honest opinions: lowering a CB1100

[misterprofessionality]

This is most definitely not for my bike, i find the CB1100 to be a perfect height. However, my wife has expressed interest in getting a CB of her own once she's ready to upgrade. The thing is, her feet literally swing free when she tries to sit on mine. she's 5'2". the initial conclusion is that the bike just isn't for her, but there's a lot of talk (positive and negative) about lowering bikes, and whether it's a good or a bad idea. after all i've read, i tend to think it's a seriously bad idea, but i could be convinced otherwise by anybody more knowledgeable than i.

The goal: if she's ever going to have a snowball's chance at riding a CB1100, the seat cannot be higher than 29" even. that'd have her up on her toes. The stock seat is 31.5", so that's a healthy 2.5" of lowering that needs to take place. sounds like an AWFUL lot.

What i understand to be the detriments of lowering: poor handling. poor ground clearance. poor suspension. all of these combined have the potential to completely ruin a bike.

What i expect will have to be done: The seat will have to be swapped out for one that's MUCH thinner. i think you could get at least 1" out of the seat, maybe more. next, the front and rear suspensions would have to be lowered about 1.5", maybe less if i can get more out of the seat. this means sliding up the forks ( i guess?) and replacing the rear shocks with shorter ones. finally, replacing the muffler with something more up-swung, and replacing the rearsets with something a little more high and tight so that the pegs dont sacrifice so much ground clearance.

so, give me all your expert opinions, is this even a good idea? If not, I want to be able to tell her in an informed way that it's never going to happen. conversely, if a CB1100 with a 29" seat height can be achieved without ruining the bike, I want to hear all about it. i'd love to be able to tell her she can do it.

 

[alprider]

" feet literally swing free "



what is to high is to high....all lowering ways are ok if you reach somehow the ground already
.
.

 

[misterprofessionality]

agreed. the stock bike is WAY too high. the first time she tried to sit on it i laughed at her. that's why she started asking about lowering.

 

[Rocky_imp]

I have no answers or suggestions, but I think the question is whether such a small woman can handle the weight of the CB.
She may be strong as an ox for all I know, but maybe another model that fits her would be a better choice.
That said, I've seen some small ladies "rassle" Harley's around with no apparent problem.

 

[peterbaron]

Agree with Rocky: "the question is whether such a small woman can handle the weight of the CB."
Before doing anything, I would educate myself about this task, prior $tarting. Google is your friend.
You may start here at no cost to you at all:

https://www.google.ca/search?source=hp&e...U7g0hHJynA

Good luck

 

[misterprofessionality]

Agree with Rocky: "the question is whether such a small woman can handle the weight of the CB."
Before doing anything, I would educate myself about this task, prior $tarting. Google is your friend.
You may start here at no cost to you at all:

https://www.google.ca/search?source=hp&e...U7g0hHJynA

Good luck

you're both quite right. it was a concern of mine too, but then i discovered that she can apparently handle an indian scout with very little issue, which has just as much weight as the CB1100. obviously, it's distributed differently, but i had her stand up my CB using blocks under her feet (lol) to check the height and see just how many inches she would need. with a 2.5" block under her feet, she can stand up the CB no problem, and even reports that it feels comfortably balanced. on the surface, it seems (really surprisingly) that the weight is not such an issue. i wouldn't have believed it if i didn't see it for myself, but that's what i get for understimating her.

 

[alprider]

if you reach the ground with both feet complet is the weight seldom a real problem....you should only still first check your parking place , in wich direction you should put it there....by the goldwing i had for this problem still a reverse gear.......

 

[misterprofessionality]

if you reach the ground with both feet complet is the weight seldom a real problem....you should only still first check your parking place , in wich direction you should put it there....by the goldwing i had for this problem still a reverse gear.......

good point. i should make her walk a scout backwards around a parking lot and see if she's still game after that lol.

 

[LongRanger_imp]

I have no experience with lowering a CB but I think you've identified what it'll take to do it. The centerstand will probably have to go -- not for clearance reasons, just because it'll be too long to deploy.

 

[alprider]

if you reach the ground with both feet complet is the weight seldom a real problem....you should only still first check your parking place , in wich direction you should put it there....by the goldwing i had for this problem still a reverse gear.......

good point. i should make her walk a scout backwards around a parking lot and see if she's still game after that lol.

good point. i should make her walk a scout backwards around a parking lot and see if she's still game after that lol.
well i mean...too many sidecars have no reverse gear..so you must still look befor you park is the ground some how at an angle
centerstand ? and the sidestand must be shorter.....

 

[the Ferret]

Once you lower the bike, the side stand will be prohibitively long and the centerstand will be useless because of what LR said.

and then there are the issues of the front fender hitting the horns or triple tree on a severe bump or hard braking, and the pegs digging in on a decreasing radius turn

Uunfortunately, I know where your wife is coming from, a lot of bike I try and test ride my feet just swing in the air. I have stood beside them, kicked them in gear and let out the clutch while stepping on the near side peg and swinging my leg over, and coming to a halt and jumping off and holding it up. Mostly on Adventure style bikes, which is why I don't own one of those.

I recently lowered my FJR 1/2" in rear with adjustable lowering links and sliding the tubes up 3/8" in the trees in front (as far as I could go). I'm ok with it now, but one of these days I may have another 1/2" taken out of the seat, but I really don't want to mess up the rider triangle. Raise the pegs or lower the seat and the knee and hip bend becomes more acute.(tighter bend)

Funny thing is I fit fineon the CB and my wife and I measured the two bikes the other day. Seat height on the CB was 30 7/8 ". Seat height on the FJR was 30 3/8". The FJR was actually 1/2" lower in seat height than the CB. I was shocked. But it is also 1 1/2" wider at the front of the seat, which is apparently what makes it feel so tall.

 

[Houtman_imp]

In the Middle Ages they used to put people on a rack to make them taller , I think that this is no longer legal.....

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

I have seen on a few occasions "short" women (i.e. not tall women) having much difficultly lifting/maintaining an inline-4 upright in critical situations. We all know the CB1100 is top heavy, and that is the primary reason.

A critical situation might be something like a short stop with front fork recoil. That is usually enough to go down and potentially break a leg or mush an ankle.

Anyway, something to seriously consider even if the bike can be lowered.

In the Middle Ages they used to put people on a rack to make them taller , I think that this is no longer legal.....

lol - I swear you and popgun are siblings.

 

[misterprofessionality]

perhaps that's why she has such an easy time with a Scout. it's MUCH lower on the center of gravity, and basically feels weightless a lot of the time.

the fender hitting the tree/horns was also a big concern of mine, and was one of the reasons i wanted to make this thread. i don't know how to find out if the fender will hit at a 1.25" of decreased height. the pegs i had already compensated for in the original post.

as for her leg-bend angle, i'm not worried. with short legs like hers, she can go up real tight without a problem. i've seen her sit on a grom and tuck her legs right up, and it's not even remotely uncomfortable for her. honestly....a grom looks like the right size bike for her. if only they could put a 500+ CC engine in that bad larry.

 

[Lord Popgun]

Mr. P,

Put a tie-wrap around one of the fork tubes at the bottom by the seal. Go for a ride. Hit some bumps, do some hard braking, etc. when you get home, you can see how far up the tie wrapped moved.

 

[pekingduck]

I'm just curious what bike she is riding now.

 

[misterprofessionality]

she's currently riding her starter/beater bike, a Suzuki S40. ultra lightweight, ultra flickable, low powered, really low seat, and DIRT cheap, so it doesn't matter if she crashes. she's probably going to stay on that at the very least until next summer-ish.

 

[pekingduck]

That would be quite a jump up in weight (200 pounds more) and center of gravity. Might I suggest something in between, like a Triumph Street Twin?

 

[misterprofessionality]

Actually, you're not far off the mark. my strongest reccomendation to her is a Triump Bonneville T120, because some of the pre- 2015 models came stock with 29.1 seat heights. swap the seat and you could have a 28" seat height no problem, without messing with the suspension.

but i will say that the suzuki is in no way heavy for her. that's why we got it. i wanted her to have something that was so light as to be nowhere near her threshold. as i had mentioned above, i wouldn't believe she'd be ok with the CB11, but for the fact that i've seen her handle bikes of equal weight without instability. none of those bikes were topheavy though.

 

[the Ferret]

The Bonnie America like Empty Sea's wife Cheryl and Stichill just got already has a 28" seat height