Motorcycle Mods For Short Riders | MC Garage

If nature gave you short legs, you may struggle with the seat height on your motorcycle. Luckily, there are a number of mods that can help get you a little closer to the ground, and we’ll outline them in this video from the MC Garage.

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Unless you ride a cruiser or a small-displacement bike, you’re likely dealing with a seat height of 31 inches or more. And unless you’re 5-foot-6 or taller, you’ll likely find it difficult or impossible to get both feet on the ground. For starters, it’s worth pointing out that while it is nice to be able to put both feet flat on the ground when you roll to a stop, it’s not necessary. One foot is sufficient if you have enough experience and confidence, but if you’d prefer to be a little closer to the pavement, here are a few options.

Check Your Suspension Sag
The very first thing you should do is check your suspension sag. If you’re short, you may also be light, and your bike’s shock and fork springs might have too much preload on them. That could make the ride harsh as well as put your suspension higher in the stroke, putting your Pumas farther from the pavement. Checking your rider sag is free, easy to do, and it’s the first step in properly setting up your suspension, so it’s something you should definitely attend to.

Order A Lower Seat Or Cut Down Your Stock One
Your next best option is a lower seat, and there are a couple of avenues you can pursue here. Plenty of manufacturers offer accessory “low” seats that can reduce the seat height by as much as an inch. Alternatively, you can customize your existing seat yourself by removing the cover and shaving down the foam. There are loads of videos and articles out there explaining how to do this, and while it’s a cheap and fairly easy mod, the end result doesn’t always look great or feel great on your backside since the foam will be thinner.

If you're willing to spend the money, you could send your stock seat off to companies like Sargent and Saddlemen to have it professionally customized. They'll rebuild it with thinner, more comfortable foam and can even modify the shape to better fit your butt.

Lower Your Motorcycle
Finally, if a lower seat isn’t getting you close enough to the ground, you could mechanically lower your bike by as much as an inch and a half. Lowering your motorcycle should be a last resort since it will reduce your cornering clearance, likely alter your bike’s handling, and possibly render your sidestand useless since it’ll be too long.

How To Lower A Motorcycle
The safest and best way to lower your bike is to have a mechanic shorten the fork and shock internally. It'll cost a lot, but you'll maintain your ride quality. There's also a more affordable DIY route, but it should be approached with caution. Most rear suspension systems use linkages, and installing different-length links, often called "dog bones" because of the way they look, will drop your bike's back end, and lower the seat. There are a couple of different kinds, from links with different hole spacing to threaded setups that let you fine-tune the length. Companies like T-Rex Racing offer a variety of different lowering links as well as shorter, adjustable sidestands so you'll be able to safely park your bike.

If you’re going to lower your motorcycle, it’s very important that you reduce the front and rear ride height by the same amount to maintain chassis attitude. To lower the front you loosen the triple-clamp bolts and slide the fork legs up. It seems easy enough, but you’ll be giving up precious clearance between the fender and the lower triple clamp and the wheel and the radiator, so be very careful and make sure nothing makes contact when the suspension compresses under braking. Again, lowering the bike should be the last resort, and it’s really not advisable to do yourself unless you have a solid understanding of chassis geometry and riding dynamics.

[rizqirizaldo]

Good thing I'm fat, the bike compresses just fine

[MsFloFlo]

Finally a video for short riders that doesn't outright say "don't lower your bike". I'm way too short to have the option of not lowering my bike sadly. At least until I have more experience and am more confortable on my bike I will keep it lowered. I might think about getting it back to stock later on though. Thanks for the insight on what to look out for when lowering your bike!

[stevenquigley]

When I was riding. It wasn't so much coming up to a stop and having to put a foot down. But more when you needed to back up.

That's where the Lower height comes into play most. Sometimes you just can't plan your ability to power forward out of a parking spot. Sometimes you have to nose in or worse yet backup uphill

[evozero]

Being 5'3 28" inseam if lowering the bike is a must I firmly believe in the infinite type rear lowering links the dual heim joint type after shaving the seat foam they make it possible to get away with making the smallest change to rear height. On my ZX6R I think we got away with 7/16ths drop rear and 9/16ths front followed by a professional suspension setup for aggressive but stable on road handling. Having your suspension professionally setup makes such a vast improvement to handling and confidence best mod you can do for yourself and your bike and it usually costs between $75-150.

[sergeyalenin]

You can also glue extra rubber to your boots - it can help you to win 1/2 inch or even more! And it's much cheaper than suspensions tricks!

[harrylime]

If your motorcycle has a shaft drive, you can not blindly lower the back of the motorcycle by installing shorter shocks. Most drive shafts only have about 8° of rotation, your driveshaft will not turn freely at the U joint if you go to far, it will bind at the end of the Shock stroke.. also: a narrow Seat will help someone with shorter inseam reach the ground easier than a wide seat.

[NigelGriff]

Fantastic video, I'm 5'9 but I've got a short inseam and struggle to get flat footed on my Ninja 1000. It's encouraging to know It's not considered necessary to get both feet flat on the ground, and I won't make any changes to my motorcycle and instead simply park or come to a stop in smarter positions to avoid having to walk the motorcycle or stopping on a slope with my foot on the downhill side. Thanks for the information, excellent channel

[rudranroy]

I'm less than 5'3, I needed this so much ..

[budiutomo]

5ft3, riding 32inch seat height bike for my daily (cb150x). Intimidated in the beggining, and gets better the more you ride it. 1 foot on the ground is actually enough to support you and ur bike.

[LNReacts]

I'm 6'4'' and I'm still watching this video because I love this channel so much

[GETUPANDGO]

Most bikes are "too big" for me, so therefore I've been forced to master the one foot approach--as a shorter rider, experience, balance, AND technique are the ingredients to success

[JasonYergin]

I am so glad you guys covered this one. There's a ton of good info packed into a little bit of video people can watch as much as we want.

[classicsalted]

Thanks a lot man. You're a life saver. Very comprehensively explained. Awesome!

[thejrfan]

Watched the whole thing even though I’m tall.

[michaelell]

I'm a small light rider and for the most part, other than VERY tall dirt bikes I've never had much issue with seat height. Although I do wish more bikes had a wider ranger of suspension adjustment out of the box as at just over 100lbs most bikes are just oversprung for me. Even my Ducati Scrambler which is often denigrated for being overpsrung barely sags with my butt on it.

If you are short don't be afraid to shift your left butt check off the seat at a stop to get more of your foot on the ground.

[booglebugs]

I’m 4’11”, i feel like I’m never going to find a comfortable ride 🙄 unfortunately I’m definitely not growing anymore either. I’m 21 😭

[utolgacelik]

The best advice is the first i think. Try to be a one foot ground rider, and the problem solved for any bike. I saw a man who s tall just 160 cm and riding standart seat height 1200 GS. And yes, he can stop at the traffic lights with one foot on the ground.

[chriscode]

Im 5'3. I got a Corbin seat, so worth the money. So worth it. I slap got good boys. I can happily plant one entire foot, or ball of the foot two feet. I have a 14' ninja 650.

[putleaf]

I just let about 20psi out of my tires. Worked perfectly 😁

[deathwish]

I am 6' tall and never had a problem reaching the ground, but I love this channel and it's content. Thanks for all the great info Ari!