What Bike?

by Cathy
(South Africa)

I’ve seen this question pop up a few times, so thought I’d share my recent experience, maybe it’ll be of use:

I bought my first bike last year – a 650 Suzuki Savage. I ended up buying this bike simply because it was pretty much the only bike we could find that I could ‘fit’. I’m 5’3”, about 108lb, and I felt my first bike should be one I could sit on with feet flat on the ground – I know myself, and knew that’d be the best way I could gain confidence fairly quickly. And it’s been a good choice. I love my little Savage – she’s a fun bike to ride, and I’ve learned quickly, and gained heaps of confidence. This bike is easy to handle, I can pick her up on my own, and we can keep up reasonably well with hubby when we go riding together – also a requirement!

Now I also want to ride off-road, so we’ve been hunting for a dual purpose/off-road bike that will fit. I’m so fortunate to have a mechanical genius for a husband, who’s been riding bikes since he built his first bike at age 13, with his Dad’s help. He’s 49 now, so that’s a lot of experience under the belt, and he can do what’s required to lower the seat height for me.

We first looked at the Suzuki DR650 as a good option. A lot of lowering, but he looked at the structure, and decided it can be done.

Then we did some maths, and this is where it got interesting: using 110 lb for my weight, and 185 for hubby’s, me on a 166 kg DR650 is the equivalent of him on a 278 kg bike! Now I’m not so sure that it’s correct to go directly proportional, but it does kinda put things in perspective – for off-road, that is – I think we can handle heavier road bikes. So looking at the bikes he’s ridden – him on a KTM950 (210kg) is the equivalent of me on a bike weighing 125kg, which is what we decided would be the ideal weight.

What we’ve just bought is a Honda XLX 350 R, which I think is just a tad over 125kg, and although I can’t ride her yet – the seat-lowering project is about to begin – just sitting on the bike I know I’ll be comfortable riding her – not too heavy, not too high up, but great suspension for the technical off-road stuff, and as the bike gets up to 130km/hr fairly easily with the two of us on, with only me riding, keeping up, and having a bit extra for overtaking, shouldn’t be an issue.

Yes, a small part of me does still think maybe I’ll feel like the little kid sister always trying to keep up, but the wiser part of me says ‘so what?’. This is not about what others think, or even about riding with a group on big bikes – it’s about me gaining confidence off-road, having a whole load of fun, and being able to ride on all the roads my husband loves to ride on. It’s time for this old girl to get out there and have fun too!

I also think it’s true what my husband says – any bike can go anywhere, it all depends on the rider!