All motorcycles are built to a generally accepted size which will accommodate the majority of people in the world who decide to ride them. Actually it’s not just motorcycles, as pretty much anything manufactured is designed to cope with an average dimension based on a typical human. Now in order to obtain an average dimension of anything the smallest and largest sizes are added together and divided up; nothing contentious there, just simple mathematical fact. There have always been lists of ‘averages’ available for manufacturers of anything to work to and the items produced do work for a wide range of body dimensions, though most things come with a degree of adjustment available so something can be fine-tuned to one particular requirement. So fridges have height adjusters, cars have adjustable seats and so on – however as this is a motorcycle magazine I’m sticking with the powered two-wheel creations we use and love rather than white goods or cars, for instance. When it comes to motorcycles, adjusting handlebar and lever positions is possible and for the more adventurous perhaps a change of handlebar or footrests isn’t too difficult. Even a bit of welding to lower footrests is possible in the amateur workshop as we all have the welder mate or perhaps you are the ‘welder mate’…
By and large these are variations on the standard theme – but what if you’re a factory rider, have just moved from one maker’s team to another and the bike issued to you
