Small lady learning to ride

[thedog]

My girlfriend will be learning to ride soon. She's just under 5 ft tall, has a 26 inch inseam, weighs maybe 97 lbs soaking wet, has the heart of a leopard and is .. umm, well .. EXTREMELY determined. She'll be starting with a small bike, of course, next month but I'm thinking ahead: she will/does want a Harley and I better have some suggestions when she thinks she's ready. Are there any ladies here who are, or know of anyone who is, similar in size and ride a Harley? and, if so, what kind of ride? is it lowered stock? custom? any problems to consider?

[tequacha]

buell blast with the low seat. starter bike. lowered sporty with very thick soled shoes when she learns how

[breeliz]

Originally Posted by tequacha

buell blast with the low seat. starter bike. lowered sporty with very thick soled shoes when she learns how

That's the ticket. The bike is built to be dropped and she WILL drop it. It is a quick little mink of a bike. If you key up the intake/exhaust system, you will have a really sprightly bike and one that is light enough for her to control it at stops. After she gains strength and experience she might go to a bigger machine or just stay with the Blast. Lots of gals do.

[tequacha]

Originally Posted by breeliz

That's the ticket. The bike is built to be dropped and she WILL drop it. It is a quick little mink of a bike. If you key up the intake/exhaust system, you will have a really sprightly bike and one that is light enough for her to control it at stops. After she gains strength and experience she might go to a bigger machine or just stay with the Blast. Lots of gals do.

yep, we have found the break away parts are cheap, turn signals are like 6 bucks complete set up. Its my wifes bike, Ive done a few things to it, pipe and carb work. It will carry my 270 lb. self to over 90 mph. just gotta watch front brake, its a stopper for shure.

[Hockey-Player]

Originally Posted by thedog

My girlfriend will be learning to ride soon. She's just under 5 ft tall, has a 26 inch inseam, weighs maybe 97 lbs soaking wet, has the heart of a leopard and is .. umm, well .. EXTREMELY determined. She'll be starting with a small bike, of course, next month but I'm thinking ahead: she will/does want a Harley and I better have some suggestions when she thinks she's ready. Are there any ladies here who are, or know of anyone who is, similar in size and ride a Harley? and, if so, what kind of ride? is it lowered stock? custom? any problems to consider?

The Harley-Davidson Riders Edge class as taught through your local Harley dealership uses a Buell Blast. The Motor Cycle Safety Foundation class uses a small 250cc Honda or something similar. Harley's class is expensive but well worth the money, with classes of a dozen or so students to 2 instructors. I took the class last year and my husband (hockey-player) took the class this year after riding 30+ years and he raves about it, saying he learned a lot. As far as what to ride "down the road" look at the FLSTN/FLSTNI Softtail Deluxe. It has a seat height of around 24.5" and weighs in at around 676 lbs. which is almost twice the weight of a Buell Blast. Another possibility is the XL 883L (low) which has a seat height of 26.0" even. I am 5'4" with a 30' inseam, weighing 120 and found the Softail Deluxe bike almost too low. I think that the best bet is to go to the dealer and have her "try on" a few bikes to see what feels good to her. Prop the bike straight up and have her put her feet on the floor and on the pegs. I'd say that's the best bet, initially, to see what fits the best. After she gets her endorsement, rent the lowest bike you can find and let her try it out. That's essentially what I did; found an out of business store with a large and I mean large parking lot and I rented a Low Rider (25.5 seat height) to get the feel of it. We had a great time till the resident drunk starting babbling to us incoherently about how he was going to out jump Evil Kinevel (sp), but that's a another story for another time.......

Mrs. Hockey-Player

[ricky]

Find a used Honda Rebel 250 for $900~$1200 and run it for a year.
You will be able to resell it for the same price. It won't mater how long you keep it. They are always worth what you paid.
More than likely you'll end up buying a used one that has already moved up to a larger bike.

[thedog]

Thanks for the very-much-appreciated responses.

[goingsking]

This time of year you can pick up any mid sized honda, yamaha or kawasaki (about the size of a shadow) for next to nothing. Bike looks good but more importantly, she will be able to keep up with you. As time goes on she can move into a HD

[bullzeye]

Originally Posted by thedog

My girlfriend will be learning to ride soon. She's just under 5 ft tall, has a 26 inch inseam, weighs maybe 97 lbs soaking wet, has the heart of a leopard and is .. umm, well .. EXTREMELY determined. She'll be starting with a small bike, of course, next month but I'm thinking ahead: she will/does want a Harley and I better have some suggestions when she thinks she's ready. Are there any ladies here who are, or know of anyone who is, similar in size and ride a Harley? and, if so, what kind of ride? is it lowered stock? custom? any problems to consider?

Sounds like me that you're describing - I weigh around 100#, have an inseam of 'maybe' 27"..... she'll be fine! I rode a yamaha 650 for 2 years, and now I am the proud owner of a 2004 Dyna Super Glide!! Of course, I really could call it a Lowrida now..... it's been lowered in the front and rear, and with a different seat and taller boots, I have been on the big baby for about 13 months now!!

I would certainly recommend that she start with a smaller bike..... ie, honda shadow or yamaha v-star. They are both pretty lightweight, and have a short seat height. As for as a Rebel.... I don't know about that, I'd be afraid to get RUN OVER on something so small, and not much power!!! But, that's just my opinion? And when she is ready for a Harley (after many miles of experience), she should really take her time shopping.... what I mean is, too many men usually steer women to the sporties - I've always thought they were too top heavy. I have a girlfriend that I ride with, and she just traded her sporty in on a Lowrider...... she has hated that sportster for 3 years, but loves the Lowrider! When I went shopping for my harley, the fatboy is what fit me the best, and I wouldn't have had to do ANYTHING to lower it..... I decided on the Dyna because I preferred the look!!!

Anyway, there's my 2 cents..... hope it helps your friend - I wish her good luck on her venture

Oh yeah.... and the MSF (or something similiar) class, FOR SURE!!!

[SteveHOHD]

Hey, what up dog?

Haven't read all the responses yet.

My girlfriend is 4'11". She rode a Blast from DC to Sturgis last year. We met two more girls there that were 4'10" and 5', both riding Blasts, both rode to Sturgis, one from Philly, another from Dubuque, IA.

My gf just upgraded and bought an 883 Sportster from a local ABATE member's wife. I will have to lower the rear suspension, and get thinner cushioned seats for her. I may also have to lower the front suspension. She'll keep her Blast though. The Blast actually has a lot of potential. The engine responds well to carb and pipe tweaking, it handles great, has a tight clutch, etc.

One unique thing on her sporster is as she has to sit all the way up the front of the seat, her leg touches the rear cylinder exhaust pipe. I may have to fabricate some kind of non-metallic heat shield.

Like your girl, mine is tiny but determined like a pitbull. She did fine, still does fine, and is already riding the Sportster before I've had time for the required mods. Soon I'll probably need to upgrade the performance for her !!

[deb93fxlr]

The new sportsters are so much better than the old "top heavy" ones! Check one out, you'll be surprised....I was!

[SteveHOHD]

I've ridden "top heavy" bikes, commonly known as UJMs (Universal Japanese motorcycles) of the 70s, with watermelon shaped gas tanks that truly required either muscle or coordination and (turn) entry pre-planning / concentration. This was more true prior to radical suspension modification.

When I first rode my Sportster about 15 years ago, I thought it was the sweetest handling bike with a particularly low center of gravity. Perhaps compared to other, bigger, lower CG Harleys they're top heavy. But compared to other motorcycles in general, I feel they are not in the top heavy category at all.

[xl-scratch]

Good for her, being so determined!

If she's that little, don't forget there's more to riding comfort than just seat height. I'm 5'3, 30 or 32 inch inseam, and while I can flatfoot a lot of bikes, I have trouble reaching drag bars or even pullbacks sometimes. Buckhorns are the way to go there. And forward controls are a problem too. I can't even reach the pedals on a Wide Glide, for instance, and I can't even comfortably ride my H's Super Glide for that reason, even though it has mid-controls. Go figure.

Good luck to yr GF--and don't forget the new 883L's! They are really small!! A friend of mine who's barely 5' says the 883L is the only Harley she can even get off the kickstand.

[Fourcats]

What does she want? {"extremly determined" is good} The MSF course will help her decide. It is up to her to deal with the height situation, thinking ahead and balance {people ride KLRs, that are WAY up there}. A Blast or Hugger could work well.

[Sportster Girl]

Hey Dog,

I'm a short gal with a short inseam too. I just bought a new '05 Sportster Low. I've always had trouble getting a bike to fit, but this new Sporty is great!

Go to the HD dealer and let her sit on one. There's a big difference to me between the Low model and the regular Sportys. I can flat foot this bike with regular shoes on. And I always hear everyone talking about Sportsters being top heavy. I don't have any experience with the old ones, but his Low model is not top heavy at all. Center of gravity seems to be relatively low to me. When I tried the bike at the dealership, one of the things I did was lean it over side to side. No problem with weight....The bars also are swept back to the seat for easy reach for shorter arms. And the seat is very narrow near the tank, so that helps your legs touch the ground. While some of the bigger models do have low seat heights, I find that the saddle is so wide near the tank that it makes flat footing the ground difficult. Just my newbie girl two cents....

P.S. Never ridden the old Sportsters, but I can tell you that the new rubber mounted engine models are great.....and that's after being on multi cylinder metrics