Hi …… I am new here and want to introduce myself. I just bought a 2006 GL1800a last weekend. It is a beauty. The first owner did a great job of keeping it up. However, he is taller than me, which means when at a stop sign I am on the balls of my feet. I got the bike to ride 2-up with my wife. I need to lower the bike, but how do I determine how low do I need to go. How would I measure for the proper height to come down? I’m 5’8” unknown inseam. I know about the lower kits, I just do not know how much to lower.

Can anyone help a New winger
Thanks

Scott, welcome and congrats on the bike. I'm not the best to offer this kind of technical advice, plus I have a pretty long inseam so I really can't relate, sorry 'bout that. But I do know lots of guys that lowered their older GL's an inch or so with Progressive shocks (not sure what they did with the front) but when you do that you sacrifice cornering clearance. Somebody here (I think or maybe another forum I belong to) posted a thread about high lift footwear and that sounded like more than one person thought it was a great idea. Good luck no matter which way you go.:)

Hi …… I am new here and want to introduce myself. I just bought a 2006 GL1800a last weekend. It is a beauty. The first owner did a great job of keeping it up. However, he is taller than me, which means when at a stop sign I am on the balls of my feet. I got the bike to ride 2-up with my wife. I need to lower the bike, but how do I determine how low do I need to go. How would I measure for the proper height to come down? I’m 5’8” unknown inseam. I know about the lower kits, I just do not know how much to lower.

Can anyone help a New winger
Thanks
... HOWDY ... WHEN SITTING ON THE BIKE HAVE SOMEONE MEASURE THE DISTANCE FROM YOU'RE HEEL TO THE GROUND ... THAT WILL GIVE YOU A ROUGH IDEA FOR WHAT YOU WILL NEED TO MAKE UP ... HAPPY TRAILS ...

Scott, first welcome to the forum and congrats on your new (to you) Wing. I'm somewhat short myself 5'8" with a 29" inseam. On my 09 I found that when I come to a stop if I move slightly forward on the seat I can plant my feet firmly on the ground. Aslo, I don't know if your bike has aftermarket foot rests in place of the stock rests, but if it does the aftermarket rests force you to spread your legs out more when stopping and therefore makes it harder to plant your feet firmly.

I've seen lowering kits for the Goldwing, but if you install one of those they make it almost impossible to put the bike on the center stand because they lower the bike about 1 1/2 inches. The lowering kit also affects the cornering and lean of the bike.

Another option is a custom seat, but that can run $600 or more depending on what model you choose. I had one on my GL1500 from Saddleman, called the Road Sofa and it was about 1" lower which enabled me to plant my feet just fine.

You might want to try the lift boots that were mentioned first and see if that helps. Less expensive and less work. Good luck and ride safe.

Scott, Not sure if my opinion will help but here goes anyway. I think someone mentioned that the Lift Boots were around $200 bucks. Now for my money I put on a Hartco saddle not for the lowering but for comfort. I did some research prior to purchase & the custom seat guys usually want to have you take a picture with you & passenger on bike & tell them your/passenger weight & height. They build seat accordingly. I got my Hartco for $300 off ebay & it was new. So I'm sure you would have to change your shoes more often than saddle. Even if the saddle you go with is $600 or so I think it would be better. Think of all the variables with shoes, your feet get wet & you need to put on different boots, when you want to move bike around to clean or maintain: you need to put on Tallmen boots? I'm rambiling here but it just seems to me that the boots are like putting a band-aid on a deep cut.

My two cents.

Scott - Welcome to the forum. I am new to the GW and also have a vertical problem. I just bought tallmenshoes for $125.00 and they have raised me 4 inches. They look like a normal shoe but have lifts in them. You can see them at WWW.tallmenshoes.com. I just came in from a "Ride for the Cure" with 800 other bikers around the beautiful Cabot Trail in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and I never dropped my bike on anyone or made a fool of myself. So the boots seem to be working for me.

Hi …… I am new here and want to introduce myself. I just bought a 2006 GL1800a last weekend. It is a beauty. The first owner did a great job of keeping it up. However, he is taller than me, which means when at a stop sign I am on the balls of my feet. I got the bike to ride 2-up with my wife. I need to lower the bike, but how do I determine how low do I need to go. How would I measure for the proper height to come down? I’m 5’8” unknown inseam. I know about the lower kits, I just do not know how much to lower.

Can anyone help a New winger
Thanks

Scott: My original test ride of the Wing scared me off for a year. I bought a "heavy cruiser," a Yamaha Silverado 1700cc that is about the same weight and an inch lower. My insean is 27.5", so the Wing left me on the balls of my feet too.

After about 10 months of riding the heavier bike, I felt confident I could handle the Wing with my Sweetie on the back. As you know, it's never an encouragement to your wife/girlfriend to end up on the ground because you wanted to unintentionally test the bank indicator.

We have been riding for a little over two years now, and we've never been on the ground, except on the tires. I didn't lower the seat or the rear suspension, although I could benefit by taking either or both. However, I'm leary of messing with the suspension (most of the posts I've read on a competitor board say it's not a good idea to lower the rear suspension). I haven't pursued the seat option, as I've been too busy riding to find a good upholstry shop that can take some of the padding out of the sides of the seat.

So, I wear boots with thicker heels, as stated earlier. The main thing is to ensure that whatever solution you choose you're confident it will work and not compromise your comfort or safety.

Just remember, don't "low center" yourself at intersections or stoplights. As long as you can get both balls of your feet on the ground, you should be OK.

Go for it!

I'm a short guy also (height guys, height).
I ride with the pressure at 0 PSI unless the better half is riding & then I'll jack it up to 15 PSI.
I also went to Alligator Bob's, who is known around the world for his work on seats, and he did a fantastic job of carving out 1/2 of the foam & installing a soft pad. I like long trips & this works out great.
You don't have to live near Bob's (Google Alligator Bob's) you can just send the seats like most others do. He already knows what to do. It cost me $250 but his custom work with exotic leathers can get into the thousands.

Hey Snowhawk

Thanks for the in-put. When Honda says it is a “per-loaded suspension”. Dose that mean that anything above “0” is for your comfort and “0” is what is considered the BASE for the pre-load suspension?

I have heated seats and I do not know how that will affect the amount of curving that can be done, but I will check out ole Bob’s…..Thanks

scottg
I believe that 0 PSI is the base point where you are just using the regular shocks and not using the air ride suspension. My wife is 5'-7" and weighs (maybe) 100# soaking wet and that is why I don't need to go any more than 15 PSI. (I'm going to be as polite as possible here so that I am not insulting anyone.) However, if you have a passenger that is considerably higher is weight you need to adjust the air shocks to a higher PSI to keep from bottoming out. The best way to do this is remember where your feet are at by yourself. Keep putting more air in the shocks & when you start getting uncomfortable let some air out until you are back to normal.
Whew! Hope that came out right!

Hey Redfox

"I just bought tallmenshoes for $125.00 and they have raised me 4 inches. They look like a normal shoe but have lifts in them. You can see them at WWW.tallmenshoes.com"

I have asked this same question on two Goldwing Forums and I seem to get some of the same fixes. A number of people have referred to boot/shoes with lifts. You stated that you have purchased a pair of these shoe/boots and they seem to work well for you.

Besides making a short guy into a talker short guy, how long did it take you to make the adjustment on your foot position on the pegs (finding the peg with your foot)? Did the height of the toe create problems with your shifter? Are there transition issues you had to learn when you started using these shoes/boots?