The Shortypants Thread: We are short women and this is what we ride

Hi! I am also a vertically challenged woman trying to ride. I am 5 ft with inseam of 26 inches. I have had a number of bikes since starting to ride about 7 years ago after I took a rider training course with my 16 year old daughter. We don't live near good trails or mountains so my choice was street bikes. My starter was a Honda twinstar 185 which I outgrew rapidly. On to a Buell Blast for awhile,then to the Suzuki Volusia 800 that was lowered. Still wasn't that happy with any of the bikes. I then fell in love with a 06 Goldwing.... the solution was the sidecar attached. That way you don't have to reach the ground and I could "keep up with the big boys!". It is great for highway driving but leaves a lot to be desired for off-road or even gravel roads. Since my husband (Grumpy Bear) plans on doing the CDT this coming summer I have started to look for a dual sport or smaller bike that would be useful for off road. I have a 650 V-strom that we are contemplating sidecaring but I still wouldn't be able to do single track with it.
Your post and photos are inspiring. I now see that with some work and experimentation you can find a bike to fit! Thanks for all the tips and comments.
Photo of my ride (if I can figure out how to upload it) is showing the "Iron Butt" award from the Chelan Sidecar Rally 2010.

Take a look at the Kawasaki KL250 Super Sherpa and the Honda CRF230F.

Did you mean the CRF230"L"? It is much lower than the "F" and street legal. My minnie girlfriend (5'0" with short legs) can easily touch both feet on the "L" but cant even get one toe down on the "F". If we can afford one when the time comes this will be her next bike.

Jen, did I read that right?...a CRX 250 in a CR85 frame? Did someone build it or is it something out of Honda's basement. That sounds wild!

There's a company building them. I saw it in one of the cycle magazines. Interesting approach for the shorter of stature.

Absolutely! I'm so glad you joined in Jen!

Yup, you read that right. AJ Wagner of Service Honda out of Indiana (near Chicago) built it. A lady named Nora introduced me to hers and then my friend Doug picked one up after I did, so we have a little gang-o-Service Hondas here in Colorado. It's definitely an interesting concept fer sure.

Also, I'll just chime in here since folks are mentioning the CRF230... I personally wouldn't look twice at that one. Instead, go for the KLX250 because it's got way better suspension than the 230 plus full sized tires. I put a Kouba lowering link on my 250 and shaved the seat down with a kitchen knife and sand paper (Charla taught me that one - looks great). The result is that I'm able to get toes down just like I would on the 230 (I'm 4'10"). Honestly folks, suspension and full sized tires make a huge improvement in performance.

I totally agree! That's why I sold my TT-R125, I didn't like how the little tires handled the rocks around here. It is definitely a good bike for learning, it's lightweight and easy to handle, but once you get to where you want to go a little faster and ride some more techinal terrain, it just doesn't fit the bill any more.

I rode Kelly's KTM today, and really liked it. I do think I will be getting one at some point. There will be a bit of a learning curve with it. It's longer than the XT or the WR, but it's just as light as the XT and has good power and awesome suspension!

OK, sorry, that sounded a little biased about the CRF230... it does have it's place and many people like it. But, I have seen a lot of people use it as a stepping stone for what they REALLY wanted in the first place. We short people have a tendancy to only focus in on what we can get our feet down on the showroom floor. What I SHOULD have mentioned was that, for pretty cheap and not much work, you could modify a little bit bigger/better bike to fit a smaller person and THAT bike might perform more enjoyably. For dualsporting, that's definitely the case. For pure dirt biking, smaller is sometimes better fer sure.

ANYHOW... Hi Bonnie Abbzug! Are Monday's still good for riding?

Hi Jen

Actually, Tuesday's and Wednesday's are the best for me. I'm usually working on Monday.

Region Riley's new toy!!!

Thanks, I've been too tired to caption pictures tonight.

But why?

Jeez, it's not like you did anything today!

Don't forget what I didn't do yesterday, either.

Tomorrow I'm going to ice my legs in a river or something.

+100000

Thanks for joining in CJ!

I didn't get any style points that day, but at least I can say I rode Triad Ridge! I'm gonna need a rematch this year.

My mistake. I'd actually meant the "F" - this one:




But had forgotten that Kelly had had to put a light kit on it to make it street legal. I think that with the kit and lowering it may still have been a tad lighter than the "L" but probably not enough to worry about. And, as you say, the "L" starts out a little lower. Don't overlook the Sherpa.

I can't wait to take my new baby for a spin!

Stepping out of lurker status for a bit. I'm a Mississippi gal, 5' 3.75" on a good day, and I ride a 1989 Honda NX250. Oldie but goodie. It's such a crime they only had these bikes on this side of the pond for so short a period of time. Finding parts is sometimes an issue, but I love this bike. We painted it bumblebee yellow and slapped on some BMW emblems (I married into a BMW family and we jokingly refer to it as the Bumblebeemer). I'm still a total newb, though I've had this bike for almost 2 years. I was just getting ready to go for my license when hubs broke his leg and was down for most of last year, and I wouldn't ride without him. So must get off tushy and reapply for my permit.