Ducati Monster Forum

This is a continuation of an older thread I posted last Summer where I found an Aprilia RS50 for my wife.  I didn't revive it since it's too old.

http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=30180.0 (http://ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=30180.0)

So, the Wife was happy with the scooter and put the Aprilia idea to rest.  Then came the spring of 2010.  All of a sudden she started to reconsider the idea of getting a proper motorcycle.  Not sure why...  I am a feeling this might be an unfulfilled dream of her younger days.  Anyway, we are looking at MSF classes for her for August/September.  [thumbsup]

Now comes to the difficult part - which bike should we get?  She is petite (5'1 or 5'2) and not very strong.  So I have ruled out most of the bikes out there.  We are current considering a Ninja 250 (with suspension mod needed to lower front and rear).  The Aprilia RS50 might still be a posibility.  I wish Honda brings the CBR125 here.  Other than that, there isn't much else...  Ideas?

Another possibility would be the Rebel 250.  She is not too keen on the cruiser style bike but is warming up to it after seeing a cool chick on a HD Sportster.  I mentioned Suzuki TU250 but didn't pass the cuteness/coolness test.

So I guess the story didn't end last September   :)

a sporster is easy to handle and parts are a plenty.

My wife is 5'2". When I met her she rode an 05 monster 620 with a lowering link and a scooped seat. I bet you could find a 620 pretty cheap about now.

Definitely worth considering. She won't out grow that as fast as a Ninja 250. I just took that 620 out for a spin this weekend and it plenty past for tight twisty roads.

sac

Ninja 250.  You get can a used Gen One bike already lowered for pretty cheap. If she wants cute/cool, then look at a Gen Two (which is much sportier).  You *may* be able to pick one up already lowered, but they tend to be a bit pricey and I'd hate to see a newer bike dropped on it's expensive plastic fairings (which wouldn't be a problem with a Rebel).    

A Rebel 250 is ok, I guess, but it's a whole different kinda bike and different kinda riding.  A Nighthawk 250 came to mind, but I can't remember when they last made those.

Is there a reason you want to get such a small cc bike (50cc?).  There are plenty of short women who ride larger motorcycles.  To be sure, learning on a smaller bike is better, but at some point, you are basically looking at a hairdryer with two wheels.  

I am concerned with the 550lb dry weight.  The Wife is a girly girl.  She has little to no muscle in her body.   [laugh]

There is no way I can get her to ride my M620, which I just sold.  I think the size of the bike really intimidated her.  

suzuki drz400sm is an option, i think they have a 200 or 250 also

(http://www.totalmotorcycle.com/photos/2006models/2006-Suzuki-DR-Z400SMa.jpg)

@ Spidey.  I agree the 2008+ Ninja are a lot nicer looking but more expensive to fix (she WILL drop the bike).  I am starting with 250cc since they are a lot smaller and lighter.  At the moment, she freaks out and get bend out of shape when she has to tip toe.  So for now, we will start with that.  After she passes MSF, we will see how she feels

At 5' or so, she may have trouble finding a bike that she can flatfoot even after it's been lowered a bit.  Like you said, MSF will help a lot with her confidence, but getting something light and narrow is important.  A Sportser is way too heavy.

Oh, and most turbo busas have pretty low seats.  How much do you like having her around?   [laugh]

Goat,
   My wife is 5'2" as well. We just recently got her a new style Ninja 250. It fit her perfectly, without a need for a lowering link. None of the other bikes had the level of comfort that it provided to her. (She wasn't into the cruiser style either).  My suggestion is take her into the showroom and have her sit on it first. Make sure she takes a proper pair of boots so she can truly get the feel of the ride height.  I would suggest getting the frame sliders and putting those on before she really rides it. They're like $100 for frame sliders and rear swing arm spools.

I think I would like her to stick around at little longer. [laugh]

I think I can lower a Ninja 250 by about 2 inches.  And with riding boots on, she will just tip toe a little bit.  That would be good enough.  She can flat foot on a Rebel.  And with its lower center of gravity, she felt really safe on it (standing still).

Thanks for the feedback, DarkDuc.  We were just at at dealer last weekend but she only had sandals on.  Having boots on would make a difference, for sure!

Thanks for all the feedbacks so far!

Bought my wife a 99 Sportster 1200 last year when she decided she wanted to learn to ride. Only hiccup turned out to be the clutch lever pull, caused her hand to cramp up after about 20 minutes of riding. Had to install an easy pull kit on the clutch, but after that, nothing but smiles.

BTW, nice thing about buying a highly depreciated Sportster, you can sell it again in a few years for just about what you paid for it.

What about Kawasaki ER6n? ...... I would say it's an extremely good beginners bike ...

I think a Sportster 883 or a light to midweight nake bike would be good, if she continues down the road.  Just as long as she is comfortable with the seat height.  So I wouldn't rule out the Sportster 883 or ER-6.  Maybe a Buell Blast, if I can find one.  Heck, I would evn throw in a M696 (wishful thinking  [cheeky]) or a Triumph Bonneville for future consideration. These 2 would be awesome for me, too. ;D

We went out and looked at a couple bikes on CL, just give her an idea on what she is looking at.  First up was a 96 Rebel 250.  It's in really good shape.  She was ok with it and can see herself riding it.  Next up is a 04 Ninja 250.  She has to tip toe on it.  But if I lower it just a bit, she'd perfectly fine on it. 

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/mcy/1860873573.html (http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/mcy/1860873573.html)
http://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/mcy/1865767779.html (http://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/mcy/1865767779.html)

go ride one, you'll be surprised if that's the direction you want to take.  They are very balanced but another alternative is a Buell Blast which are cheap cheap cheap.  That is, if there's no Duc in her future.

While we are at it, where can I find riding boots for her?  We were just talking about it on the way home.  I don't remember seeing women's boots at local dealers.  She wears a 5 1/2 or 6 in shoes.  Any female riders care to chime in?

I just sold my rebel, but I had a similar issue. My wife is slight and I wanted to get her a bike. I bought parts from blue collar bobbers and lowered the seat a bit via chopping it. It turned out she was more interested in riding as a pillon than piloting it.

(http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n284/mattandemilymeister/DSCN0357.jpg)
(http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n284/mattandemilymeister/DSCN0359.jpg)

If you've got a cycle gear, try them to get a sizing idea. Otherwise, I'd try online with someone like NewEnough.com. I got my Women's Tourmaster Solution boots from them. They don't have much of a women's selection in boots anymore though.

Motorcycle Superstore online seems to have a good selection: http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/1/2/45/1/0/0/DEPARTMENT/Street-Bike-Boots-Womens-Riding-Gear.aspx (http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com/1/2/45/1/0/0/DEPARTMENT/Street-Bike-Boots-Womens-Riding-Gear.aspx)

I went through several pairs of boots but ended up with the Alpinestars Stella S-MX 4.   The other boots didn't have enough bend in them for a sportbike, and made me feel more uncomfortable.

As far as the bike, the lighter, the better.  If I was to do it over, I think I'd go with the Ninja 250R (definitely not a Bandit 650S  ;)).

Ninja 250 gets my vote. Great beginner bike, not too heavy, and look pretty good in black.

1) You mentioned your wife has little to no muscle. Get her to a gym before you get her on a bike. Any bike is going to be too heavy and unhealthy without a strong core and dangerous if she can't lift it if it does fall on her. Naturally petite women have no fear of getting too built looking or buff because its impossible without a lot of supplements. Besides, extra testosterone increases women's sex drive, which would be +1 for you!
2) My M695 is suuuuper light and low. I'm 5' 3 and beyond flat foot it and with some mods, its down to about 300 lbs which means I could even squat it if I wanted too!
3) Finding proper gear when your petite is tough and expensive. Have fun ordering everything online at full price  :-\

Another vote for a Ninja 250 (lowered), I wish that had been my beginning bike.  I started on a GS500F, couldn't flat-foot it, it was top-heavy, and intimidating at stops & starts (it was fine while actually riding).

Or how about starting her off on a nice little dirt bike?

It seems like the Ninja is getting all the votes and I agree with the reasoning behind it.  I think a number of you would choose it for your first bike, as well, instead of going thru a tougher route with bigger bikes. 

Lu, you brought up a really good point on fitness.  She isn't very athletic and doesn't do sports.  But she does arobic/crunchs and stuff.  I will mention that to her though.

somegirl, that's an awesome idea.  Something small so she can focus on clutch and shifting, without worrying about falling over.  a 50cc dirt bike or mini-bike (not those tiny ones). 

My wife is 5'1" tiny and fits fine on Ninja 250. Get a gen 1 first because she will drop it and later she can upgrade to a gen2.

The Buell blast is rubbish, horrible transmission we tried one before we got the NInja.

One of her friends rides a Suzuki Boulevard S40, has lots of torque from a 650cc thumper and is very low - seat height is 27.5.
Plus there is a cool cafe kit for it from Ryka Motors http://www.rycamotors.com/ (http://www.rycamotors.com/)
(http://rycamotors.com/images/15b.jpg)

Lastly - and not my favorite -  but Harley has just launched this Sportster with  a 25.5" seat height http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2010/07/this-harleys-for-little-girls.html (http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2010/07/this-harleys-for-little-girls.html)

I would say ninja 250 as well, or small dirt bike-you'll be able to find something crashable, short, very light, and dirt gear is available for kids as well, so smaller stuff tends to be easier to find.

Are you willing to go vintage? either an old Yamaha RD (love them) or a Honda <350 twin would be a sweet ride not scary to ride.

JUST DON'T MOD THEM.

I personally LOVE the vintage Honda CB and Triumph Bonneville.  Classic styling and comfortable riding posture.  I have been toying around with the idea of getting one and tinking with it.  The Wife wasn't too fond of the idea.  She dislike the style of the 60's and 70's motorcycle with a passion...  even the new Bonneville SE/T100.  I think they are just the bee's knees.

I think the scariest thing about learning to ride the bike as a woman, is dealing with the weight of the bike when going slow or stopped.  I started with a dirt bike, so the controls were not new, but the weight WAS!  I ended up learning on a Buell Blast (pretty yellow color) and I can now appreciate the fact that the majority of the weight was low, and stand-over height was great (I'm 5'3")  My legs were actually BENT when sitting on the bike because it DID have the lower seat too.  It also looks kinda like a sport bike, yet a little cruiser-ish too.  I did drop it twice, and it was no big deal - just let it go!  Sure the shifting was a clunking mess, but I didn't mind because I wasn't scared of it taking me out, because it just would "lay over like a beached whale" if it started falling over.  Since it was a 500 single, it would go OK when I needed it to, just took a sec to get going, so I trusted it to do what I asked of it, which also helps. 
When I got my Monster, it made me totally aware of "taller bike weight" which is MUCH scarier at first, and it made me remember how nice it was to have the weight lower when learning.  Finally after over 6000 miles on my Ducati, do I have a nice "comfort zone" that took me much sooner to reach on the Buell because of where the weight was, but I would NEVER EVER EVER go back to ANYTHING like the Blast NOW, but it was a great bike to learn on.

I also started out on a Blast (I'm pretty sure I was the third or fourth owner), which did what it was supposed to do -- teach me the basics of riding a motorcycle. Then I sold it for a bit more than I'd paid for it so it could go teach someone else. 

It's also worth teaching her (and both of you practicing together) the techniques for lifting a downed bike -- preferably on a nice, soft grass spot where you can gently & repeatedly set the bike on its side without scratching anything. Without some practice, she's likely to just try to square up and deadlift it off the pavement, which likely won't work.

Here's a pretty good review of two good techniques for lifting a downed bike:

http://roadstarclinic.com/content/view/82/123/ (http://roadstarclinic.com/content/view/82/123/)

Check out the latest issue of Motorcyclist.  They review a 125cc sport bike from Taiwan that looks like it would fit a petite woman, if the size of the reviewer is any indication.

The bike's by Kymco, a Taiwanese company that's already got a big presence in the US with motor scooters. But if I recall correctly, the MotorCyclist review thought the standover height on the bike was much taller than expected for a bike that's aimed at small, beginning riders.

Worth checking out, though.

Thanks twistedchick, triangle, and orange.  Great feedbacks!  We have been very mindful of the seat height of the bikes we are considering.  The "fear of height" seems to be the #1 concern.  The Kymco Quannon? is a possibility that we didn't know of.  Worth a look.  We will see how that compare to a Ninja250.

The Wife is signed up to a motorcycle safety course for Aug 19 (classroom) and 21-22 (riding range).  She is going with a friend of ours so she wouldn't feel all lonely and out of place.:D  If all goes well, I will have 2 new riding buddies!

Will update you with Part 3