Bikes for short new riders is easy! These days there are lots of review sites and guides to help new riders find what options are out there and decide on the bike that’s right for them.
Gear, on the other hand, is such a massive topic that it’s hard to even know where to start. There’s a lot of conflicting information out there: what’s safe? What do you need? What ACTUALLY works for a rider of your size and body type vs. what people recommend without thinking? What if you can’t afford fancy gear? (Because damn, that stuff is expensive.)
The Bike
If you like the low-slung cruiser body style, then you’re in luck!
On cruisers, the saddle is typically lower to the ground than on other motorcycle body types
There are a number of cruiser models from multiple motorcycle manufacturers that will fit you.
But at 5′4″ you aren’t really TOO bad off. If you prefer a more upright sitting position (called standard or naked), or even a sport style where you lean forward over the tank, you’ll be able to find bikes that fit you, especially in smaller engine sizes like 250cc or 350cc. The smaller the engine size, the smaller and lower the bike is likely to be (usually). Most new bikers prefer smaller engine sizes anyway, because they’re easier to control.
Some people find 250cc bikes underpowered, but I’ve always liked them, even if they’re not as zippy as their larger siblings.
A common thing that many new riders end up doing is going for a used bike in a 250cc engine size for their starter bike. This has many advantages for a new rider. A 250cc motorcycle is usually pretty inexpensive to begin with, and when you buy one used, you can get it for even cheaper. It’s easy to find fairly new and well-kept 250cc used bikes on the market, because there’s a lot of turnover in them: they are often bought for a new rider, who then sells it when they were looking to graduate to a larger and more powerful motorcycle.
This is ideal for a new rider, who is typically pretty hard on their bike. When you’re still learning, you tend to take a lot of low speed spills, accidentally tip your bike over at a stop, that kind of thing. On a used bike, you won’t feel as bad about it because you haven’t invested as much money in it.
But even if you want to go straight for a more powerful machine, you should be able to do fine. And the best news is that you’re far from alone! These days, there are LOADS of smaller riders out there having this same problem, and it has become easy to google for information about motorcycle seat heights and recommendations for smaller riders. The first thing to do is
grab a friend,
put on a pair of boots with a heel in the range of what you want to wear for a motorcycle boot (usually 1-2 inches, but hey, you do you!), stand with your feet about shoulder width apart, and have your pal measure from the floor to your inner thigh maybe a hand-span down from your groin. This’ll give you an idea of the rough seat height you’d be looking for, give or take an inch or two. With that knowledge, you can start doing searches for phrases like ‘motorcycles for short riders’ and ‘starting motorcycles for women.’
At 5′4″ you won’t find any body style, level of power or brand off-limits, even if your inseam narrows down your choices a little. These days even Harley makes bikes you can fit on! If you want an extra inch or so, you can look into boots with a higher heel or a thicker sole. It’s also honestly completely unnecessary to have both feet down flat on the ground when you’re at a stop. I’ve seen short women ride bikes where they had to slide partway off the seat just to get ONE foot down, and just totally owning the road on the things. Admittedly these have usually been more experienced riders, but my point is that it’s absolutely a matter of YOUR comfort and what you need in order to feel in control of your machine. I like being able to touch down on both sides at least on tip-toe, but even when I was starting out, I found I felt reasonably comfortable as long as I could reach the road on the balls of my feet.
You’ll find that for cruiser and standard makes, especially often bike models will go for a decade or more effectively unchanged: in the motorcycle industry, manufacturers aren’t so inclined to mess with what works.
The Gear
Of course, always, you want to buy the best and safest gear you’re able to afford.
The purpose-made stuff comes with padding and armor built in,
and is often now available in a range of styles and colors.
But when it comes to gear, the bad news is that gets hella expensive real fast, and finding stuff that fits is hard on women especially. Gear manufacturers continue to under-serve women and small riders when it comes to good gear designed for our body types. (Especially if you don’t like pink.) Even if you find something that seems to be in your size online, when you get hold of it you may easily find it doesn’t fit you after all.
The good news is that eBay, Google and improvisation are your friends.
Again, you’re far from alone! We’ve got women riders out there who trawl the options and review them for us. I’m a big fan of GearChic, for instance. She’s a petite woman rider who tries and reviews a lot of gear–although she does this for her job and often gets given gear for free so she can try it, so she’s not always helpful for those of us on a budget. You can also find big and fat women riders who do similar things.
God bless eBay. When I’m looking for gear, I’ll often spend some time shopping what’s out there, laughing my head off at the price, and then spending a week or two stalking eBay to see if I can find any of my favorite options for cheaper.
And then finally, people were riding motorcycles long before all this fancy stuff became an option. Sturdy leather has long been the go-to for bikers, and metal studs aren’t just for show for motorcycles: that stuff can help keep contact between you and the pavement to a minimum, preserving your beautiful hide. Good old denim is another standby. Don’t settle for the flimsy Walmart shit when you’re looking for a pair of jeans or a jacket for your bike. You want the thick, sturdy double-stitched stuff they make for people who are ACTUALLY WORKING in their jeans. Heavy canvas is a good one too.
Clothes for riding motorcycles are hot, when you’re not riding a motorcycle. But do remember that you’re going to be dealing with a 40+ mph wind chill, for the bulk of the time you’re wearing it.
(Clothes for riding motorcycles are also hot, in the sense of ‘Damn you are a fine-looking badass in that gear’ so embrace your swagger and those strands of hair that fall in your face. It’s a Look, and on you it’s authentic.)
The absolute essentials are:
* Sturdy footwear with a textured sole. A leather shaft is awesomesauce, but at least pick something that can take a lot of abuse. Equine-style riding boots are super in-fashion right now but they are undesirable. They have smooth soles and you want a textured, grippy sole to be able to get a good grip on the road and your foot pedals. People ride in sneakers sometimes, but I highly recommend boots at least calf-high, because muffler burns suck. I prefer to avoid laces that could get stuck in the chain in a bad situation, but some people seem cool with laces. You might consider wrapping the ends around your calf and tying the knot on the outside of the boot in that case, just to keep them clear of the bike. Motorcycle boots specifically made for the job are great, and often come with armor or padding around the foot and ankle to protect your joints in the event of a crash. But those suckers are $$$. For the budget rider, steel-toed work boots aren’t a bad option here. You could do worse than a solid pair of hiking boots too.
* A sturdy jacket–double-stitched leather is best, but a solid denim job or whatever is better than nothing. Don’t use faux leather. That stuff tears too easily. It’s really just coated plastic. Don’t go with fake fashionista ‘motorcycle’ jackets. You want a jacket with sleeves that will come down to your wrists and fit snugly there (with either elastic or snaps) even when you have your arms stretched out in front of you, that gives you play across the shoulders, and that closes snugly around your neck to keep the wind out. If you can afford to be picky, you might also look for perks like a zipper flap to block the wind. Decide whether you want to ride in warm weather only or if you’re looking for something that’ll keep you warm in 60 F + 50 mph wind chill, and consider heaviness and insulation accordingly. You don’t want it to be loose enough to ride up around your middle in the event of a crash. This jacket needs to stay between you and the road in the event that you go down.
* Sturdy gloves–you just don’t want to hit pavement ever with the naked skin of your palm. Not a good time. Purpose-made motorcycle gloves often include armor across the knuckles and a specially reinforced or even studded palm. They will also have a long sheath that goes down past the wrist and sturdy velcro or snaps or something to keep it bound at the wrist. Again, I’ve seen people do worse than heavy work or welding gloves. The good news is that gloves are among the least expensive and most gender-neutral bits of motorcycle gear you can buy.
* Not an essential but a damn fine idea I was excited to learn about: THE ARMORED VEST. Icon’s Stryker armored vest for women isn’t the only one available, or the cheapest, but many women consider it the most comfortable and effective option. This little beauty has chest, shoulder and spine armor, heavy duty velcro to help with sizing, and is streamlined enough to fit under many jackets. It costs about $130 new, which isn’t cheap for a lot of us, but for what you get it’s shockingly reasonable. If you can’t afford a fancy armored jacket or any of that junk, this is a GREAT alternative. If it’s stupid hot out and you’ve just GOT to ride without a jacket at all (please don’t), then this also means you can still get some core protection.
* A HELMET. A HELMET A HELMET. I know they’re expensive but do not buy your helmet used ever. Helmets are made to be one-crash items! If it has been in a crash, you need a new one. If you don’t know whether it’s been in a crash, then you can’t trust it. Also don’t use a helmet that’s been sitting around unused for years. The safety foam eventually deteriorates. You need to replace your helmet about every 5 years even if it hasn’t been in a crash. A helmet is probably going to run you around $100 or more. Hopefully you can keep it low, but unfortunately sometimes what fits you is what fits. Riding in a helmet that doesn’t fit is a misery and a safety hazard.
The Helmet
You DO NOT need to replace it just because it fell off your bike. That’s an urban myth. But you should NOT hang it from hooks and things like a hat. If you want to hang it, use the chin strap. Anything that goes up inside the helmet could deform the foam and make it dangerous to use.
Helmets are complicated when it comes to sizing! REALLY if you can manage it AT ALL, try to find a motorcycle or ATV sport gear shop where you can physically try on helmets. They come in multiple styles–from half shell to full-face (I’m not fond of half shell because it doesn’t protect the lower skull but you gotta be you, I guess)–but more importantly they come in different HEAD SHAPES. Some people have a very round head shape. Others have a very long oval. You need to pick a helmet that is not only the right size but the right head shape for you.
A helmet that fits well cannot be pulled off without pain unless you undo the chin strap. It will not shift when you shake your head back and forth hard. It will not give you a pressure headache when you wear it for a while. It probably WILL be stuffy when you wear it while you’re not on a moving bike, because they’re built with the expectation of air flow in mind.
You want to watch out for visors that fog and block your vision.
And then there are the safety ratings. If you’re in the US, you absolutely want a helmet that is AT LEAST DOT rated. That means it has been certified to meet minimum standards set by the US Federal Department of Transportation.
If you’re in Europe–or maybe even if you’re not–you’ll want to look for a helmet that is certified to meet ECE/UNECE standards (the UN Economic Commission for Europe). This is the motorcycle helmet safety standard favored in most places besides the US. The most modern version of the standard is 22.02
Some riders (me included) prefer helmets that meet Snell standards.
Snell is an independent safety organization whose safety standards differ in certain ways
from DOT. They are if anything even more rigorous than the DOT or ECE standards, and they actively test copies of the helmet models themselves before certifying, whereas DOT works more on the honor system, doing only spot-testing themselves. The most modern version of the Snell standard is Snell2010.
Arai and Shoei are famously among the best helmet makers out there, but they’re holy hella expensive ($500+ yikes!). Bell is a long-standing company that makes helmets in a range of types and price points. Scorpion is a well-liked mid-range brand. HJC is one that seems low-priced for the quality you get. There are lots of others.
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