What should I do?!
 

My girl just got her bike. She's been learning on a 250 and its MUCH lighter than her new bike (CBR600RR).. She can ride the bike fine, but she is a lil shorter than is needed for her to get a good grip with her feet. The wide seat doesnt help either. Sometimes when she comes to a stop, her tippy toes arent enough to hold the bike up if it goes even a slight bit off center. It's a brand new bike and its fallen over twice already while at a stop. Anyway, I've exhausted my teaching skills on this, but she still has problems. Does anybody know if the seat can be scooped out a little on the 600RR's? If you can think of ANYTHING else that I havent thought of yet, the advice is valued. She is about 5'6"-5'7" and put the toes of both feet on the ground when stopped.. I feel bad because she is a decent rider so far, she just cant get her f'in feet on the ground enough to hold it up. :roflmao:

?????

are you serious?

why didnt you think of this before spending all that money on a new bike?

Lower it.

+1

I'm vertically challenged myself, at 5' 1" and a 29 1/2" inseam, my only solution is to lower any of my bikes.

You may run in to a problem lowering her CBR. From what I understand, as I looked in to a CBR myself, is that it's not possible to install a lowering link (also called a dog bone) in this particular bike. Why? I was told it's because the suspension is locked, for lack of a better word.

So, the only suggestions I have are: (1) bring her and her bike to WCW and have them do a suspension set up to her. This should be done regardless of anything else. (2) She can look in to buying a pair of boots with a chunky 2 inch heel, often called a "lug" sole and/or boot. I purchased my from a Harley Davidson dealer and they work perfectly for me. (3) Alter the factory seat or order a custom Corbin or Sargent seat.

Hope that helps.

I just read this and it made me ill. :banghead:

Ouch, I'd have learned on something used first, but since she has it...

Diamond Powersports makes a lowering link. PM CBRBob, he knows more about it. You'll have to shorten the sidestand as well.

Exactly.Tip toes are enough for an experienced rider to handle but why did you get a fairly new rider such a radical bike? Anyway, raise the forks 10mm and install the lowering link to the higher of the 2 settings. The lower will have the wheel bottoming out on bumps. The higher will lower it 1.25in, that's enough. You will have to shorten the sidestand by 1.5 inches as well. It can be sectioned between the spring tab and the heel post and then rewelded, perhaps with a steel slug inside for strength(see pic). There is NOTHING to scoop out on the seat and it is about as narrow a seat on a sportbike as there is. Lowering this way is about the only option. Remember physical height is not the factor, inseam is. I am 5'11" and am on my tiptoes on my XX. The other thing you can have her do is keep her foot on the brake and put her left foot flat on the ground, she should have learned that at the MSF class she took. Good luck! Hope this helps! :wave2:
Click Here for Lowering Links

ahahaha! Jen is so short.. she even had to lower her 50! :roflmao: ;)

the seat is as scooped out as it gets. her being 5'7 and not being able to hold the rr up is weird. My girl is 5'2 and she rides an 04 f4i she wears these drag line boots that she is almost flat foot when standing still. I can stand the bike fine but i got used to what bob said. Keep the right foot on the brake and lean the bike to the left and balance it with the left. She can handle the bike..it's narrow and pretty light. She just has to get used to balanceing the bike. That bike is easy to conquer. Does she have frame sliders? Anyway the 3 suggestions given:

Get the drag line boots, i'm sure my girl will post it on here
Right foot on brake, lean bike on left a tad and balance with left foot.
Get the lowering links
Let her practice this with you watching her...just make sure she doesn't fall over. Good luck, tell her to go on www.600rr.net they have a lot of usefull information on there. Lots of girls on there riding rr's. But this site is very informative on more things.. good luck

As Rev said, I'm 5'2" and ride and F4i - which is 31.9 inches, as opposed to the 32.3 inch RR. I too tipped over 3 times twice on the f4i and once on the 250. Most of the time it happens because you lose your footing. Back to the point, I didn't want to start messing with the bike by lowering it and what not. I thought about shaving the seat, but then thought why do more costly things when I can just try getting bigger boots. I also wanted to get used to the bike the way it was. So I solved my own problem and bought the Rocket Dog Draglines and they are perfect for the height problem. They make me about your girls' height, but have a disadvantage which are being soft toe, so they cave in. Oh well, "you can't always get what you want", but at least this was the cheaper way to go first.

get frame sliders... BIG ones...

I ride a 636 and Im 5'6.....5'7 on a good day lol.....I can barely tippy toe the thing. Usually I come to a stop with my right foot on the brake and left foot FLAT FOOTED on the ground....Since the bike is so light she SHOULD be able to support its weight with one leg....you just need to get over that feeling that it will tip over if you don't have two feet on the ground. Please don't lower it :(

We did and in the showroom, it didnt seem like it would be much of a problem. In fact she felt most comfy on this one as opposed to others.

As far as starting her on a smaller bike, I did.. She is very comfortable on the 250 she has been riding for the season. She had her heart set on this bike and once that happens there is no talkin her out of it (i've tried, and tried, and tried, and tried, and tried, and tried).. She can ride the bike fine while in motion (and yes, dont worry, even though this is true she'll be taking the MSF course and the free course offered by her state), its just when she is stopped, if she even slightly loses her balance, she's down for the count.. I'm sure as she gets more comfortable with this bike, it will stop. We are looking for a way to minimize the occurances in the mean time. Nobody should be getting ill at this thread.

Anyway, I think what we decided on was for now get her thicker sole'd boots, bigger sliders, and work on technique.. If that fails, someone mentioned the idea of lowering with links and then moving the front forks up in the clamps to fix the handling issues caused by lowering. Shes not going to be dragging anything anytime soon, so we will cross that bridge in a few seasons. The suspension will be set up regardless...Thanks for all the suggestions, they helped a lot!

She has to learn to lean left when stopping and plant her left foot on the ground. Definitly look into lowering the bike a little...does she ride alone? Can she pick the bike up if it tips over at a light or stop sign? Just a few things to consider.

+1, don't be ridiculous. I'm only 5'7" or less, and I have no problem.