4' 11" 15 YO lady on Electraglide....

Folks, it's not the size of the wand.......

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FzeF8I5w5I]YouTube - Victoria_2009.wmv[/ame]

Haha! Reminds me of my grand daughter. Took her out to the desert where some friends were camping out with dirt bikes and quads. At first she wouldn't get near the quad we were trying to get her on. After she finally got on and started playing she was off and about and wouldn't come back in. They loaned me a dirt bike and when she saw me coming after her, her jaw dropped with eyes poppin and then she turned and gassed it! Hahaha! Love that kid sooo much! :cheer:

the girl (no female is a "lady" at 15)...has some weight to her, which allows her to ride that harley. A female that is 4'11'' and only weighs 90 lbs could not do what that girl was doing on that harley.

Its not totally the size of the wand...but wand size does play a part in the ability to ride a big bike.

zigzagg321 said:

the girl (no female is a "lady" at 15)...has some weight to her, which allows her to ride that harley. A female that is 4'11'' and only weighs 90 lbs could not do what that girl was doing on that harley.

Its not totally the size of the wand...but wand size does play a part in the ability to ride a big bike.

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I won't debate when someone is declared a lady.

What sort of weight would you consider likely? My sister in law is 4' 10", and is quite slender..... and is one of the strongest people I know.

She certainly wasn't a twig.... but she wasn't encumbered with double chins, or elbows, either.... a fairly 'normal' weight for a person of that height, IMHO. I know I assisted a young lady of that height to join the USN way back in the early 90's.... she didn't weigh 100 pounds, soaking wet. I'd be amazed if this girl were over 125 lbs.

As low as the CG of that bike is, her weight makes almost no impact on the stability of the thing. To be honest, I thought she would have more trouble reaching the controls, than anything else.

Balance, and a wide enough bar to allow her to toss the front end side to side is about all it takes to ride like that...... I believe a 90lb person could do just as well.

zigzagg321 said:

the girl (no female is a "lady" at 15)...has some weight to her, which allows her to ride that harley. A female that is 4'11'' and only weighs 90 lbs could not do what that girl was doing on that harley.

Its not totally the size of the wand...but wand size does play a part in the ability to ride a big bike.

Click to expand...

I beg to differ. The Ride Like a Pro DVD is pretty good and the techniques really work. I spent a bit of time with the DVD and ride my cruiser pretty well; slow speed maneuvers, figure eights with floorboards on the ground. I can't maneuver my FZ6 like that as riding it is a different story.

At first, I felt I needed strength but as my cruisers got bigger (Honda Rebel 300lbs, Vstar 650 500lbs, Vstar 1300 670lbs), I had to rely more and more on technique. The Ride Like a Pro DVD really made a big difference.

I really wish there was Ride Like a Pro for sportbikes because although I've heard the principles apply to all bikes (and perhaps they do), there's a difference and I'm just starting to learn that. I think the way cruisers are set vs. sportbikes makes the technique quite different. No worries, I continue to train on the FZ6 and continue to improve steadily. I improve slowly because I don't want to drop the FZ6 as I did my Vstar 1300.

Anyhow, I know many of you FZ6ers can ride pretty well slow parking lot maneuvers and would love to hear some of your techniques.

Dennis

Can she support the bike when stopped?

I am in no way debating the validity or effectiveness of the Ride Like a Pro system.

I see a problem if the rider would weigh anything under 125-135lbs. Im only talking about on a big Harley.

Clearly the female rider in the video is skilled. Or a "natural."

I think riding in a parking lot like she was is totally different from actually having this bike on the street and living with it day to day in all the situations that are encountered out on the road.

example:

So She's sitting at a light and the wind gusts...if it catches her off guard in the least and starts pushing the bike over, will she be able to save it?

I know that I am physically stronger than the 15 year old female in the video, and I have a much lighter bike than the Harley (thank the stars we all do) and I have had wind gusts almost knock me over. (I am 5'11'' 190)

Either way, a giant Harley is a poor choice of bikes for a person her size, let alone anyone else for that matter..lol.

zigzagg321, I totally see your point. For someone that small, that's just way too much bike. For riding, handling the bike is about technique but when you're stopped, it's a different story.

If you get "stuck", it's a pain to get it going. First few days I had my Vstar 1300, I took a wrong turn and couldn't turn around and got my front tire into a trough -- I couldn't pull it out. I figured out a way to get it out by backing up, applying throttle, etc. until I "side ways" my way out. That's when I decided to learn how to do tight u-turns. On my Vstar 1300, if I see a road that goes down hill steeply, I avoid it unless I know it's wide enough to turn around safely.

Big bikes are great but man they're a pain sometimes. I use heavy bikes (the FZ6 included) as a good excuse to stay in good shape (e.g., regular strength training exercises).

I do a lot of thinking when I ride/stop/park to ensure I don't need much muscle to get out .

Dennis

Denver_FZ6 said:

Can she support the bike when stopped?

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Side stands on motorcycles hold up the whole bike, right? How many psi do you suppose are on that pad, that supports the stand? A human's legs are much, much stronger than their arms.... most people can easily do leg presses with their own body weight, and that is most likely significantly more than the pressure on a side stand.

The biggest issue here would be the length of the individual's inseam... that's not related to age or gender so much. Keep the bike balanced in the vertical, and there's very little force needed to keep it that way.

Dennis in NH said:

zigzagg321, I totally see your point. For someone that small, that's just way too much bike. For riding, handling the bike is about technique but when you're stopped, it's a different story.

If you get "stuck", it's a pain to get it going. First few days I had my Vstar 1300, I took a wrong turn and couldn't turn around and got my front tire into a trough -- I couldn't pull it out. I figured out a way to get it out by backing up, applying throttle, etc. until I "side ways" my way out. That's when I decided to learn how to do tight u-turns. On my Vstar 1300, if I see a road that goes down hill steeply, I avoid it unless I know it's wide enough to turn around safely.

Big bikes are great but man they're a pain sometimes. I use heavy bikes (the FZ6 included) as a good excuse to stay in good shape (e.g., regular strength training exercises).

I do a lot of thinking when I ride/stop/park to ensure I don't need much muscle to get out .

Dennis

Click to expand...

This lady is slightly taller (5' 3", 118 lbs)...... but here is a slide show of skert picking up her 600lb BMW...

Pink Ribbon Rides

RJ2112 said:

This lady is slightly taller (5' 3", 118 lbs)...... but here is a slide show of skert picking up her 600lb BMW...

Pink Ribbon Rides

Click to expand...

That's a good technique for anyone really.

RJ2112 said:

This lady is slightly taller (5' 3", 118 lbs)...... but here is a slide show of skert picking up her 600lb BMW...

Pink Ribbon Rides

Click to expand...

Yup. Seen that and kinda wish the girl looked hotter LOL

With the proper technique, picking up when downed like that is no biggie. The tough one is when the bike fell over on a small slope and the tank is lower than the tires -- now that was hard to pick up.

I've been working out using my "Oops I dropped my bike" exercise to strengthen the muscles to pick up a bike using the above technique and using just the handlebars. I dropped my 670lb cruiser one day and was so embarassed the adrenaline pumped and I just picked it up bar the handlebars. Note that this time, I had crash bars installed so no damage.

Anyway, I hope to keep my bikes right side up from now on.

Hey, that's a good New Year's Resolution .

Dennis