Basically, I'm 13 stone, 5ft 6 inchs and I tip toe on the CBR1000, its nearly caught me out once or twice.

Can I drop the forks?, lower the rear?

I understand I may have luck by backing off the pre-load. The previous owner was nearly 6ft and I'd say at least 2 stone heavier than me.

Its a lovely bike but I fear that I will drop it one day because I cant reach the floor comfortably.

Before any one asks, I am more custodian than owner, I recomissioned it after a 4 year lay up and the owner has let me use it as money troubles caused me to sell my bike and other personal items.

Thanks,
Stu

 

I'm told you can drop the rear down by redrilling the suspension, it'll drop it around 30mm.
We have had lady members in the past , but I can't find the post about it. Sorry.
I'm sure one of the more knowledgeable members will be along in a while.

I had a similar problem on a BMW1200 Adventure, and I'm 6' so don't feel alone...........
It's really not fun to ride like that.

Dropping the front end is easy enough but don't overdo it - it'll change the handling of your bike quite drastically even dropping the front end by 5mm. Your steering will be much quicker, the further you go down the fork legs in the clamps. Fitting slightly shorter springs in the shocks may be another route you can go...........

Repadding the seat is another route you could try - I'm sure you could gain an inch there alone..............

 

+1 on the seat rout, if you want to keep it simple and stock.

 

I'm only 5' 4". I have preload all the way down and can get more foot on the ground than just tippytoes.

Mine's a 1990 F-L with a 180 on the rear - if yours is a 1987/8 with the 140 tyre maybe it's a bit higher?

 

Its a 91/92, not sure on the tyre size.

Is re-padding the seat easy? I'd buy a spare so's not to mess with the original.

 

Depending on the condition of the replacement seat, you'd just have to remove the cover and trim down the foam padding to a suitable height and re-fit the cover. If the cover fitting is beyond your comfort zone, any upholsterer will be able to do it for a couple of $/£

 

Pretty much my situation on my 2002 F4i. I found that removing height from the top of the seat actually made my problem slightly worse. I realized that for me and the F4i seat profile, seat width was more of a height issue. I narrowed the seat as much as I could (about 1/2 to 5/8 inch) by removing and changing the contour of the side foam and underlying plastic support. (To the extent the seat contour still flows with the plastic side panels.) This allows my legs to have a slightly smaller angle and a slightly better reach. Not a big difference but an improvement for only 30 minutes of work and a price of a few staples.

 

Here let me help.

lady member LINK

More info if not better LINK

Man, I miss dad.

 

Thanks for the links. Plenty to look into there.

 

Thanks TBT.
I couldn't find it.
Hopefully it'll help.