Oaaoooowww, this is gonna hurt, I just know it.....

So, whatever happened to bikes you could balance with both feet on the ground?

When did grips get so narrow, I gotta trim my nails every day to not put divots in my palms, when my fingers wrap around the bars 1.5 times?

When did Ed Hertfelder (author of the beloved "Duct Tapes" series" ) stop writing?

Why do bikes and helmets look like they were dropped into one of those spinning paint-toy thingies?

Where's my heating pad?

I'm sure I'll think of more questions I'll have to ask you young people at some point. Got a 2009 WRR last week, and I feel like a spring chicken of 70 again! What a treat! If any Indiana riders (north central; Lafayette area) have good local trails open, please let me know. Planning a trip to the Badlands in a week or two, but don't really know the area that well. Probably need a gps to call for help...

Great bike and forum; you guys (and Shewolf) are a gas to listen to; thanks for drawing me in like a moth to its doom....

Why, back when I raced, the high tech bikes had 6 inches of travel in front, and 4.5 in rear, and glad to have it!.....

Welcome! I can only hope I'm still riding at 70... or breathing at least lol.

I hate the narrow grips too. HotGrips are nice and beefy though, and warm too!

Feel free to take the 1" lowering available out of the lower shock adjustment to get those toes down. Or a Yamalink lowering link and raising the forks a bit.

Thanks, I'm interested in the lowering plan. Haven't quite researched it yet. Forks look like they just slide down, but then the rear takes a special lower link, right?

I hope I'm riding at 70, too. I'm just a "beat up" 47, who's been feeling 90 for a long time. The new bike peeled 20 years right off; amazing how that works, isn't it? Instant hooligan, just add a set of wheels suspending a peaky engine...

Oh; extra question; what the heck is a "pressure suit"??

Millions of dollars worth of computer analysis and extensive testing tend to produce theoretical perfection
This does not always translate to reality LOL

The best thing about the modern motorcycle is that you can adapt it with aftermarket parts, I think that is what keeps things interesting for most of us

Good to have you on board

Howdy. :)

The taller seats are a byproduct of two things:

1) Long-travel suspension, which, once setup for your weight and how you ride the bike, works very well.
My next-door-neighbor uncle, who still rides a motorcycle on rare occasion (and he is about 70 years old) sometimes asks me questions about why dirt bikes are so tall, and isn't that high center of gravity making it difficult to turn, etc., etc., etc.
I usually answer along the lines of, "Once you try it and get used to it, it all makes sense."
I think he doesn't realize that I'm not constantly perched up there on 12" of suspension travel, and that the suspension is supposed to sag down several inches in order to not only compress on demand, but to be able to extend downward on demand, as well.

2) If the seat were to dip downward too much, the distance from footpegs to seat would be too short, making it more difficult to go from seated to standing, and as you know, when riding off-road, you'll be doing plenty of standing while working with the bike to negotiate the terrain.
This is the reason, after all, why the bike comes with long-travel suspension to start with:
To make it better over rough terrain while at speed.

Myself, I like small-diameter grips because they give me better feel and better grip.

This is a pressure suit:

http://reviews.cyclegear.com/product-reviews/Motorcycle-Off-Road-Riding/Off-Road-Protective-Gear/Roost-Guards-More/SIXSIXONE/p/8912-SIXSIXONE-Vapor-Pressure-Suit.html