South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

im looking out for a bike for the wife as her licencse matures to a full bike in about 6 weeks time. have been doing the old ebay seaches and have been looking at the cbr/vfr/rvf/zxr 400's and the sv650s. shes about 5ft 2 so dont want anything to big or heavy for her first proper bike. what have you ladies got or what you blokes bought your other halfs

I recommend a 99 R1, as standard they come with GHD attachments and a builtin shower basen. Only ever seen girls riding them too.

I'd reccoment the R1 too, especially the limted edition 'hello ducky' model which came with the pink tassles as standard.

Other than that, if she wants a sport style bike Kim seems to get on with the cbr400 and mel loved her zxr400

My CBR 400 was great but its not suited for everyone I would ask Kim or Debbie if she could sit on to see if the height etc suits her the other person is to speak to A-T as she has got a ZX6R which she has had lowered (I think)

I'm gonna ask the bleedin obvious here, but has it got to be a sports bike (faired)?

Doesn't have to be faired but knowing my wife once she starts riding it won't be long before she starts wanting to do trackdays etc. She does prefer the look of sports bike to a naked but I'll consider anything if its sensible


Gav,thanks for the r1 advice,the added ghd's would come in very handy for in between those awfully sweat track sessions.....

hi deej

i am 5ft 3 and the hardest problem i found was something that i could touch the ground on. my first bike is a ninja 250. it is absolutely great and good for building up your confidence if you then want to move on to something bigger .

1st off the bike is for her so let her choose it. Then if she don't like it it'll be her fault, not yours

Best advice is to take her around a few dealers & get her to sit on a few to find out which one's she feels comfortable on, i.e. can get her feet on the floor, manage the weight etc.

If it's a bit high you can always lower it slightly

Both good suggestions but I can't afford a ninja250. The bikes going to be a suprise for her and from previous chats I know what colours/designs she likes/dislikes. I know she's fine size wise for a vfr/rvf400's as I've owned both of those when I first started and she was able to touch the floor on both of them so know the size won't be too much of a issue

deej wrote:Doesn't have to be faired but knowing my wife once she starts riding it won't be long before she starts wanting to do trackdays etc. She does prefer the look of sports bike to a naked but I'll consider anything if its sensible

ok, but if its a height issue she may struggle to reach the bars comfortably AND be able to manouvre the bike? Get her to go round the dealers and sit on lots of stuff, she might find the nakeds a bit more friendly and can always go for a sports later when she is happy with something bigger and heavier.

FWIW, I've just done Donny on my Hornet and loved every minute of it, but there was a fella there who could have only been 4'10" in his boots also riding a Hornet and he looked like he was having loads of fun too!

Whatever she decides on, I hope she has lots of fun riding it!

Smiler x

Don't worry about seat height issues, I'm only 5 foot and have similar problems usually the width of the seat is a greater issue than the height.
I have a company that will sculpt and recover seats for me, and another company that makes me custom suspension linkages to whatever spec I design to lower the bike. Neither are very expensive. My GSXR750 K5 was too tall when I first got it, but since having the seat sculpted and new suspension link rods made to my spec the bike is perfect for me. With most bikes there is enough ground clearance to drop the forks through the yokes to retain the same geometry after lowering the rear end. I lowered the Gixxer by 15mm front and rear and reshaped the seat losing 45mm in height and reducing the width, now it's fine and still comfortable in fact it's better than the original in terms of comfort and fit.
Seats can usually be reduced in height and narrowed slightly without losing comfort, if needed Gel pads can be installed if there is not enough foam left to be comfortable.

kim is about 3ft tall, managed to get her a cbr 400rr babyblade and it had been lowered so it fits her perfectly, only issues she has are gravity and corners.

she has been on many road trips, with luggage and has had no probs. top engine, awesome handling and sound lovely.
r chesterfield takes his to llandow every year and run ring around much bigger bikes.

they are good bikes.


smiler - midgy man was riding a hornet, but he was standing up on trhe pegs to ride it and if the paddock or staging area had been on a slope then the bike would have been on its side.



safest thing i would say is to get her on here, join the ladies section and let the girls chat etc sooner or later the convo will change from handbags, lipstick and tampons then go to leather colours and eventually bikes and what looks good. lastly it will go to how the bike feels

i would say take her round to as many shops as she can handle, pm individuals who have bikes you make think suitable as on a thread you won't get many answers that make sense (naked bikes )

pick a budget then don't sit on anything above that as it will only lead to tears, tantrums and sleeping on the couch.

enjoy the joys of bike shopping witht the missus, get it right and you the best, get it wrong and its dog food pie for tea.

VFR400 are great bikes

billinom8s wrote:kim is about 3ft tall, managed to get her a cbr 400rr babyblade and it had been lowered so it fits her perfectly, only issues she has are gravity and corners.

she has been on many road trips, with luggage and has had no probs. top engine, awesome handling and sound lovely.
r chesterfield takes his to llandow every year and run ring around much bigger bikes.

they are good bikes.


smiler - midgy man was riding a hornet, but he was standing up on trhe pegs to ride it and if the paddock or staging area had been on a slope then the bike would have been on its side.



safest thing i would say is to get her on here, join the ladies section and let the girls chat etc sooner or later the convo will change from handbags, lipstick and tampons then go to leather colours and eventually bikes and what looks good. lastly it will go to how the bike feels

i would say take her round to as many shops as she can handle, pm individuals who have bikes you make think suitable as on a thread you won't get many answers that make sense (naked bikes )

pick a budget then don't sit on anything above that as it will only lead to tears, tantrums and sleeping on the couch.

enjoy the joys of bike shopping witht the missus, get it right and you the best, get it wrong and its dog food pie for tea.

You are so dead.....

Deej, credit your wife with the brains to know what she wants and buy this ere thing together?

Thanks smiler but then the idea of a suprise present is gone lol

no point going to the dealers as I'm not paying their prices plus when was the last time you saw a 400 for sale in a local dealers. I probably have about a grand spare and in the 4 years I've been working in the trade i've only ever seen the odd mint one for 3k+ and I'm not paying that much out for one. I know enough about buying bikes and what I'm looking at plus what she likes.

I only wanted some other suggestions, the hornets good and I'll also look at ducati monsters and 600supersports too