Ugly weekend on my Ultra Classic. I pulled into a gas station with my SO on board, foot slipped a little, and the bike went down. The wife was thrown a little bit, picked up a couple of bruises, but otherwise was OK. She took it very well, and hopped right back on. No damage to the wife or the bike. It did upset me probably more than her - I love riding with my wife and I want to ensure her safety as much as possible. My question is whether to lower the bike a couple of inches with different shocks. I am 5'9" with a 30" inseam - My feet are comfortably flat on the ground with about 18psi in the rear shocks. But, this fall worried me. Would the bike be more stable for me if I lowered it a little bit? I just want to do everything possible to try and prevent a repeat of this event. All suggestions and comments are welcome. BTW...this forum is great - it is my primary source for HD information and the members are very helpful. Thanks in advance, Gary.

 

Sorry to hear about the little spill. I know the SG's are lowered a little in the rear and i have no problems or haven't YET. I've got closer to a 32" inseam also.

 

It happens to everyone sooner or later. I'm the same size you are and it happened to me, slipped on some sand with my wife on the back. You may want to lower your bike for comfort, but, your foot can slip no matter what the height. After my "slip" I always make sure I've got good footing before putting my weight down.

Chris

 

I don't know if I am in the position to advise on this point, but here's my 2 cents worth. Your bike should fit you to a certain extent. If you can sit with both feet planted with your knees slightly bent, then you should be able to balance your bike quite easily. Let's face it, you have to be able to have some "give" with your legs to hold your bike up sometimes. If your legs are stretched out to their full extention or worse yet standing on tippytoe, then it's a little more difficult to "catch" yourself in the event you aren't perfectly balanced.

Keep in mind, we have all experienced some fancy foot work to keep balanced sometimes. There's nothing worse than putting your foot down at a stop and stepping in oil or sand-on-pavement. Sure as shootin your foot will slip. That's where is important to have some "give" to your legs to catch yourself before you get off your center of gravity. Once you've gone over too far, then there's nothing you can do to hold your bike up.

A lowering kit, is always an option. Keep in mind, it also affects clearance and cornering. Footboards tend to scrape when making sharp turns when your bike is lower to the ground.

It's all about what your comfortable doing. Relax and enjoy the ride!

 

Sorry to hear about your mishap. I just picked up an '06 Road Glide Saturday, and the first thing I did was drive it straight home and put a SoLow 1 1/4" lowering kit on the rear. I'm only 5'6" and I want to be able to operate this bike in as safe a manner as possible both alone and two-up. It is much better with the rear lowered, but I will also eventually do the front end 1 1/4" as well. The SoLow kit is a pair of brackets that allows you to keep the stock shock's and moves them back and down 1 1/4" and is very easy to install.

 

Don't sweat it to much. Happens to everyone. No matter how low, you can still hit some oil or sand and loose your footing.

 

I have about the same inseam as you and I put a lowering kit on mine. Gravel still causes me grief as well as oil in a gas station lot. I just try to find a good solid place to stop. Ms. Bubba has learned to just step off if we start down . We did that a few times until I "remembered" not to grab front brake going real slow.

Bubba

 

Hey Gary, don't worry it happens to us all. I dropped mine with my wife on back in a parking lot with a severe slope. Couldn’t make that sharp of a turn and over we went. Hey, that’s out of the way now. Go have fun..

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The best news is that there was no real damage to the bike, and especially, to the wife. I went riding this past Veteran's Day with the wife on back for the first time. Things went pretty well, with only one time when I scared myself on a stop. I have seriously considered lowering my bike as well. I read all of the pros and cons, and can't bring myself to pull the trigger. I have scraped my floor boards a time or two even with the current height, so I am concerned about what will happen if I lower the bike. After a bit more experience, and the help and advice of the good folks here, I'll make a decision. My own thoughts are that there are some situations for which there are no good solutions...you just happened to hit one of them.

Bill

 

I'm looking for new boots for myself for Christmas and remembered this thread. I came across these boots with sticky soles. I though you might be interested.

Roadgear XKJ Boot

"The other feature of the XKJ boots that is appreciated is the traction that the soles provide. This is important, especially if you have a shorter inseam (or a too-tall motorcycle) and find yourself up on your toes when stopped.
A pair of motorcycle boots with "sticky" soles can make a big difference, because they can help provide critical traction even when only a small portion of the sole is touching the ground.
Good traction also makes a big difference when backing up a motorcycle or when moving a bike around while walking next to it."