Short rider....which mods?

[jeadra]

Alright.....I've just spent the past few hours poring over various posts. Of course, when you you have a question or two, the answers aren't always so simple.
I got a '07 FZ6 for a steal in the second week of January. Unfortunately I have an unheated garage, which makes modding in the winter somewhat difficult. I can't repaint the road rash it came with until the temps rise a bit more, so I'm focusing on finding the right mods for me based on what I discovered on my first ride of the blue beast.
I'm 5'3"/150 lbs with gear, and my previous bike was a 1996 Bandit 600, which I did several long tours on over the years. After a year of dealing with brake dive on that bike, I finally replaced the springs with Progressives, which made a huge difference.

I seem to have a whole different problem with the FZ6, namely the harshness of the front end while riding. My last ride on the bike I can probably attribute "new bike tentativeness", but I didn't feel like I could throw it around corners as easily as I could the Bandit. I had some pretty bad wrist & low back pain after the last ride, which led me to think I needed a set of risers. Like these.

But now you guys have me thinking second thoughts. That and there's this online ergo site thingy that has me thinking that there wasn't much forward lean angle difference between the FZ6 and the Bandit.
I put a gel insert on my Bandit seat before, I could do it again on this bike. This thread was a good place to start. That may help with the back pain, without having to spend over $400 on a Corbin or a custom seat made in France.....and then spend another $100+ on lowering links because the seat rose the bike just past tippy-toe height.

Risers won't make the harshness on the front end go away.
Would anybody have any opinions/suggestions for front suspension mods? Brands, etc? Would Progressives or Race Techs or some other brand be better? Or does it even matter? I'd like to be able to afford to take the bike on a trip this year, and since I do more long-distance sport-touring than racing (we do have some pretty & slightly twisty roads in Southern MO), I don't think a cartridge emulator is in the cards.

Also looking for suggestions as how to deal with the front pegs. Even at 5'3", I'm feeling a little 'scrunched' with the peg position.

Thanks!

 

[red_rock_beetle]

:welcome:

i cant help you with most of what you are looking for as i am 6'4":BLAA:

but i did notice your $115 risers, i have found THESE and am thinking of getting a set myself for considerably less, but they aren't as pretty.

i did notice you say you had a blue bike, that's a good start!

 

[kevin-06fz6]

Alright.....I've just spent the past few hours poring over various posts. Of course, when you you have a question or two, the answers aren't always so simple.
I got a '07 FZ6 for a steal in the second week of January. Unfortunately I have an unheated garage, which makes modding in the winter somewhat difficult. I can't repaint the road rash it came with until the temps rise a bit more, so I'm focusing on finding the right mods for me based on what I discovered on my first ride of the blue beast.
I'm 5'3"/150 lbs with gear, and my previous bike was a 1996 Bandit 600, which I did several long tours on over the years. After a year of dealing with brake dive on that bike, I finally replaced the springs with Progressives, which made a huge difference.

I seem to have a whole different problem with the FZ6, namely the harshness of the front end while riding. My last ride on the bike I can probably attribute "new bike tentativeness", but I didn't feel like I could throw it around corners as easily as I could the Bandit. I had some pretty bad wrist & low back pain after the last ride, which led me to think I needed a set of risers. Like these.

But now you guys have me thinking second thoughts. That and there's this online ergo site thingy that has me thinking that there wasn't much forward lean angle difference between the FZ6 and the Bandit.
I put a gel insert on my Bandit seat before, I could do it again on this bike. This thread was a good place to start. That may help with the back pain, without having to spend over $400 on a Corbin or a custom seat made in France.....and then spend another $100+ on lowering links because the seat rose the bike just past tippy-toe height.

Risers won't make the harshness on the front end go away.
Would anybody have any opinions/suggestions for front suspension mods? Brands, etc? Would Progressives or Race Techs or some other brand be better? Or does it even matter? I'd like to be able to afford to take the bike on a trip this year, and since I do more long-distance sport-touring than racing (we do have some pretty & slightly twisty roads in Southern MO), I don't think a cartridge emulator is in the cards.

Also looking for suggestions as how to deal with the front pegs. Even at 5'3", I'm feeling a little 'scrunched' with the peg position.

Thanks!

+1 for short riders!

I'm 5' 5.5" (yes, that last .5" makes a big difference ). My ride is Scarlett and I put on a set of $40 risers from ebay that are 1" rise, 1.25" pull back, which extend the grips about 1.6" closer to me. The riding position is greatly improved as I don't have to reach forward anymore and put excess strain on my back. I just found these on ebay which I like the look of and they would add an extra .4" reach YAMAHA ATV 2" INCH PIVOTING RISER FOR 7/8" HANDLEBARS | eBay

I have the stock seat and honestly with my Joe Rocket Ballistic riding pants on it's really comfortable. I took her on a 4000mi road trip last fall and was generally comfortable (16 hours on my first day was a bit excessive but doable!).

I'm going to add a layer of this gel into my seat this year SHOCKtec Gel & Air2Gel Products and in the process will probably shave the seat down about 0.5" -- making me the 5' 6" I always wanted to be .

The last thing for comfort is that horrendous screen. I cut her down all the way to the mirror mount points but still need another 2" to get the airflow to hit my chest instead of my chin. The uncut Puig DB caused the airflow to hit me around the forehead which created significant buffeting with thundering noise. I rode a few days without the screen and loved the smooth airflow and zero buffeting. Now there's less buffeting but if I have to sit higher to get nicer airflow around my helmet (Shoei Qwest). I found this to be a surprisingly important factor in ride comfort.

As for the pegs I don't think there is any way around that unless you get a set of rearsets, which IMHO doesn't look right on a sport touring bike! Plus I can't afford it... Once in a while I'll stretch my legs out and rest them on my frame sliders to allow blood to flow and rest my sore old knees.

Part of that roadtrip was riding the Dragon last year, and although it wasn't quite peg-to-peg she handle the corners nicely, even with the higher rider position. I just had to keep my outside hand almost off the grip on the twisties!!

 

[yamihoe]

R6 fork mod!!! and drop them a tad to lower the front end. Im 5" 7' and still think the bike is a bit tall for me so I can only imagine how daunting it seems to you short people jk..

with the R6 front end you can adjust them sooo much more. Dropping the stock forks a bit would probably help alot as well, just make sure to compensate the rear end so that the bike does not feel twitchy or unsettling.

dont worry about anything! It took me a few weeks to get comfortable taking turns with any decent speed with the FZ... it is most definitely new bike jitters! :thumbup: