Tall rider ideas?

I enjoy how the conversation started with a tall gangly fellow needing seat ideas and ending with the mental image of a midget jamming himself into an engine...All I can do is laugh! But I do agree with you I tried the highway bars but a midget welded the foot pegs on the inside, might cut them off and fabricate some new ones for the OUTside. But as put before I sure do look like a monkey humpin a football, especially since I cleaned my leather seat with leather cleaner which left it more slippery than a greased up deaf guy! I'm thinkin about getting some super bike style hadelbars whats the tall and short guys thoughts on that?

Get a bigger bike.

I'm 6'4", 250 lbs. I'd have to pull a KZ440 out of my ass crack after riding it.

id have to agree with guitar geek. the 440 is fun and its yours but us taller guys are not left with a lot of options. a larger bike would be more comfortable and maybe safer if you had to avoid someone on a cell phone:angry:

racer54 wrote:

Damn! I live in the land of the Goliaths!

hell I feel small just reading the posts, I am 5-7 on a good day

A longer wheelbase is the key to making a big guy look "right" on a small bike. This may be impractical, not cost effective compared to stepping up to a physically larger bike, or just not doable. If you must use what you got, try looking into getting a longer swingarm from a larger bike to fit. Maybe then a longer seat and moving the rear fender back to compensate. More padding in the seat may give more leg room, but a big guy sitting higher on that small bike just makes it look sillier. Winter project?
I had the same problem when I started riding more than thirty years ago on a Yamaha TX500. I liked it but I looked like I was riding a minibike, and I'm only 6'. The ZX1100 and old Ducati bevel drive I ride now both have 60 inch wheelbases so I fit better on these.

Stephen

A Z650 or Z1000 should be better, although your knees might be higher than the top of the gastank. A set of rearsets might work. I just bought a set of Tarozzi's for the Z1000A. That one is completely apart at the moment, so it will be a while before I can tell you if they work. With rearsets the shift lever tends to be too short, making shifting difficult.
I am 6' 11" (2.10m) btw. The Z650 fits but looks and feels really small, the Z1000 looks and feels "right", although the footrests are too far forward (hence the rearsets).

Ok, I'm obviously biased, but I think the 76-80 KZ750 twin is the ideal KZ for a tall guy. It's much roomier than a KZ650, or any of the CSR/LTD models from 81 on.

I bought a 82 KZ1000 CSR with less than 10k miles that looked like it just came off the showroom floor, hated it so much that I gave it to my brother. Great power but the ergonomics positively sucked for me.

The KZ750E (four cylinder) models work for me also, never rode a KZ1000J, but they look like they may be comfortable as well.

You might have some success without spending any money. I found my KZ550 really uncomfortable for the first few months, until I started to shift myself around. Now I've found a few sweet spots for where my feet go, where I sit, how I sit, and where my arms go. I rolled the bars forward for a little while, but that bent cables, so they had to go back. Now they're a little forward from stock, everything works, and it's (reasonably) comfortable for a few hours in the saddle - just enough to go from gas to gas. I'm just under six feet, but all legs.