‘Tall bikes have lowered my confidence’
SOPHIE UTLEY 5FT 3IN TRIUMPH STREET TRIPLE Lowering methods Rear suspension lowering kit, dropped yokes, shorter sidestand, the right trousers
Sophie has ridden since she was six, got a Vespa when she was 16, then a Kawasaki Ninja 250: “The problems started when I decided it was time to get a ‘big’ bike — because I was ragging the 250, so I bought an ER-6F. It was quite tall for me, and top heavy. I dropped it once in a car park, and my confidence really went downhill in ways you wouldn’t expect. Even when you’re riding slow and you don’t really need to put your feet down, I still kind of over-think it. Two years down the line and I’m still working to try to get my confidence back.”
Ideally, Sophie was after a Ducati
Monster but her partner was trading up from his Street Triple, so convenience meant it became Sophie’s bike. “I rode it for a week un-lowered,” she says. “But it was the same as the ER-6F — too tall, too top-heavy for me; I was too nervous about it to feel completely relaxed. It was a bit dangerous, really. I’d have to learn to look where I was stopping, and not to park on a camber because I couldn’t paddle it backwards.”
Help came in the shape of a -35mm lowering kit, fitted by a dealer, forks raised in the yokes, and a sidestand adapter. “Even after I dropped it down, I thought ‘Is that it?’ It’s still a bit on the tall side for me,” says Sophie. “But then, out on the road, it’s not too bad now. But I don’t want to cut the seat down,” she says. “It’s not the comfiest in the world as it is.”
Height is a serious issue for lots of riders, says Sophie. “Really, bikes aren’t made to fit humans,” she says. Sophie runs an interior design business (www.ellenutleyinteriors. co.uk), so she knows her anthropometrics and ergonomics: “The average male – let alone female – inside leg is 755mm, or around 45mm less than the average bike seat. The Street Triple was 800mm before lowering.”
And Sophie says the right kit matters too: “I had some jeans with a low crotch, and I lost about an inch in reach,” she laughs. “So your trousers need to fit properly!”