspension being lowered (Professionally!) and having a big banana seat. I'll head out this weekend and have a look around!

Mum said she'd even upgrade all my gear

[<G>]

I agree with MadDuck, there aren't many options for short riders except for cruisers. I suppose if you were longer in the legs than the torso you might fit a lowered sports/road bike.

I wasn't able to test ride any of the 600s so I compared their specs and read reviews, sat on them with my feet dangling 10cms of the ground, and decided that the ER6-N was THE ONE. I went the route of having an ER6-N lowered - bought a shorter shock, sculpted the seat, lowered the forks and ruined a perfectly good pair of boots by building up the sole. Unfortunately reality is a lot different. Any surface that had a slight camber, or was uneven, or wasn't tar became a nerve twitching, sweat inducing trial. I couldn't use my feet to help move the bike and really I don't have the upper body strength to (wo)man-handle it around. Which was sad as it was a great bike to ride as long as I didn't have to stop anywhere slightly dodgy. After a few near misses and a lot of soul searching I decided that this bike was not right for me and looked at cruisers. I test rode some and decided on the Kawasaki Vulcan 500 - I was happy with this bike as it is the big brother to the EL250 that I learned to ride on - handling was familiar, I could use my feet to manoeuvre it and the forward-feet position was actually easy to get used to.

Moral of the story - you actually have to ride a bike to know how it suits you, which is a dilemma when your feet don't touch the ground!

jrandom is correct, the EL250 is a great bike to learn to ride on, I miss mine but she was old and rusty; and maintenance is expensive.

Good luck with your search for a bike

[gammaguy]

There will be loads of good bikesw out there for you. I have a mate who has been riding for I think 14 years now, and after owning all sorts of bikes he has now settled on a Cagiva Mito 125 because he says it's the most fun thing he's ever ridden.

Just spend a few good fun Saturday mornings doing the rounds of the local bike stores and browsing through the bikes. I guarantee you'll find something you like that suits :-)

i have a 125 Yamaha,its the most fun machine BAR NONE i have ever owned.size doesnt matter.

[MSTRS:Me]

Come and have a natter, GR. Or we'll chat on Saturday. Need to find out what you expect to do on the bike and what your budget is, then we can start to narrow it down to the right bike for you.

[Rosie]

Woah! Lots of replies, I didn't think short bikers were such a common thing! (Mind you, everyone seems tall to me! )

I remember I tried to get on Mum's Suzuki 250 and I could JUST touch the ground, and that was with the suspension being lowered (Professionally!) and having a big banana seat. I'll head out this weekend and have a look around!

Mum said she'd even upgrade all my gear

Being able to JUST touch the ground is fine once you have a bit more experience, but when you are starting out, being able to touch the ground comfortably will give you a lot more confidence.
Depending on the kinds of bikes you are interested in (dual purpose?) you may need to start out on something completely different, to get a bike that is short and light enough to gain some confidence and skills on.