Short rider, ride height change advice

Dani Pedrosa is 5'2". There are few inconveniences, but if you are convinced your skills can managed a 1200cc superbike, I say learn to live with it and enjoy the bike without compromising the geometry.

I am fairly short at 5'6", but raising the rear shock 2mm really helped the turning. I have to tiptoe at red lights, but it's worth it.

Confused...do the the front fork springs need changing as well as rear?

Dazzpowder said:

Confused...do the the front fork springs need changing as well as rear?

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If you want the bike to be right for your weight, yes. But it's definitely well worth it.

My Wife is all of 130 lbs, soaking wet. She has a Triumph Daytona 675R, that comes with basically identical suspension to the 1299S (minus the electronics). With the stock springs, the bike was a tad too tall for her, but was beating her up something terrible on rougher back roads. Changed the springs out, had it revalved and it rides like a magic carpet for her now. With her old setup, I would follow her and it was like watching someone on a pogo stick; the bike was so stiff for her, that she got almost no travel out of the forks or shock.

She's a mid-level racer and so she actually cares about getting it right, even for the street.

fzr100098 said:

Asian?

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Hey man, what's up with that? Haha

Inseam is what's limits stand-over height. Even a tall rider gets challenged when straddling a bike over a big dip. Stay conscious of what the road surface is and be prepared to leg down towards final leaning side before stopping. For you short inseam folks- never, ever stop over a big dip or you may be screwed. And when on a side slope make sure to lean towards uphill if stopping. Those who ride dirtbike are familiar with handling tall bikes. Get more pointers from those folks. Thicker soled footwear will help as well. I've seen short Harley riders do that. I am not that tall but ride on the taller DP racing seat anyways to decrease the heat on my ass. I am on the balls of my feet when stopped. I can back my bike as long as the balls of feet touch the ground and I choose to back-in on decline parking spaces. Incline parking spaces- I pull forward in so I can back out with gravity on my side. Tall seat, short seat, tall person, short person, doesn't matter. If you don't keep conscious during your ride, you will fall over no matter what your dimensions are. When switching bikes remember to feel the bikes balance/weight, ride height differences, and seat width/grip so you know what to do to handle it. No two bikes are alike so learn your bike(s). Technique for the most part, aided with a couple of adjustments to your choice of seat and boots can make most difference in handling your bike, IMO, YMMV.

I would shave the seat down as much as you can tolerate comfort wise. I'm also on the short side. I put the adjustable 1198 end link on my 848 to lower it down. I only went down by 1" in the rear and I raised the forks in the triples the same to maintain as much geometry as I could and had everything like my sag re-checked and dialed in.

After doing that it NEVER handled the same. No matter how much I played with stuff it never felt as good as it did at stock height. I guess it handled OK but it just never gave me the same feedback in the sense of security in turns as it did prior. On my 899 I just deal with it and use my toes/one foot. Absolutely NOT worth compromising handling in any way.

fzr100098 said:

Asian?

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white redneck, actually.

Thanks All!! deposit paid, now the long wait until the extras are installed and wheels painted.

Can i lower down my v2?? My current height is 160 so wht is the lowest height i can reduce? V2 seat height is 840mm so is it possible for me to lower down the seat height so easy for me to touch my foot on the ground ?

Dazzpowder said:

Hi all, I'm just under 5'4" and can ride my 796 fine but hav some concerns about a 1299s purchase. Test ride one Saturday loved every moment. I'm told the 1299s can mechanically (manually reduced by 15mm) if the front and rear are dropped equally am I correct to assume the handling should be no different?

Thanks

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Stability should be fine as long as you’re not repositioning the forks. Good luck.