My wife is also 5 ft tall. She has been riding this bike for a year. She is able to flat foot at stops without a problem. The bike is very skinny where the seat meets the tank. This bike "feels" very light to her and it handles good.

We have done multiple 100 mile + rides and most of it freeway and the bike runs at that speed without issue. Very inexpensive to pick up used and they ride surprisingly smooth and have good torque for the weight (about 370LBS since I swapped out the bazooka stock exhaust for an older Dyna muffler). Its a 650CC Thumper and gets about 60MPG.

When she feels ready, we'll move up to a 883, but she is quite content with this bike for now.

 

What is that, never saw one of those. Might disappoint her, going from that to an 883, most metric 650s will run circles around an 883, unless the thumper is a lot slower. The thumpers I've ridden were pretty quick. Daughter's 225 thumper trail bike pulled my 240 lbs better than her 250 twin street bike, and that was with taller than stock gearing.

 

A Suzuki Boulevard S40.

 

Suggest looking at Suzuki C50 (800cc). Seat height quite low to begin with. Can obtain loweing links on the cheap and lower bike up to two inches, if needed.

 

Really nice looking KZ. I love those old jap bikes. Wish I could find a nice KZ1000. I rode the crap out of KZ's and Honda CB's for many years. Graduated to Honda Magna's, Nighthawks and Sabre's in the early 80's. Wish I still had all of them.

 

Honda Rebel 250 - cake ride for a beginner. My wife's used 2005 Rebel cost me $2100, she put 4k on the bike and then sold it for $2200. She now has over 10,000 on her 2011 883 Super Low and loves it. She's 5'1" and having both feet flat on the ground gave her confidence and she is now a passionate rider ..... great to have her riding with me!

 

Yup, looked at a lot of savages but then came across the Honda for a 1000 bucks. Couldn't pass it up.

 

Well I don't have to tell you, you only get 1 shot at this, so get it right
My wife took the riding course, and did as I suggested used one of the small dirt bikes for the course, and then she started on her own bike from ground zero, in a parking lot, she is 6.0 so we took the salesman's advise and skipped the Sportster 1200 as it would be too small for her by the end of the season, anyway she has 15000 Kim's on it now an still gets better every ride, Her bike is a 2008 Dyna Fatbob with 103" stage 2

Her girl
friend also started on a Suzuki s40 and gets bumped around at 80km when trucks pass,and she is scared to ride, so shop for the right fit and ask lots of questions, Also watch "Ride like a pro" together to help with confidence
Cheers Ultra

 

I loved (and still love) my 1996 Suzuki Savage (now called the LS40). It has lots of low end torque and kept up with no problem with my riding buddy's Fat Boy on and off the freeway and back roads. They're high reving bikes like the Honda Rebels - just have to know how to wind it up before shifting. I still have it.

She might like it before going to a Harley. It was a great stepping stone for me.



Also, I never did feel comfortable on my 883 Superlow for some reason - I still can't figure out why. Yet, my 1200cc Forty Eight feels easy and comfortable to ride. Have her try one of those too, she may be like it.

 

I agree. The "Savage" is a great starter bike. I bought an older used one first for my wife to see if she liked it. She loved it. I sold that one and I picked up the one in the pic in my original post for $2600 with the bags, windshield, crash bar at 3300 miles and it was and is as clean as a whistle. With very few mods (jet kit for $20, raptor fuel petcock $20 some, Dyna muffler $20 some, valve adjustment - free - they are screw-tappet type, the bike runs excellent). If there is a better all around starter bike, I haven't seen it. We had a Buell Blast, and this bike is leagues better than the Blast was. We are at 6K+ miles now and she loves it. Isn't that all that really matters!