It's tough being short.
Any decent dirt bike has a lot of suspension travel.
This means a high seat, which you means trouble any time you stop or need to touch the ground.
Let's look at all the things you can do in terms of riding technique, bike setup and bike choice.
Develop good balance skills and you will rarely need to put your foot down.
Practice riding very slowly, and even better learn how to balance at a standstill.
This trials techique is extremely useful for short riders in tough terrain.
If you are really serious, get into trials riding too.
It will transform your balancing skills on a dirt bike.
Stand on the footpegs more.
Most riders sit far too much.
When you stand, you have much more control over the bike and less need to put a foot down.
Practice your full lock turns regularly, on smooth and rough ground, without putting a foot down.
Learn how to dismount instead of crash.
Recognise when you will probably crash,
then just pick and choose where and how to jump off the bike.
When the terrain gets too rough, learn to how to paddle with your legs,
both standing and sitting on the bike.
Finally, choose where to stop your bike.
Short riders can park with the handlebars against a tree,
or stop next to a rock or log which makes it easier to touch the ground.
In some cases, these riding techniques may be enough.
If not, then try setting up your bike to suit.
Bike setup.
We'll start with cheap do-it-yourself mods.
Seat mods.
The easiest is modifying your seat.
You can trim the foam down a lot lower, if you don't mind the weird look.
Some riders drill big holes in the seat foam to make it softer,
or just replace it with a much softer foam or gel inserts.
Then your bike still looks the same, but you sink much further into the seat.
If two people ride the same bike, just a second seat and keep swapping them over. Easy.
Suspension changes.
The easiest change here is to increase the rear suspension sag as much as possible,
then slide your forks up through the triple clamps to match.
This does negatively affect your steering geometry and handling, but many novice to
intermediate riders say they are very happy with this mod, in combination with a lower seat.
The next step is a lowering link for the rear suspension,
and again adjusting the front forks to match.
On some bikes you may actually need to fit bar risers so you
can slide the forks through enough to match.
The more you lower the rear end,
the harder the first part of your rear suspension will usually be.
As with adjusting your sag, these changes do alter the steering geometry of your bike.
You won't know if you notice this, and like it or hate it, until you try it.
A very important safety issue: make sure your tyres won't hit the
underneath of your fenders and airbox when the suspension is bottomed out.
The next step is going to a suspension shop and getting it done properly.
These guys know how to minimise the negative affects it will have on your bike's handling.
Also, it's expensive but they can make internal changes to your forks and rear
shock so that you don't need to use a linkage or slide the forks through the triple clamps.
If you time this with a regular suspension overhaul it actually becomes a cheap modification.
It often makes a bike easier to sell too - plenty
of short riders out there looking for modified bikes.
Some short riders also modify the rear sub-frame
which lowers the seat at the rear, but not at the front.
This tends to be more of a motocross thing as the seat is less likely to slam a short
rider in the butt over whoops, but some enduro riders lower the sub-frame and like the results.
Do it yourself if you are handy with tools,
otherwise you can buy kits for some bikes but not all.
Handlebars and footpegs.
These don't lower your bike of course, but can help you to feel more comfortable on the bike.
You may be able to find some lower handlebars.
Snd I couldn't find any examples but apparently there are higher footpegs available.
Bike choice.
Next time you buy a bike, remember an electric start
makes dirt riding far easier if you are short.
And even more importantly look at the seat heights.
In the serious enduro market, Beta is well known for being around an inch lower,
although of course the ground clearance is slightly lower too.
If you don't plan to ride too fast or aggressively,
then hybrid bikes are well worth looking at.
The Beta Xtrainer is essentially a smaller lighter enduro bike,
proving to be very popular with short riders.
Next is the KTM Freeride, which is lower again and about halfway to a trials bike.
After that you have a range of bikes that are almost trials
bikes such as the Scorpa T-ride, Sherco X-ride and Ossa Explorer.
If you don't need a high tech light weight thoroughbred,
there are various Japanese bikes like the Honda CRF250.
I won't go into those, just google around for bikes with low seat heights.
A final note, wear good armour and protective gear.
Even with the best technique, best bike and best setup short riders are
going to crash more often so get the good protective gear.
Ride safe!