In 2016 I wrote the book, Smaller Adult Motorcycles, where I outlined what was necessary to get almost twice as many people riding and enjoying motorcycles.
The book explained that around half of the world’s population didn’t even try to ride because the most desirable motorcycles (the adventure bikes) had seats way too high for about one-half of the population to touch the ground while sitting at a stop light.
It is definitely a safety issue for a rider to slide almost off the seat to be able to touch one toe on the ground to balance the bike.
The response of the motorcycle manufacturers was interesting, so I’ll outline our progress for you. Many of them have since emphasized the low seat height on their cruisers but they mostly still have only 2 or 3 inches of suspension travel, except for Honda’s Rebel line which almost has useable suspension travel.
Harley Davidson has designed an adventure bike that squats somewhat at stop lights but you have to pay extra for that feature.
BMW and a couple of others have made a seat that has a couple of mounting positions with an inch or so difference in height.
As yet, none of the manufacturers have designed a frame architecture that could be made into a proper adventure bike for short inseam people, except Honda. Just like when I saw a proper trail bike lurking inside Honda’s Super Cub, I can see a proper adventure bike for short people lurking inside the basic frame design of Honda’s popular Rebel line.
Like before, Honda doesn’t realize that they have almost built the adventure bike for us short inseam people that we have been waiting for all these years since adventure motorcycles started. Will they do anything about it? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Honda has already developed the necessary technology, so it’d probably be a very quick redesign. First, and most importantly, they would need to make a smaller version of their Gold Wing fork to give the Rebel Adventure bike independent front suspension. That way, it would have more compliance and a better ride with just 7-inches of travel than if they had 12 to 14-inches of travel with telescopic forks.
Second, the shocks on both ends should be electronically controlled.
Third, it should have a 17-inch tubeless wire wheel on the rear and a 21-inch wire wheel on the front.
Fourth, it should have an easily adjustable seat from a 27-inch seat height to a 32-inch seat height, so that almost any member of the family can ride it just like they can drive the family car.
They already have Rebels available clear from 300cc up to 1100cc, and that should satisfy even the most power-hungry rider in the family.
If Honda made this move, I’d be surprised if they could manufacture enough of them to meet the demand
~Herb Uhl