Hello there all,
I am looking for recommendations for a bike for my girlfriend. She currently rides a street bike, 1981 Honda 400 CM. I was wondering what would be a good bike for her to transition into touring/enduro? She is 5'6" (1.524 meters). Is it better to get a higher sitting bike and lower it or a shorter seat height bike? Thanks for your help.

no such thing as a "woman's bike" but I get the gist of the question...
compared to me, 5'6" is tall - you'd be surprised how many bikes she can ride as the suspension compresses quite a bit on trail/enduro bikes

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Elaine

Striving to live the ordinary life in a non ordinary way

Have you looked at a XT225 Serow? Low seat height especially popular with shorter people.
If you can get an out of the box bike to suit it will generally be better than trying to shorten suspension components.

I agree with all of this post, but finding a well-priced Serow nowadays, here in the UK, is not easy; they were never an official import to the UK and the older ones are going for good prices while the newer (250cc) grey imports are quite expensive compared with other available bikes.

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Dave

It really depends on what she wants, not what you want for her.

You really have to sit down and discuss what the bike is going to be used for and then find one that fits what she wants to do with it.

Too many times I've seen boyfriends/spouses etc determine what is good for the girlfriend/spouse/whatever without involving her in the conversation.

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1971 BMW R75 project,
2013 Suzuki DL650A

We are both currently street riders but want to transition to enduro/touring. I am simply asking what the best options are for a smaller/shorter person, and also one that may not be able to pick up a heavier bike in case of a drop. Thanks for all the replies.

You won't need as low a bike as you think but you will need to soften things up a bit to compensate for weight.

A 250 would be the way to go. More than enough power but not so much that it'll be trying to spit you off at every opportunity.

How about a TTR 250 if you can find a good one or the new Honda CRF250L. The 250 serow would be worth a look also.

Really depends how many pennies you've got to spend.

That's how I read your OP - just looking for ideas.

Try the search engine in here; it used to be a bit "wobbly" but it throws up some relevant stuff since it was updated and your general line of discussion has cropped up quite a bit in the past.
e.g. I've just tried this search, based on "low, ride and bike" (pick your own key words!):-
Search | Horizons Unlimited

to the HUBB by the way.

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Dave

Thanks folks,
We have been looking at everything from DRs (400, 650), XRs, XTs and WRs. Trying to find something that's already street legal in the States that we can use to ride to the trails close to our home. I appreciate all the responses.

I am also a female enduro rider (just over 5'6"). I ride a lowered DR650 and love it. It's peppy and is an amazing bike for booting around the city and countryside. Picking the bike up shouldn't be too much of a problem with proper technique (or the help of kind strangers).
The only drawbacks that I find with the bike is that it's a little heavy for serious trail riding, and pretty windy on the highway.
In addition to the bike being lowered, I also have a drop seat, and still find the bike tricky to 'reverse' (getting footing) so it would depend on your girlfriend's inseam.
As others have already said, it would depend on what you want to use the bike for. For primarily trail riding I would go with a lighter bike. But highway riding can be a pain on a 250cc so a bigger bike might be better. On another note, my boyfriend had a DRZ-400 and there was no way my feet were coming close to touching the ground on that bike, which is a shame since it was a serious contender when I was making my bike selection.
In the end I went with the DR650 because it was a higher cc bike and one of the lower ones on the market. It is easy to handle, reliable, and easy to maintain and work on. It's a great little bike and a lot of fun to ride. Let me know if you have any more questions about it.


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The serow was imported to the States.
This site is good for info about the XT225:-
XT225/250 Rider's Group

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Dave

Look at the Beta Alp.


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