New Member

[lihp]

Hi Ladies and Gents,

I am a new member and I understand it is good form to introduce yourself before joining in any forums.

I have held a motor cycle licence since 1966   have been activley motorcycling on and off over the last 45 years.

Although I live in West Sussex and most of my riding takes place on French roads.

I  have just purchased a new V Strom 650 and I'm in the process of running the bike in. ( Nearly there )

Having been a BMW owner for the past 20 years it was a difficult decision to by a Japanese bike, however my early

 impressions  are very good. Infact I did'nt know what I was missing, I should have got one years ago, its a great bike.

The only down side to the bike so far is  me , due to the seat height, I am 5ft 7". It did,nt seem a problem when I test rode the demo bike but I have been caught out on a couple of occassions getting my foot down.

I would value any members advise on how to approach this issue as I understand a low seat option is expensive and only reduces the height by a few  mm.

Regards to all and I look forward to joining in the forums and events if any come up.

[Piglumps]

Hello and welcome...     'Ride height' is approachable in another way, namely changing the rear suspension links (aka dogbones) which can lower the back of the bike by 25mm. I think there are some for sale in the 'for sale' section strangely enough.. Some suggest dropping the forks through the braces by a small amount too, but watch the side stand angle...

I now have 2100 miles on my June 11 XP, loosening up nicely!

[2112]

[Glider65]

Hi &  

Skipper is in the same boat.  But his inside leg is 29" (Visually verified)  and he has one good, cheap tip:

On the underside of the seat are 4 black rubber 'spacers' these are attached via rubber lugs to holes in the seat.  remove spacers... seat will lower by about 10mm.

[Locky]

[sexpanther]

welcome fellow new bloke  

[Motostrom eire]

many welcomes don't get disheartened with the height thing you will get use to it and the probs will iron themselves out I've got a few mates who struggled with height thing but through just keeping at it they can make the mighty strom behave itself keep at it

[PHIL FAT]

hi and

[Juvecu]

Hi &  

Glad you like the Wee, they are great 'little' bikes. See this thread for advice on lowering seat height. Best do it a little at a time starting with the cheap things first like dropping the yolks and removing seat rubbers. Once you find out what's just perfect you can pick the most elegant solution. The rubbers on the seat is there for a reason, to get rid of some vibes so you might not like them out Anyway, you'll know what works for you soon enough.

Remember to update your forum profile with your location. If you like you can get yourself added to the members map, see my signature for the link  

[choppsie]

Hi and  

Just broke the 3,000 miles this morning and the Wee just gets better.

Stick with it. I have a 30" inside and after a few trips got used to the seat height. I am careful putting my foot down where the road cambers away on the left, other than that no major issues.

Enjoy

[willbo]

   

[Catballou]

Hello  

[V-Strom-Mark]

Hi and  

Glider65's tip on removing the spacers seems to work for some people, worth a try (and cheap too!)  

[Ptarmigan]

Hi and    

[coopmick]

[Gassoon]

Hello!  

I would say this : I'm 5'8" and thought I'd get used to it, but eventually it caught me out inmy own driveway - place where the paving had sunk slightly, put my foot down - frantically waved foot about! Nothing there! Bang, bike was over! No damage fortunately, but got some 25mm replacement dogbones for about 15 quid, fitted them, and no problems now...sidestand still fine etc. Oh, and dropped the yokes down the forks by about 10 ml to compensate, too! Try the 'search' function at the top of the page to find other ideas about the subject.