Lowering the Forza

[sgoyette]

Hi All,

I'm looking for some advice.

We bought my wife the 2014 Honda Forza and she loves it but unfortunately her inseam is short and she can't quite reach the ground with her heal and has to use just the tips of her feet when she stops. This is obviously not the best and we're looking for some advice on how best to lower the bike to make it better for her. We've already adjusted the pre-load all the way down and that helped quite a bit but we still need another 2 inches to really make a difference. I know on regular motorcycles you can have the forks adjusted to lower the front end of the bike slightly and am wondering if that's a possibility here.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,

Steve

[chainsaw]

you could look at having the seat modified and take some foam out and have it slimmed a little at the same time.

[willajabir]

For my wife's Goldwing, I got the shop to put shorter shocks on her bike for the same reason.
I don't know if there are other shocks that are shorter that will work, but maybe someone could suggest or you could ask a local shop (you didn't post where you are)

As Chainsaw suggested, seat mods work well often also. Sometimes all you need to do is carve a little foam out of the sides of the seat where the thighs are so the legs are closer together, letting you reach further.

[gn2]

Before fitting differrent/shorter shocks it would be wise to check with Honda what the implications would be (if any) for the dual pivot swingarm setup.

[V4 TRV]

Cut the seat down

[Alibally]

Or buy a pair of platform shoes.

[V4 TRV]

Google Daytona lady bike boots

http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/dayt ... -gtx-boots

[you you]

You should be able to drop the forks through the yolks by half an inch or so. Makes a surprising difference

[sgoyette]

You should be able to drop the forks through the yolks by half an inch or so. Makes a surprising difference

That's exactly what I was thinking. Do you have any idea what the torque settings should be on the forks yolks?

I've attached a picture of her yolks and from the dust on the shocks it looks like there's a good inch that they could be adjusted. Probably only do a 1/2 inch to test though.

Any reason why this wouldn't work?

[you you]

It'll work perfectly. It's the second thing I almost always have to do to my wife's bikes after lowering the rear

[meissinger]

the Forza seat is quite wide -- much wider than the PCX seat. Before risking the balance, the ride, and the safety, I would look at a lower narrower seat. There has to be a shop that can do that mod -- and it'll probably be cheaper.

[Mel46]

I bought my wife some Demonia Ranger 301 boots. Though the toe area may be a bit wide for most women, they work well for riding.. She only has a 27 inch inseam. We had looked at buying a Forza but she had the same problem as your wife. With these boots she could touch the ground. Still, she didn't like the bulk of the Forza so she has remained with her Honda PCX 150.. I read somewhere on this forum that someone had gotten their seat width problem taken care of by having it redone. That would be the first thing I would do. Then, if that only partially solved the problem, I would buy those boots. She should then be able to handle that beast.

[MichRocks]

V4 TRV got his seat re-fitted, but it was by reducing the hump to allow sliding back a bit to gain a bit of leg room. I have been searching everywhere trying to find a cut-down seat to post in this forum, but have not been able to locate one yet. The width of the seat can either be a blessing or a curse- I am curious to see what others are doing for mods here.

[sgoyette]

So it's not "easily" possible to lower the front forks. At the top of the fork tube is a bevel that the bolt goes through as an added safety feature since there is only a single yolk. You could try cutting a groove lower down but this isn't an option we were willing to try. As a result I think we'll end up selling the bike and buying a Vespa or some other scoot that my wife's inseam is more properly suited to.

I took a picture when I had the shock out but can't find it now (unfortunately).

Steve

[gn2]

So it's not "easily" possible to lower the front forks. At the top of the fork tube is a bevel that the bolt goes through as an added safety feature since there is only a single yolk. You could try cutting a groove lower down but this isn't an option we were willing to try. As a result I think we'll end up selling the bike and buying a Vespa or some other scoot that my wife's inseam is more properly suited to.

I took a picture when I had the shock out but can't find it now (unfortunately).

Steve

That slot doesn't locate the bolt, you can slide the tube out the yoke with the two bolts still in place.

[Mel46]

My wife rides a Honda PCX. It fits her well. However, she can reach the ground fairly easily on my Suzuki Burgman 400, and she loves it. However, since she is only 5 ft tall I think it is a little too much for her to handle in city traffic. She does well on the highway on it though. Just a thought. Have your wife sit on one. I think she will love it, and there are a lot of good used B400s for sale, some with very little miles. It is a great bike, but not a Honda if she is stuck on Honda. It handles beautifully.

[sgoyette]

So it's not "easily" possible to lower the front forks. At the top of the fork tube is a bevel that the bolt goes through as an added safety feature since there is only a single yolk. You could try cutting a groove lower down but this isn't an option we were willing to try. As a result I think we'll end up selling the bike and buying a Vespa or some other scoot that my wife's inseam is more properly suited to.

I took a picture when I had the shock out but can't find it now (unfortunately).

Steve

That slot doesn't locate the bolt, you can slide the tube out the yoke with the two bolts still in place.

Hmmm...that's not the experience I had. With the top bolt in the yolk there was no way to remove the shock. Once you remove the bolt completely it slid right out. I even tried threading a bolt through with the shock in a lower position in the yolk but the bolt would not go through...in fact it ended up destroying the threads on the bolt and I had to go get a new one. There might be other models of shock that are somewhat different but at least on this one you would need to modify the shock tube to make it work.

Steve