Quote:
Originally Posted by cuttle
you are right - and confident rider can ride almost anything, but it's hard for some people to gain confidence if they don't feel safe while stopping... heck, after 20 something years I still don't feel confident to ride my hubbies KTM with 37.5 inches  |
Very true. When I first started riding, I didn't know shit about bikes, gear, or anything. I learned on a V-Star 650 Custom, which is a heavy bike. I could almost flat foot it...couldn't quit get my heels firmly on the ground.....but it was heavy for me, even though the weight was lower to the ground. I couldn't ride it on the interstate because I felt unsteady on it at higher speeds, especially if it was a little windy.
When I got the SV, I didn't take into consideration the differences in the seat height (although I knew it was going to be taller), I was more concerned with the weight of the bike. It was alot lighter and easier for me to manuever, but I lost being comfortable at stopping, etc. I didn't want to lower the bike at first but since it came with lowering links (previous owner was a shorty like me), we lowered her and soon after redone the seat. It gave me time to get to know her and build a little confidence. I'm hard headed and practice stopping with one foot on tip toe (sliding my butt a little off the seat so I could touch) and when I became confident with it, I raised her back to stock and shortly after got another stock seat to replace the one I had redone. She was lowered for about six months.
Later the ex and I bought a little TTR for me. It's sole purpose was to give me a smaller bike to ride and romp on to build my confidence in riding period, which it did. It seems when I started riding dirt, my skill level improved almost overnight. I still have a couple of small issues with being so short legged on the bike, but I work through those as I get to them.
I also rode my ex hubby's KX125 and although it made me nervous to ride on a track full of people, it helped me to overcome alot of my height issues with the SV because the seat height is almost a foot taller than my inseam!
I rode it just fine, even with starting and stopping without help. The only help I needed is if I went down on the dirt track. I didn't care for the KX because it was a two stroke....I had never ridden one so the power delivery was a major adjustment. I probably would have done much better on a track on a four stroke.
Looking back, sometimes I kind of wish I had gotten a little smaller bike, something that wouldn't have posed such issues I had to overcome with height issues. But I'm hard headed and seem to only learn the hard way. I think my skill level would have improved at a faster rate than what it has.