WOMEN Riders less than 5' 3" in here please

[fnfalman]

Originally Posted by tached1000rr

She really wants to be able to pretty much flat foot any bike she has, it's pretty "hilly" where we ride and she hates the balancing act she has to do while stopped at the top of those hills.

Get her a Honda Nighthawk 250, or the Honda Rebel 250, or that Suzuki's equivalence of the Rebel 250. After she gets comfortable with riding and balancing a bike, then get her something taller so that she can balance on one leg. Starting out with a tallish bike is do-able, but not pleasant and the learning curve is definitely a lot shallower than starting out with a bike that gives her confidence.

I'm 5ft6 with stubby inseam (29" pants, 26" actual). I can ride any bike of any weight all the way up to 34" seat inseam. After that I can't because I simply run out of leg room to even teeter on the ball of one foot. BUT I sure as hell didn't start out with an adventure bike and 33" worth of seat inseam.

[MissHell]

Originally Posted by fnfalman

Get her a Honda Nighthawk 250, or the Honda Rebel 250, or that Suzuki's equivalence of the Rebel 250. After she gets comfortable with riding and balancing a bike, then get her something taller so that she can balance on one leg. Starting out with a tallish bike is do-able, but not pleasant and the learning curve is definitely a lot shallower than starting out with a bike that gives her confidence.

Great advice!

I started on an EX250 and glad I did, it helped build my confidence to move up to a bigger bike.

[Cass]

30.5 inseam for me, without shoes. 1st gen SV 650, I had about half the foam shaved from the seat. What I didn't do was have the seat narrowed - that would have helped too.

I wear normal MC boots, so the sole isn't too thick - my foot-to-ground ratio is better when I wear something like Doc Martens, but I sacrifice the ankle protection. I have accepted the fact that I won't flat foot the vast majority of bikes in production today, and I'm OK with that.

If your wife is dead-set that she has to flat foot at all times, then it's not real likely that you'll be able to keep her on a sportbike without doing some modification. Get her into cruisers, or work on the suspension big-time. Like Zoomy said... boots will get you so far, and you shouldn't need to rely on them.