motorcycles for tall people if you're like me i'm six foot three if you're plus
six feet tall uh you need to watch this video because we're going to discuss
the problems that you might have finding a motorcycle that fits now most motorcycles
are designed for the average sized or average height person which happens to be five foot ten
so anyone who's five foot ten has got it made because pretty much every bike in the world
will fit you if you're a few inches above a few inches below then you're going to be fine as well
and if you're shorter than that there's it's not really a problem because lots of bikes come with
lowering kits you can lower the suspension you can get a lower seat you can drop the
handlebars there's all sorts of things you can do if you're shorter but there's very little
that can be done if you're taller and in this video we're going to discuss those problems
now understandably most people who are tall try and find a bike with a taller higher seat height
and they get hooked up on the fact that if the seats high it must be okay but that's not actually
the case which is why i've chosen this heritage classic which has a seat height of 680 millimeters
and as you can see my legs are firmly bent and um it's not at all seat by any means but the the
most important measurement that you really have is length and let me put it back on the stand
as you can see there's tons of room for my legs because it's got four controls
it's got plenty of reach for the bars and it's got a very long wheelbase so this is one of the
few motorcycles in the world that really does fit a taller person and as you can see me being
six foot three you can imagine if you're six foot five or six you'd still better ride this bike it
would look okay whereas a lot of motorbikes you sit on them and it looks like you're sitting on
your daughter's first bicycle because uh you are enormous compared to the size of the motorbike
and it's not the height like i say it's the length that's important ask any of the girls
here's another case in point this is a brand new motorcycle which has just been released
in the united kingdom it's the bullet v-bob it's a 250 cc v-twin but again it's got a low seat height
of 715 millimeters but it's quite long it's got a longer wheelbase than the average motorcycle
especially at this capacity and because it's got forward controls you can reach out and the
riding position is actually very good not as big as the heritage classic but it wouldn't be because
that's an enormous full-size motorbike but for a 250 this has got plenty of room and i don't look
too huge on it i'm pretty sure now what some people do if they're tall is you
can push the handlebars forwards you can get risers for them to make them a little higher
and sometimes on say some motocross off-road dirt bikes
you can lower the pegs a little bit and maybe get a fatter taller seat but other than that that's
all you can really do and you're still riding a very short small motorcycle which doesn't look
right so what i would recommend if you're a taller person is to look at the specs of various bikes
go for something like a cruiser because they are longer obviously the harleys are big bikes
and any other makes a cruiser tend to be longer look for the wheelbase figure because that's the
important figure seat height really has nothing to do with it because it's all about the reach
and the length um and where your feet are which give you the comfort because some bikes your
feet are tucked up here you're riding like that that's just not comfortable oh come on
now let's take the example of um two guys going into a dealership saved by an enduro bike um
one of the guys my cousin's um son is six foot five now if he went into the honda dealership and
he wanted to buy an enduro bike let's say a crf uh 450 or 250 rx i mean he's got two choices at 450
or 250 and it's basically down to engine size the bike the dimensions of the bike is pretty much the
same so um he would go and say well i'll go for the 450 i need to walk out uh having purchased the
motorcycle an hour later along comes another guy who's five foot seven and he goes in and
says well i'd like an enduro bite please i've got 250 or 450 okay well i'll go for the 450.
and he comes out with the same bike but there's 10 inches of difference between the two people
it's like going into a shoe shop and saying i'd like a pair of shoes please and yeah whatever size
foot you've got say well it's the same size one size fits all off you go so it's something needs
to be done about it now one solution some people do particularly on drag bikes is to extend the
swing arm you can do that on off-road dirt bikes as well like a hill climb bike and i think they
look fabulous um what happens there though is that it changes the dimensions of the motorcycle it
lifts the back end a bit which will steepen the rake of the fork so it can change the handling
so you'd have to compensate for that so it's not an easy solution but what i do propose is that
manufacturers build a motorcycle with a longer wheelbase so thinking of a hill climb motorcycle
extend the swing arm three maybe four inches maybe get an extra edge somewhere in the chassis
and a bit more suspension another inch on the suspension so thinking of a motocross
or an enduro bike this which is what i want i'm looking for a um an off-road dirt bike
but i don't want a little short motorcycle i want something that looks right and fits me
so rather than me going sort of getting an extended swing arm which will create to create
problems i think manufacturers should be working on a bike for taller people uh whether that be
a road bike or an off-road bike um they need to just have the same motorcycle don't want to be
more powerful i don't want it to be any different other than just a little bit longer a little bit
bigger so there is a solution and i would be happy to work with any manufacturer and sort of help
with the designing of it and the ideas but it'd be nice to see one of the big manufacturers actually
offering that as an option so you can go into a shop being plus six foot tall and come out with
a motorcycle that fits you properly now if you've got a another solution to this problem i'd love
to hear your comments what i suggested i think is is the way forward i think this could be done um
there may be other answers to the problem but it down to sizes and it's like everything it needs to
be longer needs to be maybe a little bit taller and then it's going to look right there's no
reason why a manufacturer can't do it other than me bolting on bits or i could have an option where
i say go onto a website choose the bike i want and then i could choose the option of a longer swing
arm or a longer wheelbase for a taller person so it's something you can click and add on that would
be great so don't forget to leave a comment like and subscribe if you haven't done already check
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have a look on the website we've done a review of the bullet v-bob over there the 250 v-twin
cruiser motorcycle you've got to see that so check that out and we'll see you on the next video you