The right Sport Touring bike does not exist

[NJ609Eagle]

... I'm still tiptoeing and have to very careful about where and how I stop.

...

This is exactly what she doesn't want to occur. When she stops she wants to know that her footing is good all the time.

 

[beemerdons]

... I'm still tiptoeing and have to very careful about where and how I stop.

...

This is exactly what she doesn't want to occur. When she stops she wants to know that her footing is good all the time.

https://motorcycles.about.com/od/newmotorcyclereviews/fr/07BMWF800ST.htm NJ609Eagle, since I have a Bleu und Weiss BMW Roundel tattooted on my *** and having been riding Beemers (500K+ miles now) here is more pertinent info on the F800ST. Lowered suspension puts the bike at 29.9 inches. This BMW bike only weighs 460 lbs. with a full tank of petrol.

A Corbin seat will lower the bike another two inches, so you have a 27.9" seat height; I don't know of anyway to get a motorcycle lower, unless she does go to a scooter.

Food for Thought: State of New Jersey has the most active BMW Community in the USA. Four separate BMW Clubs in NJ. You and your wife could go to a function and have her sit on a lowered BMW F800ST. We BMW Volken strive to convert you infidels, it is part of the BMW Blood Oath; along with the BMW Top Secret Handshake!

https://www.bmwmcnj.com https://www.njsbmwr.org https://www.newswedenbmwriders.com https://www.skylands.ibmwr.org Es geht mihr gut! Auf Wiedersehen, Schatzie.

 

[tmc]

I'm 5'8" but only have a 28 inseam. I can handle the Feej just fine. Of course I'm a dude who is built like a brick and have tree trunk legs - so holding the bike up is not a problem. But I can get near flat foot at lights. Bike is stock, have a Rick Mayer seat. Just sayin.

Maybe some taller boots?

Anyway, the F800ST "low" is the very first thing that came to my mind when I saw this topic. It is what I'd like to get for the wife once she decides to get back in to riding. It is a fantastic machine, that is easy to handle.

 

[allrider]

At 5’2” with a 28” inseam, it’s just about impossible to find the bike that my girlfriend wants. With years of riding experience, and plenty of miles in the saddle, she has tried to find all of the features that she wants in a motorcycle that fits both her size and wallet. Features like Fuel-injections and color-matching hard saddle bags are at the top of the list. Of course there are Givi bags and alike, but that is not the look she really wants. Other would be nice features like a fuel gauge and shaft drive would also be ideal but not deal-breakers. Of course style is a must; it’s got to have some style, but it also has to be in her price range too. We all know that anything is possible with time and money.

Background

For a while she was riding a Yamaha V-Star Classic 750. This was almost the perfect bike for her as she rode it. It had all of the style she wanted minus the color matching hard bags. A very classic motorcycle look with the passing lamps, windshield, leather saddlebags with fringe. Of course being a cruiser, seat height and maneuverability was not an issue. She was easily able to stand up and move her bike around in and out of parking sports. Unfortunately, during one long trip she hit a bump or pothole and caused some serious discomfort with her tailbone. This discomfort became a major problem. Had a custom Cee Bailey’s seat made for her, but no relief was to be found. This eventually put her off the road for a whole riding “season”.

The season after, we went searching high and low for a bike that will allow her to be off of her tailbone while riding. We were able to determine that a standard riding position, or a sport riding position was what she needed to get back on the road. After sitting on many bikes, she was able to settle with the 2008 SV650.

Now this naked bike was not the style she was looking for, but the ability to ride took precedence over style. But even the SV right off the showroom floor was giving her some issues with ride stability. The bike was a little too high only allowing her to have some of the balls of her feet on the ground. A Suzuki Gel seat was bought but that didn’t lower the seat height enough because it was a little wider. Dog Bones to the rescue! And now the bike is manageable at a stop light but still gives her a little apprehension while backing it up, and since we didn’t cut the kickstand, she has a little anxiety when she dismounts the bike. We replaced the bug screen with a larger windshield, added some Cortech textile saddlebags, a Starcom1 unit with iPod, FRS Radio all connected and back on the road loving riding again.

The Search

So now she wants more. Stability on the bike is the first most important thing. So much so that we did demo rides on a trike. It wasn’t the ride she wanted, slow lumbering and big turns were a killer. The fun riding the SV now would be hard to walk away from. One of the first bikes she saw promise in was Honda’s NT700v.

Every feature she was looking for in a bike was there. So we found a dealer with one on the floor so she could check it out. Since the dealers are struggling to sell this bike the price was fairly low. Throw the leg over the bike and reach for the ground. But the ground wasn’t there, only the toes would touch. So we needed to find out what options were available to lower this bike. Did Honda offer a lower Seat option? No. What about a lowering kit? There is one on the market that will take the bike down 1.3 inches. So the dealer and I took off some plastic to make sure it was the right part. Unfortunately it wasn’t. The kit must be for the European model, and the only modification we could see was a shorter spring and maybe lowering the forks. Then we would have to send the seat out to have that trimmed down. Even with the dealer doing some of the modifications, there still wasn’t a warm and fuzzy feeling that she would be able to ride this bike home with comfort hoping for the seat to be the trick. The dealer tried to see if Yamaha’s FJR would fit, but we knew this wouldn’t since that is what I ride. Honda’s ST 1300 wasn’t considered at all because of the price. It also has the same seat issue though.

Leaving the dealer a little bummed, we rode to another dealer close to home. This dealer works with Suzuki, Kawasaki and Honda. I was hoping the parts guy would tell me that the color match bags from the V-Strom 650 would fit her bike, but they didn’t’. While I’m at the counter I turned around and asked her to throw her leg over another bike, Honda’s VFR1200.

She really didn’t want to because the bike looked too big, and the seat looked too high. The VFR1200 seat height is 32.4” compared to the NT700v 31.7”, but she did and WOW! She can touch with more of her foot on this bike than the NT700v. Just shows that the seat height numbers don’t tell the full story. But did the bike have all of the features? Yes it did. Did Honda offer a lower seat? Yes, and they specifically call it a low, narrower seat that will lower the seat height another .8”. With that much lower there probably isn’t a real need to lower the bike anymore, but that option is available with a lowering link. The 1200 gave her a little apprehension being much larger than she currently rides, but I told her that was easy to overcome. Then we get the price on the bike all totaled up with bags and seat changed, it was twice the price of what she wanted to spend. Before we walked out of the dealership we saw the 2008 and 2009 Honda Interceptor. Since it was a leftover, the price points were perfect. The chain-drive was easily overlooked. However, no lower seat option. Too many customizations needed to ride the bike home.

The one last bike we saw was Kawasaki’s Ninja 650R. Sharp bike that is very similar to her SV650. Good upright riding position with the handle bars instead of clip-on controls. It looked like it would fit the bill but there are no color matching hard bags for the bike.

The results

We feel that the manufactures are missing a segment of the market it what they produce, mid-sized sport-touring bike that offers a lower position for shorter legs to reach the ground with a decent price point. Honda almost hit it with the NT700v but they failed to do the right things for the shorter legs. They are close the VFR1200, but the price point is higher. The VFR1200 is a great competitor to the FJR1300 or a sportier ride than the Kawasaki C14. It can even compete with the ST1300 for those who want more sport than touring.

I hate to speak like a heretic, but have you considered some of the new model scooters? Certainly not the same style as our preferred "boiler between the legs" rides, but some of them make plenty of speed for highway cruising, step-through which makes seat height pretty much a non-issue, and even high-tech models like the Piaggio three-wheeler.

How about a Gurney Gator?

 

[NJ609Eagle]

Food for Thought: State of New Jersey has the most active BMW Community in the USA. Four separate BMW Clubs in NJ. You and your wife could go to a function and have her sit on a lowered BMW F800ST. We BMW Volken strive to convert you infidels, it is part of the BMW Blood Oath; along with the BMW Top Secret Handshake!

https://www.bmwmcnj.com https://www.njsbmwr.org https://www.newswedenbmwriders.com https://www.skylands.ibmwr.org Es geht mihr gut! Auf Wiedersehen, Schatzie.

We may have the most active User community, but the only dealer /service center is an hour away

 

[HotRodZilla]

Food for Thought: State of New Jersey has the most active BMW Community in the USA. Four separate BMW Clubs in NJ. You and your wife could go to a function and have her sit on a lowered BMW F800ST. We BMW Volken strive to convert you infidels, it is part of the BMW Blood Oath; along with the BMW Top Secret Handshake!

https://www.bmwmcnj.com https://www.njsbmwr.org https://www.newswedenbmwriders.com https://www.skylands.ibmwr.org Es geht mihr gut! Auf Wiedersehen, Schatzie.

We may have the most active User community, but the only dealer /service center is an hour away

Again...

 

[beemerdons]

Food for Thought: State of New Jersey has the most active BMW Community in the USA. Four separate BMW Clubs in NJ. You and your wife could go to a function and have her sit on a lowered BMW F800ST. We BMW Volken strive to convert you infidels, it is part of the BMW Blood Oath; along with the BMW Top Secret Handshake!

https://www.bmwmcnj.com https://www.njsbmwr.org https://www.newswedenbmwriders.com https://www.skylands.ibmwr.org Es geht mihr gut! Auf Wiedersehen, Schatzie.

We may have the most active User community, but the only dealer /service center is an hour away

Again...

https://classic.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Cherry+Hill&1s=NJ&1y=US&1l=39.9347&1g=-75.031097&1v=CITY&2c=Hatfield&2s=PA&2y=US&2l=40.279701&2g=-75.299698&2v=CITY Uh N609Eagle, Mongomery Cycle Center is only 40 miles away from your house! What's the big deal? Yamaha Cycle Center, my FJR dealer, is 55 miles away from me. And you have two other dealers an hour away from you: Cross Country and Trans Am BMW!

 

[Silver Penguin]

Gotta get my 2 cents in here. I'm 5'2" with a 26" inseam. I've put about 30K miles on my FJR, which was lowered with Kouba links somewhere along the line. Like MEM says, you have to plan ahead a bit more when your options are limited. I love my FJR dearly and no other bike I've ridden has that same thrill when the throttle is rolled on.

OTOH, I think it was HotRodZilla that brought up some good points. Just because you CAN ride a bigger bike doesn't necessarily make it the right thing to do. I'm actually having more fun with a smaller bike. For a while, I enjoyed a Kawasaki Ninja 650R. It's a stylish looking machine with the gentleness of a kitten up until about 7K RPM and then it bares its teeth. It doesn't have the zip of the true Ninjas but the upright seating position means you can ride it all day. (As long as you replace the plastic covered 2x4 that passes for a seat). A very nice bike, but it wasn't right for our planned adventures off the highway.

My current daily rider is also worthy of consideration for the vertically challenged. BMW's entry level machine is the G650GS. It's the 650 single that is actually a 650. There is a low frame option that I ride, pretty close to stock. It comes with ABS (with the option to turn it off for off-roading) and heated grips as standard. I have expandable bags that come on and off with the ignition key. The bike looks equally good with or without them. I've put 15K miles on the stock seat with some long, long days in the saddle. Fuel economy has reached 80mpg at times. Top speed is 106mph, on the flat, with no wind and the throttle against the stop for a while. The fuel cap is on the side of the bike rather than the usual place. All that weight goes down below, which makes the bike very stable indeed. It likes to be upright and is very easy to bring back up when leaned over. For a BMW, the bike is not as expensive as you'd think.

The only drawbacks I've come across so far are that the bike is no FJR on the freeway. It's capable of freeway speeds all day long, but not in the same league. Going back to a chain drive after two bikes with shaft drives was something. I actually needed a new chain and sprocket at the 12K service but I had been alternating between riding dirt, then grinding the dirt into the chain with high speed freeway riding.

 

[NJ609Eagle]

https://classic.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Cherry+Hill&1s=NJ&1y=US&1l=39.9347&1g=-75.031097&1v=CITY&2c=Hatfield&2s=PA&2y=US&2l=40.279701&2g=-75.299698&2v=CITY Uh N609Eagle, Mongomery Cycle Center is only 40 miles away from your house! What's the big deal? Yamaha Cycle Center, my FJR dealer, is 55 miles away from me. And you have two other dealers an hour away from you: Cross Country and Trans Am BMW!

Don't let 40 miles or the time that mapquest tells you fool you. 40 miles may be a quick jaunt out in AZ, but here in NJ, and the Philadelphia suburbs, that ride can take up to two hours.

Montgomeryville Cycle Center is a routin stop on the AMA Distrct 2 Polar Bear Grand Tour. But I wouldn't want to go there for service.

 

[beemerdons]

https://classic.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Cherry+Hill&1s=NJ&1y=US&1l=39.9347&1g=-75.031097&1v=CITY&2c=Hatfield&2s=PA&2y=US&2l=40.279701&2g=-75.299698&2v=CITY Uh N609Eagle, Mongomery Cycle Center is only 40 miles away from your house! What's the big deal? Yamaha Cycle Center, my FJR dealer, is 55 miles away from me. And you have two other dealers an hour away from you: Cross Country and Trans Am BMW!

Don't let 40 miles or the time that mapquest tells you fool you. 40 miles may be a quick jaunt out in AZ, but here in NJ, and the Philadelphia suburbs, that ride can take up to two hours.

Montgomeryville Cycle Center is a routin stop on the AMA Distrct 2 Polar Bear Grand Tour. But I wouldn't want to go there for service.

Again...

 

[MEM]

I neglected to add: talking about having an inseam < 30 inches and manhandling the Feej....for safety reasons, I do NOT have high heels on my boots nor are the soles built up in any way.

 

[HotRodZilla]

https://classic.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Cherry+Hill&1s=NJ&1y=US&1l=39.9347&1g=-75.031097&1v=CITY&2c=Hatfield&2s=PA&2y=US&2l=40.279701&2g=-75.299698&2v=CITY Uh N609Eagle, Mongomery Cycle Center is only 40 miles away from your house! What's the big deal? Yamaha Cycle Center, my FJR dealer, is 55 miles away from me. And you have two other dealers an hour away from you: Cross Country and Trans Am BMW!

Don't let 40 miles or the time that mapquest tells you fool you. 40 miles may be a quick jaunt out in AZ, but here in NJ, and the Philadelphia suburbs, that ride can take up to two hours.

Montgomeryville Cycle Center is a routin stop on the AMA Distrct 2 Polar Bear Grand Tour. But I wouldn't want to go there for service.

Again...

Haha...I told you. Where's that popcorn smiley??

 

[beemerdons]

https://classic.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Cherry+Hill&1s=NJ&1y=US&1l=39.9347&1g=-75.031097&1v=CITY&2c=Hatfield&2s=PA&2y=US&2l=40.279701&2g=-75.299698&2v=CITY Uh N609Eagle, Mongomery Cycle Center is only 40 miles away from your house! What's the big deal? Yamaha Cycle Center, my FJR dealer, is 55 miles away from me. And you have two other dealers an hour away from you: Cross Country and Trans Am BMW!

Don't let 40 miles or the time that mapquest tells you fool you. 40 miles may be a quick jaunt out in AZ, but here in NJ, and the Philadelphia suburbs, that ride can take up to two hours.

Montgomeryville Cycle Center is a routin stop on the AMA Distrct 2 Polar Bear Grand Tour. But I wouldn't want to go there for service.

Again...

Haha...I told you. Where's that popcorn smiley??

Si, mi querido HRZ, you told me! Que lastima, esto es Ridiculo!