Hello there,

First of all apologies if this has already been covered in previous topics - I have tried searching but found nothing yet.

As the title suggests I am looking into lowering my NC29 so that my sister can use it. She's only a shortie at about 5ft (max) and at the moment is not entirely confident sitting on it. She currently has a NSR125 so its a bit of a difference!

Have thought of lowering the forks but don't know if that will make the handling a bit skittish? Has anyone tried different dogbones? Will also look at having the seat shaved as well.

What do you guys recommend? Any advice would be most appreciated.

Cheers
Chris

You need to be very careful if you try lowing the yokes through the forks - if you go too far the bike will be very unstable and you will soon have a tankslapper. Also the sliders may hit the bottom yoke before they have bottomed out.

I don't know if this has been covered much before, since these are some of the lowest bikes already. A different dogbone may be the answer, but you may need to have a custom one made. Some shocks have adjustable ride height but that will be expensive.

Hopefully someone else has better ideas.

Hi blade1, I have seen others lower the forks but I would be wary of going more than 1cm on the front until your sure she knows how the bike may react so sorry cant offer more assistance mechanically than mentioned by Wozza.

But I can give you an opinion on being a shortass on the bike, being only 5' myself.

First she has a nsr125, now a bloke had one of these the other week at work and although I didnt sit on it, it was parked next to my bike and at first I thought I was looking at an old 600 and only when I spied the L plates did I realise it was a 125, I thought it looked a lot taller and the seat definatly was way taller. Where the nc29 differed was in the width where it was quite wide but remember the seat and frame on the nc29 is very thin at the front, it helps shorties a lot. Where she may have problems are over balancing with the weight, Im always aware of this especially on cambers where it drops and Im moving slow to the same side, parking and slowing down on cambered roads need preperation. Perhaps her arms aint too long for this sort of reach, really only noticable on tight slow manouvers. It still makes me uncomfortable riding in heavy traffic knowing I have to be wary of these things but you do get used it. Do a search in the forum for a pdf from GreyBike that I put up, its for shortasses and they go through various models including the NC29, which got the vote from Viv.

Finally, look at the Daytona Lady Star ladies boots, these have lifts to raise the heel and toes, giving extra CMs, the mens version is called M Star GTX, cant afford them myself but they would help for sure.

dave

thanks for the replies guys,
Don't think I'll consider lowering the forks as she handles lovely as she is and don't want to ruin it.

Think i'll look at getting the seat shaved and maybe some new boots for her. Will let you know what I do for fouture reference.

Chris

no lowering is needed if the suspention is standard.
i am 5ft fuck all and can ride my NC29 just fine. reach the floor just fine.

leopard_pagan wrote:no lowering is needed if the suspention is standard.
i am 5ft fuck all and can ride my NC29 just fine. reach the floor just fine.

Durka reminds LP that not everyone is the same even though we seem to be about the same height I am of short Northern stock and very little inside leg hence the tippy toe feeling on my bike, but hey I dont dwell on it but I do know compared to a upright bike of the same seat height I am stretching further, I can only put this down to the slightly forward reach stretching my legs and arms in that racy position.

piccy of me on my bike taken before its respray, shows how small i am.





dave

blade1 wrote:She's only a shortie at about 5ft (max) and at the moment is not entirely confident sitting on it. What do you guys recommend? Any advice would be most appreciated.

leopard_pagan wrote:no lowering is needed if the suspention is standard.
i am 5ft fuck all and can ride my NC29 just fine. reach the floor just fine.

Problem solved!!

What's the issue here?!

Cammo wrote:Problem solved!!

What's the issue here?!

Well the problem isnt really solved by saying someone is 5' and they dont need it so she should be ok, I think as everyone is different, maybe its something I can relate too.

Reading blade1s post reveals that she does not feel confident on the bike because of her height so she has sat on the bike so knows it does not feel right, there could be other reasons such as being a very slight girl, maybe the weight is too much so I gave possible answers to questions she may have having had these thoughts myself. I always try to give a full reply if I can, maybe I go on too much, dunno.

Durka Durka wrote:

Cammo wrote:Problem solved!!

What's the issue here?!

Well the problem isnt really solved by saying someone is 5' and they dont need it so she should be ok, I think as everyone is different, maybe its something I can relate too.

Sorry, couldn't find the sarcasm smiley.

Thank you all for the replies,
I think she is just used the the light and very slim NSR.

Comparing the 2 bikes the seat height is very similar but the 400 seat is a bit wider - am going to get the bike seat tapered in a bit - should make her a bit more comfy and confident.