Motorbikes Girls CAN Ride

One of the common questions asked by girls who are new to motorcycling is "What bikes can I ride?"

As we girls are generally smaller than guys, finding a bike we can physically fit on can be difficult at times and some girls believe they will be limited in their choice if they are of small stature.

In a bid to try and answer this question I have posted the question on a few female motorcycle forums and compiled a list of motorbikes that girls are riding now. As you can see from my list, some of the girls have kindly supplied information about how the bike was adjusted, eg lowered, suspension adjusted, seats carved out, etc, to make it a bit smaller for them so they could ride it.

Please note the list is NOT recommendations on which bike you should buy, its a list showing the different bikes the girls who responded to my question are riding.

For the most part female bikers arn't bothered if they can't get both feet flat on the floor, as long as they can ride the motorbike of their choice. I know there are other considerations such as inside leg measurement, weight of bike, etc., to be taken into account when choosing a motorbike and I will cover those in other posts to the blog.

As and when I get any further information I will add it to the entry so that it is kept up to date. If you are a female rider and you are riding a bike which isn't shown in the list, please feel free to add a comment telling me and I will quite happily add it to the list.

If you are new to riding take a look at these products which will help you pass your theory, hazard perception tests and motorcycle tests.

For those who have already passed it here are a few recommendations to help you improve your riding.

Under 5’ Tall
Suzuki GSF400 Bandit -
Honda CBR400RR -
Yamaha R6 2004 -
Honda CB400T -

5’ Tall
Yamaha R6 (2002) - No adjustment but couldn’t flat foot
Suzuki GSX 600F - No adjustment but couldn’t flat foot
Kawasaki GPZ500 -
Suzuki GSXR1000 K6 - Suspension lowered, forks dropped slightly
Ducati Hypermotard - Suspension lowered, ride height adjuster on lowest setting
Honda CBR600RR -
Suzuki GSX-R600 K8 - lowered
Suzuki GSX-R600 K6 - - no adjusment but on balls of feet/tiptoes
Honda CBR600F -
Suzuki SV650S -

5’1” Tall
Kawasaki Ninja - Suspension lowered and on tip toes

5'2 Tall
Honda CBR 600 F - Hyperpro lowering kit, front forks dropped.
Honda CBR400RRN - No adjustment
Kawasaki ZZR600
Honda Shadow 750
Suzuki GSX-R600 K6
Honda CBR600F
Suzuki SV650S
Suzuki 400 Bandit
Kawasaki 750 Zephyr
Suzuki SV650 - Lowered but feet still not flat on the floor
Kawasaki ZXR400 - No adjustment
Yamaha Virago 535 - No adjustment and both feet flat on floor
BMW F650GS - No adjustment but on balls of the feet

5’3” Tall
Honda CBR 929 RRY Fireblade - No adjustment, but only one flat foot
Honda CBR400RR - No adjustment
Honda CBR400 - No adjustment
Suzuki GS500F
Yamaha YZF600R Thundercat - lowered
Yamaha R6 - Lowered
Suzuki SV650S - Suspension and forks lowered, but still on balls of feet
Ducati Monster 695 - No adjustment and on balls of feet
Kawasaki ER5 - Lowered suspension, carved out seat
Ducati 749s - No adjustment
Yamaha FZS600
Suzuki SV650 - No adjustment but on balls of feet
BMW R1200 ST

5'4” Tall
Honda CBR600fx - Bike lowered, can almost flat foot.
Suzuki GSR600 - No adjustment but on tip toes
Suzuki Bandit - No adjustment
Kawasaki ER6f - No adjustment, almost flat foot
Honda RVF 400 - No adjustment
Yamaha Diversion 600
BMW F650GS
Honda Transalp - Seat lowered
Suzuki VZ800 Marauder - No adjustment
Honda CBR600fx - No adjustment but on balls of feet
Suzuki GSR600 - No Adjustment
Suzuki Bandit 400 - No adjustment
Kawasaki ER6f - No adjustment
Honda CBR 600 - No adjustment
Suzuki XF650 Freewind - Bike lowered
Suzuki Bandit 600 - Suspension lowered
Triumph Street Triple - No adjustment but on balls of the feet

5’5” Tall
Suzuki GS500 - No adjustment
Yamaha Fazer 600 - No Adjustment
Honda VFR400 NC30 - No adjustment
Triumph Street Triple
Cagiva 1000
Suzuki SV650 - No adjustment
Kawasaki Z1000 - No adjustment, but on balls of both feet
Kawasaki GPZ500s - No adjustment and feet flat on floor
Ducati Monster 620sie - No adjustment and both feet flat on floor
Suzuki Bandit 400V - No adjustment
Honda VFR400 - No adjustment
Kawasaki ZX6R (G1) - Seat lowered
Moto Guzzi Breva 750
Honda CBR1000 (2008) - no adjustment, one flat foot or both toes on floor

5’6” Tall
Honda VFR700, 07
Honda CB600F Hornet
Honda CB1000R - No adjustment
Yamaha Fazer 600 - No adjustment but cant flat foot
Suzuki SV650 - No adjustment and both feet flat on floor
Kawasaki ER6 - No adjustment
Kawasaki ZX6R - No adjustment and both feet flat on floor
Suzuki GS500F - No adjustment and feet flat on floor
Honda Hornet 900 - No adjustment and both feet flat on floor

5'7" Tall
Honda VFR400 - had space between self and bike!
Honda VFR800 - balls of both feet, or one foot flat the other 'balancing'
CCMR30 - bought already lowered, same as VFR400
Honda Hornet 900 - balls of both feet, or one foot flat the other 'balancing'
Yamaha FZ1 - one foot flat, the other almost flat
KTM Duke - balls of both feet, or one foot flat the other 'balancing'
Triumph Sprint ST - balls of both feet, or one foot flat the other 'balancing'
Triumph Tiger - tip toes or one foot flat the other flailing!
Suzuki Bandit 1250GT - one foot flat, the other almost flat

5’8 and over
Triumph Street Triple
Honda CBR 600F
Ducati 916 Monster
GSXR750 Special
Honda CBR954 Streetfighter
Ducati Monster 620
Honda XRV750 Africa Twin
Ducati Monster 620
Kawasaki Z500
Suzuki SV650
Kawasaki GPZ 500s - No adjustment

Small Chested Female Riders In Vietnam To Be Banned

OK.. Now this is one of the weirdest snippets of news I’ve come across in the last few days.

Its been reported that in a rather bizarre move to try and reduce the accident rate the ruling Communist Party in Vietnam is to ban female motorcycle riders with a chest measurement less than 71cm from riding a motorbike. The rather odd idea, which came from their Ministry of Health, is that small chested people cannot be healthy and therefore should not be riding around on a motorbike!!

Now, I have a couple of thoughts on this,

Firstly, in a nation of small slightly built people, does this mean that virtually all women will be banned from riding.

Secondly, will there be a sudden boom in the breast enlargement industry in Vietnam?

And lastly, how the heck are they going to enforce this? Are they going to introduce chest measuring as part of the licencing procedure? Are the Vietnamese police officers now going to carry tape measures round with them? Will there be roadside chest measuring going on now to try and catch anyone flouting the new law?

How bizarre!!!

I Am So Glad I Learned To Ride

I never did learn to drive a car, I'm a motorcycle lover deep in my heart but despite that I only learned to ride a year and a half ago. It was a *cough* birthday present to myself after being a pillion for more years than I care to remember.. And I can quite honestly say it was the best thing I have ever done.. (children excluded from that list of course)

The freedom this has given me is incredible, I no longer have to rely on being taken anywhere by anyone!!

If I fancy popping out I can, whenever I want to, even if it is just for a ride because the weather is nice and sunny.. and believe me you can't beat the feeling you get riding down the road on a lovely warm day.. its incredible and most of the time I have a smile on my face inside my crash helmet..

I so wish I had done this before, in fact years ago, now I realise exactly the fun and freedom I have been missing out on all these years..