a few questions/gripes from a new rider (04 fz6)

hey guys new rider here so excuse me for my noobness!

first off love the bike, it got vandalized a few months back but had a good buddy help me bring it back to life again. anyways i rode today about an hour which is the longest i've ridden so far on this bike. my ass was fine halfway through but it just seemed like the exhaust was heating up my seat a little hotter than i liked and it was a reallly cool day.. i'm thinking this could be the exhaust how can i lower the temps on the seat?

another thing is i'm a pretty small guy 5ft 6 so i pretty much tippy toe on the bike and would feel ALOT more comfortable if i was lower. now my question is what are the pros and cons to lowering and how would i go about getting the mods for this? it sucked, i was on an incline and kept stalling cause i had my right hand on the break and was worried about rolling back... scared the crap outa me.. noob mistakes i know. now that i think about it i should have used my foot brake instead... i have taken the msf course but it's been 2 year since then... i plan on taking it again as a refresher.

on a good note i love this bike and am starting to get the mod bug in me, first thing to go is the mufflers i dunno what ima put in though. thanks for reading lol. any help/ tips would be greatly appreciated.

:welcome:to the forum! I'm 5'8" and have a problem with tall bikes but it's made me a better ballerina! :rof: I believe there is a lowering shock you can get for the FZ6 and the you'd loosen the front down on the tubes to equalize the bike. Keep in mind this will change geometry and if you ever plan to ride in a spirited fashion it will change it a bit.
This is a great forum with a fun people! Enjoy!

I believe there is some heat shielding supposed to be between the cans and the subframe, on the underside to stop the heat. I found the FZ6 to be very comfortable, and burned my posterior when I took a CBR600RRRRARGHARGH! pirate bike for a spin once. Might need to check the heat shielding is there.:thumbup:

I'm 5 foot 6, and reversing uphill into a parking spot was the only time I had any troubles. For me, I just left everything as it was, 'cause they are so nippy out of the box, I'd hate to have messed mine up. Just need to plan ahead. Don't park backwards, uphill.

Use the rear brake for hill starts.

If the road has deep ruts at the lights, park in a rut, with your foot on the mound.

To help with reversing, you can "bounce" off the forks by hitting the front brake while still rolling very slightly and releasing as they extend. This will tend to get you moving backwards, and you then just need to keep yourself rolling.

Hope some of this helps:thumbup:

i did some more researching on the lowering.. and found a simple method i think i'm going to try out. found this on sportbikes.net
Trying adjusting the preload setting on rear shock first. I had the shock set to 7 (full stiff). I'm 5'9" 225 lbs 30" inseam and I can flat foot one side and nearly flat foot the other. I was teaching my gf how to ride over the weekend and she's 5'5" and I'm guessing 145 lbs (she refused to tell me) and probably a 28-29" inseam. I set the preload to 2 for her and she was able to flat foot the bike completely. I sat on it afterwards and I felt like I was squatting as was I flat footing it. However, I much prefer the stiffer setting when doing more serious riding as gets rid of the tail waggle I experience mid-corner in the twisties.

Not know you're weight, you're probably also a 2. Just pull out the tool set from underneath the seat and pull out the sort of sickle looking tool (preload tool) and the small hex allen torque. Remove the bolt from one of the rear fender plastics and pull/pop out the rear fender plastic (w/the hex). Find the elongated numbered pentagons on the rear shock and twist the preload adjuster until the inner tab is lined up w/the 2 (w/the sickle/preload tool). It probably set to 4 no has ever adjusted your bike.

+1 on use the rear brake for hill starts.

I'm only 5"3 and never touch the ground on any bike I ride so I got used to doing the one leg down, butt shift over technique. When I'm ready to come to a stop I shift my butt over to the left and put my left leg down, right one rests over the rear brake. You can also turn your hips INTO the bike for more stability and always remember to look down the road and not right in front of you.

You may also look into shaving down the seat a little bit, I cut down my dirtbike seat and a few of the seats on my other bikes to gain an inch or so.

Lowering kits make sense for some people but with your height I would try the other tips first. Once you get more confident it won't matter that you only have one foot down or tip toes

Good luck!

Misti