Like the title says - been truly agonizing over her next bike. Takaya (TK) has spent last 2 years on Super Sherpa cutting her teeth, rode 5 weeks 7000 kms to Yukon/Alaska this summer and she loved it, but we both agree some more oomph is desired. Thinking about 6 months to South America next year but and we also subscribe to the idea that lighter/offroad capable. I am 6'2" on a f800gs and am thinking about downsizing also - the idea of both our bikes being compatible is very appealing. I am 6'2" on a f800gs but am also thinking about downsizing.

Some considerations are:
We very much would like to embrace challenging terrain, not suffer through it.
Affordability is important but would spend the bucks if there is a clear reason (think Carnets)
Durability very important
Ability to run heated gear for TK

Current top 2 options

DRZ400SM - as it has lower suspension than S model, add lowered seat and link to get it close to where she needs. More dirt biased and lighter, but small stator (321 lbs wet) (Either a DRZ for me or DR650)

BMW X Country 2009 has lower seat, surprising lightweight (344 lbs wet) but wonder that it is out of production and parts etc more difficult to source. Seems more 'distance' biased - wonder how it goes off road. (Either I keep my f800 or look for an X-Challenge).

Other bikes I have looked at:

BMW F700/G650GS/Sertao - too heavy

KTM 690 - Dream bike for me - but this is not about me (entirely...dare to dream....

WR250R - Too tall, like fuel injection

KLX 250/CRF250L/XT250 - seem underpowered

CCM GP450 - Looks freakishly perfect really but too bloody rich/new

Anyways - wish I was getting paid for the amount of time I am spending on this agonizing decision and really want to get past it and focus on making the trip happen. I know, I know - the bike you ride is the right bike. My brain works in funny ways, once I get past this I can move onto other fun stuff. I would very much appreciate comments from folks who have been through the same process. Thanks and I look forward to some of your thoughts and comments.

Once you get South of the USA the need for more "Oomph" will be less. I would keep her on a 250. The WR250R would be great if you could get it low enough. Expensive but the best (IMO) 250 of the lot once set up.

The Honda CRF250L is also a GREAT choice. You'll find it has better power than the Sherpa, pretty sure you can add Lowering Links to make it even lower if required.

No carnets of any kind required for All of S. America.

Your pick of the Suzuki DRZ SM is good ... if you can get it low enough.
Good bike but not great for carrying luggage, very uncomfortable stock seat. A few mechanicals to be aware of.

Lowering links are the key. Learn what they are/what they do. We once set up a DR650 for a woman just 5'2". With lowering links, fit her perfectly, still handled well.

DR650 is easy to lower, even comes with factory options to do this ... but you would need MORE. We lowered the DR in question about 3.5 inches from stock height using links and factory lowering options plus raising fork tubes up in triple clamps. All good. It looked goofy but rode beautifully.

The DR650 has advantage of comfort and lots of luggage space, plus general toughness and reliability over most competitors. A good wide Corbin seat allows 10 hour riding days.

A custom seat on a 250 will be better, but won't have the overall comfort of the DR650. But weight is a factor.
DR650 true wet weight: 367 lbs. (full tank)

None of these bikes have much elec. output. Maybe the X Country has more?
DR, DRZ, CRF-L ... all round 200W output. I'm not a fan of that generation of BMW's.

I use a Gerbing jacket and heated grips on my DR650. But I run an HID light to save power. No problems but could use more WATTS! Lots of ways round this.

Try as many bikes as you can ... until she's happy!

Great! Thanks for the feedback Mollydog. Yes, the wr250r has appealing specs and a 350W Alternator to boot, but highest seat at 36.6" (5" higher than her sherpa) It is tough to go ride a bunch this time of year - dealers dont like folks testing.

The DRZ super motard has lower suspension and seat height so could convert and use some tricks to get it down to around 32-33" seat height - which would be ok for TK.

My respectful advice - don't underestimate the unhappiness that a too high bike can cause, especially if ridden day in and day out. The world is full of off camber curves, gutters, and a myriad of other city and country surface imperfections that can leave a foot dangling in the air if you have to stop beside or on top of them, with precarious results. Try backing up a loaded motorcycle even a short distance up a modest incline if all of your traction comes from a couple of toes (or one) on the ground. And the laws of physics dictate that a small person will have less of a chance of keeping a heavier, taller motorcycle upright once it starts to drop, even at very low speeds, or no speed at all.

Ain't that the case!

Just to add, the quoted overall height dimension of the rider rarely includes their even more significant inside/inseam leg measurement.
Then there is the design of the bike seat itself which contributes, greatly, to how easy it is to reach the ground with one or both feet while mounted on the bike.
"Reach the ground" does, naturally, mean different things to different people.

__________________
Dave

True that - great reminder. She is a 29" inseam. Currently her Super Sherpa has kouba links (came that way) and seat measures 31.5" and is plenty low. I think we could up it a bit safely but need to be careful how much. All bikes DRZ400SM on down start around 35" (except xt250) so my current thinking is a if we can get it 32.5 to 32". My gut is leading toward the DRZ. The CCM looks amazing - seat height is variable from 31.1" to 37.4"!!

29" inseam? Wow! That's quite good for a person just 5'2".
29" is my inseam. (I'm 5'6") I've ridden dirt bikes since age 14 and they were ALWAYS too tall for me. You learn to adapt to keep from toppling over.

Tricks to consider when on tip toes:

1. Always pick your stopping place, use curbs berms, rocks or whatever to help.
2. Always SLIDE forward as far as possible to narrowest part of seat to maximize reach with your legs. (leg)
3. Always slide over onto one Butt Check to allow that leg to reach further down.

All seem obvious but very few "short arses" know above tricks. You DO NOT need both feet flat on the floor to control a heavy bike. But you DO need to be aware that you're on a heavy bike. If it starts to go over ... DO NOT try to save it ...
just jump clear of the bike. (get your leg out of there!)

32" seat height is certainly doable on MOST of the bikes you've listed. Kouba
make great stuff! (if a bit expensive!). Many companies make lowering links.
But contact Kouba to see about links for the DRZ400S. And FOR SURE do something about that HORRIBLE seat ... it will cripple her ... trust me on this one! WIDE IS GOOD!

yeah it will take some work, but i think we need to invest and build something hing from the ground up, new seat, bigger tank, adjustable fairing/windscreen, bigger stator heated grips etc etc, it seems like i am gaining comfort with drz sm , now just need to find nice low mileage unit, bummer our dollar sucks so bad

Have a look at this film, my wife is only 5'2 and about 48kgs & she rode this from Cairo to Cape Town & it was perfect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7lnlhFyMYg

__________________
....rather Die Living.....than Live Dying !
www.globetrekkers.net.au

Interesting - We were just taking a close look at this bike again over morning coffee - We used to have a xt225 and didnt have a close look at the xt again - hmmm this is maybe the right bike! Would save a lot of fiddling with a DRZ to get it down to size.

Will crack a later this aft and watch the vid - Thanks!

Plus One!
After all ... could Lois Pryce (Lois On The Loose) be wrong? The XT250 is the bike she toured Africa on! A great and affordable choice ... just don't overload it the way Paul and his wife did! (full sized Tea Pot? Pleeeze!)

Hi,

In your initial post you mentioned the CCM GP450 as a consideration.
Just wanted to let you know that I rode mine from Capetown to Dar Es Salaam between June and August this year.
They do a low seat version and I understand are selling quite a few to lady riders.
I did 10,000 km. It is a very capable off road bike - much better than me - but it does make you feel much safer when away from tarmac. My son was on a BMW G650GS (single cylinder) which I rode when he fancied swapping. In contrast this was heavy unwieldy and ...well.. bloody horrible ...when off road. On tarmac it was much smoother.

The CCM was fine on tarmac. More than fast enough for all roads in Africa. Feels relatively unstressed up to 110Kph. Covers 20/22km per litre which gives it a range up to 400km. The most I did was 320km before getting some black market fuel from a guy selling out of vegetable oil containers in a village.

I had a high output generator fitted but being honest never really connected "stuff" to the bike beyond a GPS and a pair of spotlights. Had no problems with battery performance which was nice because I wasn't too sure about the super light weight and small lithium ion battery fitted as standard.
I did have some problems. The starter motor packed up but they sent a replacement which was easy to fit.
Also you need to understand that the BMW engine is a detuned racing unit. This means that it feels "busy" in comparison to typical dual purpose single pot power plants fitted with a balancer shaft. It gives it an immediacy which is great when you are in the mood. But it does vibrate. This does not really affect the riding experience once you are used to it but you have to be very careful to check all fasteners regularly otherwise bits will fall off!
In theory I could have done the journey without servicing but I did 2 oil changes and one spark plug + air filter. Relatively straightforward to do but the body work is a pain to refit - something to do with it being "stressed" into place during manufacture. I am sure a reasonably competent person (not me!) could sort that out before going on a long journey by aligning the various mounting points.

All in all I think the bike is a very good choice for Africa. Other owners have done South America (following Dakar) and the USA (coast to coast) so it does seem to be robust enough
It is expensive but if you can get a test ride off road I think you will notice the difference in the performance in comparison to normal dual purpose machines.
I hope this information is of some help.



Sent from my Aquaris E5 using Tapatalk

That deserves to be in the thread about the CCM!
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...nture-76737-10

A simple cut and paste would do the trick.

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Dave

Hi everyone.
Woman perspective here.

I think the first thing to know is where are you going to ride? By where, I don’t mean countries, I mean type of road!

Are you going to stick to asphalt and major gravel roads? Then any bike would do. Even a Harley! (No offence meant to HD riders!)

If you want to do a lot of more difficult roads, river crossings, deep mud, sand etc… then that is a different story entirely.

I understand your conundrum, as I am in the same situation that your wife. I am short (1.63m on a very good day – aka 5’4’’?) and my feet are small too.

When men talk about having also a seem of 29 inches, they do have usually much bigger feet than women, and that makes a big difference between getting the ball or your foot or only the top of your toe, if at all! So first, she has to sit on any bike you may be tempted to get.

Then about reaching the ground with the feet. Many will tell you that as long as she gets the toe down it is ok. Well, it might be if you stay in the US/Europe… but imagine this, she is in a mountain road in Bolivia, very narrow, with a very big drop on her side. A 4x4 is oncoming at full speed, out of a bend, she must pull as much as she dares and stop, she puts her foot down… but then the ground is not there, the bike tilt outward and …. Woops…. And if you think this never happened think again!

Take one: I spent a year going round south America with a BMW F 650 GS. I won’t go into the bike and BMW. The bike was too tall for me, so when I had to stop sharp, on dirt roads, the ground was too far by the time I put my foot down, and the bike tilted too much, so it went down. Often!
Also the bike was way too heavy for me and we had too much luggage. There were many roads we could not do and parts of the continent we did not go because I could not ride off-road with such heavy bike.

Take two: we rented two YBR 125 in Vietnam and suddenly discovered that off-road riding could be fun.

Take three: rode from London to Mongolia and back last year (4 months). We bought two Hondas XR 125. They were perfect for off-road, but too slow. We had minimum luggage too and that made a massive difference as well. I was able to get through anything and that was the most important thing.

Take four: next year we are off again and planning again mainly dirt roads to cross Russia by the north. I expect a very tough going in some places. Choice? I wanted two TTR 250 (we like to have the same model as we can share parts etc..) but I failed to lower my TTR enough for me to be comfortable with it. My husband (6’2’’) will be riding it. By chance (I live in the UK and this bike is not sold here) I came across a grey import XT250. Bought it, took it on deep mud trail riding. It is perfect for me and absolutely amazing (and I mean AMAZING!) on dirt roads, water, deep thick mud anything!

That is also the first bike I won’t need to put a lowering link or tinker with the seat! So, that is our set up for next year: XT250 for me, TTR250 for Alistair. Enough speed to keep up with the traffic across Europe and perfect for dirt roads.

And again minimalist luggage.

So let her have a look at the XT250, or similar small 250cc bikes, if you plan hard trails. You definitely won't need anything faster!

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Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

Another strong vote for the xt 250! Thanks you all for the great replies so far. The ccm looks dead sexy but I think the cost X2 bikes is out of our range at this time. I suspect in the coming years we will see more 400cc range bikes suit for what we do.

Maria that is great and I will be sure to get TK read your words, in fact I will get her to participate in the thread (duh).

I can find decent used XT250s around here for about $3500. We do prefer off-road, BC is riddled with endless logging roads that take you to amazing places and we hope to take that sort of thinking on longer trips. Light and dirty. I dream that we (read 'I") will be patient enough to choose routes picking up dirt roads connecting remote communites as we travel, rather than pounding slab all the way.

I did find someone online that lowered their wr250r for a 5'2" rider as that bike really intruiges me - best thing will be to get TK to throw her leg over a couple. I have started a spreadsheet to help wrap my head around the numbers, which really helps but find myself staring at it endlessly....great fun!