Compare seat height of motorcycles

Like we said before, the number in front of that seat height spec doesn’t say everything. It does not determine whether you can ride a certain motorcycle or not. The width of a bike also is a factor of note. Many of us want to touch the ground with both feet when we sit on a motorcycle. Preferably with both feet flat. Are you sub 1.70m? Then it quickly become a challenge. Are you sub 1.60m? Then it’s a real quest. Especially when you have a preference for sporty bikes, like naked bikes or sport bikes. And what about all road / adventure bikes? Big boys alert.

Manufacturers of all road and adventure bikes do keep the seat height issue in mind. Many new motorcycles are produced with an option to considerably lower the seat height. Or to increase it, to suit tall motorcyclists.

This is not really a thing within the naked bike segment or sports segment. And that’s not so strange either. Especially race bikes have a limit when it comes to lowering the seat height. Those bikes aren’t made to provide you with comfort and ease. They are made to ride fast. Not just on the straights, but also in turns and corners. When you lower the seat height of a bike, you also decrease the ground clearance.

Then you ride a sport bike through a turn, the lean angle becomes bigger and bigger. From just 20 degrees to 50 or even 60 (pro racers) degrees. The fairings get close to the ground. That’s why the fairings are at their narrowest at the bottom of the bike. A narrow design at bottom of the bike (where the belly pan is located) gives more ground clearance and allows for more lean angle and more corner speed.

This is similar for naked bikes, but just a bit different. Your body position on a naked bike is different. This makes you push the bike more upright in turns when doing some sporty riding. And requires you to hang off the bike. This is sort of the same on race bikes. Only race bikes allow you to reach a bigger lean angle, due to their narrow design. The often wider design, more upright body postion and thus different dynamics of a naked bike doesn’t allow you to reach the same level of lean angle. Especially not when you lower the seat height and thus often the entire bike.