any other really short riders on here ?

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hiya, im new here , names Cath and im 5 foot tall lol. Have a 97 thundercat coming home very soon, and the guys fitting a lowering kit, got a sneaky feeling i may have to customise the seat too lol,was just wondering if there are any other ( very) shortasses on here , lol, and have you had yours adapted ??? also wondering how other girlys get on with the weight , as thats the only thing i'm a little worried about , being the build of your average 11 year old .

lol thnx Linz, how tall are you if you dont mind me asking, and is your bike lowered? i can touch the floor with both toes, but as a newish rider just want the extra confidence of more stability

and also, are your boots flat soled to start with ? mine are the off road type, cos they had a much thicker sole to start with , but could still do with more, will have to take them up and see what can be done.

I am a measly 4ft 10 and my boots were flat soled in the first place but they have added enough on to make me feel more confident. I Am getting much better with my confidence of holding my bike (it's a Ninja 250) but really have to think about camber of the ground as I feel quite vulnerable when getting on and off the bike

PS. My bike is lowered but only at the back as I couldn't have mine lowered at the front.

yeah getting on and off are a worry, ok if i remember to put it on the side stand first lol. my issue is the weight , doesnt take much of a lean when standing still before i cant recover it, hence why id rather get my feet as flat as possible.Im a tiny bit taller at exactly 5ft, nice to know theres other riders this small out there .

Hi there

i am 5'3" and have the lowering kit with two lowering options and a scooped out seat and i still only got balls of my feet down. AND i am also ex gymnast, horse rider/instructor and fit so theres only so much you can do.

im sure if you do all of the above you will be ok. Only prob with mine now is its so low, the side stand needs altering! It's pretty vertical when just stood up on its own, i have to look for the very cambers i hated when parking up!

Also the Daytona Ladystar boots are expensive but well worth the cost for the in built platform that apparently you cant feel when walking around. I seen them on ebay for much less than new price.

this is the touchdown i have after its been lowered,front back and seat.
im also ex gymnast , qualified aerobics instructor, and fit , but this is a hell of a lot of weight lol, and you can see i dont have much leverage, just toes down really. im ok in riding position, can get left foot down and other on brake if theres a flat surface, but we all know thats not where the problems lie lol

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i find mine a lot easier to 'recover' than any others i have had tho. Theyre fairly balanced and the grab rails at back help too for manouvering

LOL i always find my seat is wasted - us short asses are so leant forward, the seat is barely used!

BEFORE LOWERING AND SEAT CHANGE

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no got a pic after yet but its loads better

lol, you had the same touchdown before lowering , as i have afterwards, not much else i can do , its gonna have to be platform boots lol

well depending on your taste in fashion/boots, i'd recommend the Ladystars but i dont like the look of the Herman Munster style platforms.

Wowey wrote: Only prob with mine now is its so low, the side stand needs altering!

Yip, the side stand needs to be shortened otherwise the bike stands too vertical and capsizes. The shorter stand is something you'll quickly get used to. I'm 6'1 and have no problem putting both feet down on my 'regular' 'Cat. However I offered to move a 'reduced height' one, go to kick the stand back and kept swiping at thin air

Hi Littlecat, Thought quite alot about this before posting. I also suffer from ducks disease (5.7) and what I'm about to suggest might be too advanced for you, but at least you can give it some consideration. When excecuting U turns its always difficult to get the revs just right, too many revs and it sounds awful and you feel out of control, too few and you risk stalling and falling over. Rev the bike to more than you normally would, start the manouvre but feather the back brake whilst doing so. Keep the engine at steady revs, say about 2000. What you are trying to achieve is a very steady speed, but not from the throttle but by the application of the rear brake pedal, on a bit off a bit, its much easier to do this on the rear brake than the throttle, and you'll find with practice no lurches (kangaroo juice) Start by doing left U turns, if you get it slightly wrong you can always dab your left foot down for a little reassurance, obviously you ca'nt do this on right U turns. Best place for this is a car park or large open space, start with big wide U turns and gradually decrease the radius as your confidence improves. Hope I hav'nt baffled you with science. Tes

terry lees wrote:Hi Littlecat, Thought quite alot about this before posting. I also suffer from ducks disease (5.7) and what I'm about to suggest might be too advanced for you, but at least you can give it some consideration. When excecuting U turns its always difficult to get the revs just right, too many revs and it sounds awful and you feel out of control, too few and you risk stalling and falling over. Rev the bike to more than you normally would, start the manouvre but feather the back brake whilst doing so. Keep the engine at steady revs, say about 2000. What you are trying to achieve is a very steady speed, but not from the throttle but by the application of the rear brake pedal, on a bit off a bit, its much easier to do this on the rear brake than the throttle, and you'll find with practice no lurches (kangaroo juice) Start by doing left U turns, if you get it slightly wrong you can always dab your left foot down for a little reassurance, obviously you ca'nt do this on right U turns. Best place for this is a car park or large open space, start with big wide U turns and gradually decrease the radius as your confidence improves. Hope I hav'nt baffled you with science. Tes

Nothing is too advanced for Thundercat riders Tes.
This website used to be too advanced for you and now you're one of our top posting silver surfers.

Spot on though - the back brake is your friend for slow speed control. Unfortunately I've got a hidden reserve tank full of kangaroo juice and it occasionally just lets some through.

I've had mine lowered as far as it will go - and a standard seat didn't bother having that scooped out as there wasn't enough in it for me to be convinced it would still be as comfy for the miles i was doing lol - i'm 5'3 and a 29 inside leg - on a level service feet are nearly flat - it's fab our roads round here have really bad uneven camber and after about the 5th time of laying her down when i wasn't doing anything i decided it wasn't fair of Ezzy anymore so i gave in - i felt a lot better as soon as i knew i would also be able to get one foot flat when the road fell away

Keep on reading these posts to give me confidence when I go out on the Cat.
I'm 5'6" (5'7" when I want to impress) and seeing others who are shorter of leg coping is only inspiring me. Would it be worth getting the boots soles increased though?

lol, if you need you boots jacked up theres no hope for me, 5 feet nothing, and a very short inside leg... if i can ride one anyone can hehehe

Roll The Bones wrote:Would it be worth getting the boots soles increased though?

not if you want to pull no!!!!

Well I'm 5ft 11 with a 32 inch inside leg and I sometimes struggle with the weight of the bike so hats off to you!

The coming week will tell, may do before and after photos. maybe? But hopefully

the other thing i'm considering is some kind of quilted tank cover , lol, as i will be mainly lying on it if i'm to have any chance of steering

pmsl a quilted tank cover - that conjurs up all sorts of images might be a bit heavy when wet tho

if you decide you want a baglux tank cover let me know - i've got a red one i've never used i was thinking of putting on fleabay