Wife would like some advice from the Ladies

str86diesel · 10-31-2004, 07:20 PM

Ok girls, I’m wondering if you could possibly give my wife some advice.

Here’s the quick story.

My wife and I both ride. She currently is riding a Ninja 250 and is ready to move on to something more powerful. She is getting a little frustrated with the 250, cause when her and I go up in the mountains here in CO, it seems that the 250 is struggling for power in the higher altitudes. The wife and I have talked about possibly rejetting her bike and putting another pipe on it, but she would rather not invest the money into the 250 and just put that money towards getting her a little more powerful bike. The question that I have for the ladies is, which bike do you ride and what would you recommend for another woman rider?

Here are the prerequisites that she would like to have. 1st, the wife wants the bike to be fuel injected; she likes how easy my r6 starts with the push of a button (she doesn’t like having to deal with the choke on her bike to start it). 2nd, I will need to lower the bike to about a 29/30 inch seat height (so I am worried about handling).

The wife has her eye on the Kawi 636 but her and I are going to go Tuesday and look at a CBR-F4i. Personally I think any RR model or R6 is just to much, which is why we are looking at 636’s.

Thanks in advance

Kev

japbike · 10-31-2004, 08:07 PM

ok, good for her for wanting to move up!

ok, take it from a shortie..

best bet is a F4i... why? the saddle isn't WIDE like the Kawi 636. Secondly, I've lowered plenty of bikes in my time and I can tell ya, if you do it correctly, there is NO handling problems. I don't know how your going to go about "lowering" it, but here's what I've used in the past...http://www.ohlins.com/index.htm or http://www.foxracingshox.com/website/homepage.asp now YES they can be spendy, BUT they work GREAT!

Hope that helps.............

japbike

p.s. How long has she been riding?! How tall is she?

str86diesel · 10-31-2004, 08:51 PM

Japbike...Thanks for the great info. I'm not too sure how I am going to go about lowering it. I am definately doing some studying on this subject.

As far as my wife goes, she's been riding dirt (XR250) now for about 3 years with some off and on street riding through that time. At the beginning of this season (May 04) is when we bought her the 250. From the beginning we pretty much knew that she would out grow this bike pretty quick, but we had a heck of a time finding something that she could fit on (she's 5'5") and learn on. Her and I hate to just jump from the 250 to a 600, but with how the weather changes on a dime here, she is just fed up with dealing with the starting issues of carbs, which is why she wants to go fuel injected (which takes us to the 600 class). Honestly, I feel that she is mature enough to take her time and learn on the 600 before getting ahead of herself. The biggest thing is just that she has to get used to the heavier bike going into corners.

This weekend, for the first time, I trusted her to take my r6 around the block. She did really well on it and really liked it, except for the fact that when she stops, she's on her tippy toes. But I still think this is way too much bike for her.

Thanks once again for the advice.

Kev

japbike · 10-31-2004, 10:00 PM

ok, well not long on a street bike, but getting a F4i isnt a bad deal. They are GREAT to ride, and pretty smooth on the newer rider that tends to chop the throttle a little. Also, a 929 is pretty easy on the "n00b" believe it or not. I'm also 5'5" and I loved my Ohlins racing shock...like I said a little spendy but well worth it........

str86diesel · 10-31-2004, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by japbike

ok, well not long on a street bike, but getting a F4i isnt a bad deal.

Yeah, I'd say total about 2 seasons worth. I can say that this year on her 250, she's put almost 5000 miles on it. So she is definately getting out there and getting as much time as possible, which I am very supportive of.

Kev

RACER X · 10-31-2004, 11:45 PM

Sv650 .............

shortyali0369 · 11-01-2004, 01:19 AM

I ride a 250 right now but by mid-next season I wanna bump up too. I am thinking of bumping to the R6, but I am also looking at the f4i, unfortunately I am like a 3rd of the size of all of your wife. I am only 4'11

HghVltge · 11-01-2004, 02:57 AM

my advice is stick to a 600, and i really dont know too much about it being fuel injected other than it picks up faster but no offense if shes just gonna be learning on how to get the hang of a 600 thats a jump from a 250 so id stick to something regular.. i have my bike lowered and its soooooooooo awesome i used to ride tippy toe and now i can be flat footed oh god was that nice!! they sell lowering links for really cheap you just gotta look around my old bike '92 seca 2 was a 600 which i learned on and upgraded to a '98 yzf 600 and let me tell ya.. boy what a difference! that sucker i was so scared to ride at first because it picked up sooooooooo much better and quicker.. theres no hurry in learing for real..my 2 cents =)

boomboom · 11-01-2004, 05:25 AM

I have a SV650S, great bike, fuel injected, and I have no problem with ground touching 5"4'. The 05 comes with a Black frame, and they are such a fun bike. I love mine to death, can hold up quite well in the corners with any other 600cc bike.

shortyali0369 · 11-01-2004, 12:37 PM

Alright so I'm the shortest one of the chickies so far, just make sure that when you get the bike that the lowering links make the bike go down far enough, I was looking and according to the books that this one dealership had I'm too short for even all the bikes with the lowering links

supermandy · 11-01-2004, 05:26 PM

if you want it to stay consistent on the hills, you gotta go fuel injected. I have an 01 gixxer 600 that i just love to death. had to drop it a little, 'cause i'm short, but aside from that I can't complain.

I think you can lower jsut about anything, so that really shouldn't be an obstacle. If she's all about the 636, get her the 636.

I think the R6 is a good girl bike. It's sexy and nimble. Most guys are too big to look good on them.

HghVltge · 11-01-2004, 05:30 PM

i think what it comes down to is if you're under the height of 5'6" you gotta get anything lowered haha.. =) so it really doesnt matter which bike you get.. but i do like the yamaha's they're one of the easier ones to find links for

blndebmbr · 11-01-2004, 07:26 PM

I went from a 250 ninjoid straight to my '04 R6.
BEST THING I COULD HAVE DONE!!!!
After riding the ninjoid, the transition to the six was cake.....I started riding in Sept 2003 and bought the six last week of may 2004. Love that bike!

boomboom · 11-01-2004, 09:18 PM

Have her sit on the models and see what she feels most at home on. That is probably the best idea. But I love my SV, it is a great bike, and by far not slow. I like the 636, but remember for the 05 they are chaning the body style on it, so you might want to wait a bit before trying to get a 636 (prices will drop on the 04/03). Great thing about Suzuki is that there is enough padding in the seat, that you can just cut out some of the seat, and she might be just fine.

str86diesel · 11-02-2004, 10:01 AM

Wow..thanks for the great replies. Her and I are going to go shopping this afternoon so that she can check out some different models and see what fits her best.

I never even thought about the SV650, that is a pretty slick bike. Well, we'll see what she likes take it from there. Again, thanks a bunch for the great advice.

Kev