Find Out Which Motorcycle Is Best For Your Physically from Bikes in the Fast Lane

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Find Out Which Motorcycle Is Best For Your Physically

December
2010

  File under Web
  Author: Mike Werner
  Location: Normandy, France

Motorcycles are manufactured to a one-size-fits-all. But as we all know, that is rarely the case, unless your body is exactly that of the average "Joe" (or "Jane"). Obviously some motorcycles are meant for a specific category of riders, like the BMW GS dual-purpose bike is really meant for reasonably tall people.

But even then, you can be very uncomfortable on a motorcycle. Years ago I had the help of an ergonomics wizard named Ricardo Kuhn, who after many measures, produced a tailor-made handlebar for me (link

). After fitting the bars, I felt like riding in heaven. Before it, my hands were always numb.

So it's clear, that not every motorcycle is meant for you. Your size and other measurements will dictate which bike you should ride.

There's a website that takes out a lot of the guess work. Cycle-Ergo

is a nifty website that allows you to enter some specific measurements about yourself (height, inseam, arm straightness, etc). Then go and pick out the motorcycle you are interested in, and the site draws out a picture with you sitting on that bike, showing you your position, knee bend angle and forward lean angle. You'll now see how you fit on the bike.

In the example, I entered a height of 1 m 47 (4'10 - the site does both) and selected a BMW R1200GSA. Notice that the feet can not touch the ground. The first image is seated, the second is trying to put the feet on the ground. The third image is that of a BMW 650GS.