Lower a bike

[katydid]

Hello everyone,

It's been a couple months since I have been on the forum.

I was ready to upgrade to a bigger bike, so I sold my Ninja 250F. Now I am working my tail feather off so I can upgrade to a 600. I am looking at a F4i and I was wondering about how tall they stand. I am 5'6 and I have ridden a GSXR 750 and can have the palms of my feet down but not flat foot it. So if anyone has ridden one or sat on one let me know.

Also I am pretty sure whatever I get in the future I would like to lower. Any recommendations? Did you buy a lowering kit and do it yourself or did you take it to a dealer?

Thanks in advance!

[DevRev]

I have a 99' F4.

I am 5'7 and can touch down almost half of my foot. I have trouble paddle walking the bike unless I sit straight up (no hands on the bars) and hold the tank and paddle walk.

I personally wouldn't recommend lowering it, I've seen numerous people just go to first gear then go to one foot at a stop light.

[??]

I have a CBR and had the dealer lower it when I bought it. I am 5'5" and can touch flat foot on my bike. The dealer lowered it but I had to shorten the kick stand.

[Girl]

I had my Katana 600 lowered 2 coils. I had a shop do it, it was like 200 bucks. It kind of sucks because I have to be real careful where I park, or the bike will tip right over. Other than that it was the best option for me. I'm 5'3 and I'd rather spend a little more time looking for a parking space than not have complete control of a 500 lbs beast.

[RobMoore]

I did two things to help my wife get a better footing on her bike.
#1 Helped her find platform boots that were stable enough laterally, and fit the pegs.
#2 Shaved some of the foam out of the seat to lower it, and reupholstered.

[iamjustifyd]

That Honda should have the same seat height as the Suzuki, very close anyway. The balls of your feet should be ok. Like Rob said too, look for some "taller boots" and maybe do something with the seat.

[byte366]

Look into the style of bike you're getting. My cruiser is too short for even my stubby legs, but my mother's sport/cruiser is quite a bit taller. Cruisers seem a bit shorter overall

[jrswanson1]

Look into the style of bike you're getting. My cruiser is too short for even my stubby legs, but my mother's sport/cruiser is quite a bit taller. Cruisers seem a bit shorter overall

:confused: My wife won't ride my Ducati because she can't flat foot it, but she can with the V45 Magna. I can't flat foot the Ducati, either, but the Victory Judge I rode Saturday? Yeah, I can flat foot that.

[vegasmoto]

I lowered my '04 ZX-10R in the front as well as the rear. If you have big feet as I do, be careful going into sharp turns. Make sure your feet are completely against the frame. I would go cruising and forget to tuck my feet and when I'd take a deep corner. I found that my toes would catch the pavement thus throwing my leg from the pegs and causing me to have to change my pants once I got back home.

[68BS90]

Any time you lower a bike you're going to affect the suspension geometry. We lowered the Bonneville about 3/4" in the front by sliding the forks up in the triple trees and I was amazed and how much twitchier it got. Lowering the rear with an inch shorter shocks helped a little but there is still some loss of stability. It also rides rougher with the shorter shocks. We also switched to the SE seat and gained probably another 3/4-1 inch.

Seat should definitely be the first course of action since it won't affect handling.

[jrw69]

You should try this site to at least initially look at the bikes and how they will fit you. You will get a better idea of how much you would need to lower it. Just put in your height and inseam size, then under options click on the "put feet on ground". You can add multiple bikes then use your mouse wheel and it will blend through all the bikes so you can see the differences.

http://cycle-ergo.com/

[non_descript]

You should try this site to at least initially look at the bikes and how they will fit you. You will get a better idea of how much you would need to lower it. Just put in your height and inseam size, then under options click on the "put feet on ground". You can add multiple bikes then use your mouse wheel and it will blend through all the bikes so you can see the differences.

http://cycle-ergo.com/

Interesting and very useful. Thanks!