Remove brake drag and rolling resitance and it becomes much easier, but depending on your height.......

Can you not simply just manually move the bike around while walking next to it? much easier than sitting on the seat especially if you are height challenged

 

This is my first bike, so new to all terms! I do hop off and walk next to it as well, however still quite heavy for me to move…especially all the hills where I live! Thanks

 

Always be on the downhill side of the bike unless impossible to do........ (if you are uphill and it starts to lean away it is going to fall and you will not be able to stop it 99% of the time)-- it comes back to knowing where you are moving and the movements it is going to take to perform them (pre-planning)

if you are most comfortable on the left side of the bike (side with kickstand) then keep that in mind when moving it around and as RJ mentions- look at the terrain and know the obstacles before even starting any movement

There is a point at which you can slightly lean the bike towards you and not bear the brunt of the 430lb mass too much and just a few more degrees of angle leaned towards you and that weight will double or triple and feel like way too much.......... perhaps you are leaning the bike a bit too much into yourself???? obviously this is something you will learn and adapt to as you do it more often- just hopefully you do not drop the bike getting to that point, but I think most of us have dropped a bike while moving one, especially when young in our motorcycle riding careers....

But in the end, it is up to you to decide what you need to do for yourself to feel the most confident and comfortable, finding that will add tons more enjoyment to your riding experience;
whether that be lowering the bike slightly, getting a smaller bike, or just moving the bike around "practicing" for 15 minutes at time a few times a week

 

Bike design plays some part in how easily they can be moved around without the engine….. SS bikes are meant to change direction very quickly, so the center of mass has to be elevated with respect to scooters and cruisers. That makes them less stable comparatively, but that difference is often masked by the sheer mass of a given bike design.

cruisers routinely weigh between 6 & 800 lbs, compared to a 600 SS very close to 400 lbs.

SS are unfriendly ergonomically. The racing tuck is meant to reduce drag for more speed, as well as cornering clearance. Smaller folk suffer slightly less than larger.

The amount of leverage at the bars is reduced so steering effort is greater comparatively….. motocross bikes have similar dimensions, weigh far less, use similar wheel base and run on terrain that would destroy an SS. The bars are much wider between the grips.

If I were in the business of recommending a first bike for an urban setting, a used supermoto would be near the top of the list. Very light weight, very good ergonomics, adequate power, relatively inexpensive operating costs…..

 

the biggest weight reduction is usually the exhaust can. if you change to a short one, Coffman's Exhaust Systems , for example, you can shed 15-20 lbs just by that. that is a big hit. on a bike weighing 400 lbs, its about 4-5% of the bike weight. the sound is awesome. easy install. relatively inexpensive.

do not go to carbon fiber body work. unless cash is not a issue. the weight savings is minimal per dollar spent. looks great, but very little bang for the buck for weight reduction.

height modifications have to be done with caution. mm changes will drastically affect ride characteristics. so you can't easily change ride height more than a few mm. that being said, you can play with the preload front and get a few mm without much work, just decreasing preload will have the affect of lowering the bike. but again there will be a change in ride. it will be "softer". you can compensate by adjusting the compression and rebound settings. you can do all that with very few tools. the front will not require any tools, the back may require a spanner for the preload.

and as silly as this may sound, boots with a tall sole. not kidding.

be careful, but mastering suspension settings will go a long way improving your ride enjoyment more that you might expect.

 

It gets better with practice, I'm good with my hands but not so much at balancing bikes. Same for low speed riding. Used to struggle with low speed maneuvers but after going on long trips with my sport touring bikes loaded up and riding on gravel roads in KOA campgrounds I've gotten much better. Find a nice open parking lot and practice. Good info online about how to do it but start off easy and don't try to be an expert quickly. Good place to practice moving the bike around manually. Whenever I move my bike around I always have the kickstand down just in case. Only when I'm rolling it out of the garage to ride do I not have it down. Hills are the same, I live in a hilly area and it is hard turning going uphill or downhill particularly from a stop. Start off with starting from a stop on level - even then watch the slope of the pavement due to crown of the road. Only when you are comfortable with stopping and starting do you move to starting going up a hill. There is one intersection I go thru fairly regularly. The street is going uphill fairly steeply and intersects with another going downhill to the right. It is a very tricky spot. When making a right at the stop the pavement slopes to the right. I always come up to it and stay more to the center and away from the slope as much as I can. Keep the bike vertical, know it will be further down on the right than the left. Stop and lean the bike on left foot or make sure you get right foot down further but keep bike vertical. ZX6R gets very heavy quickly as it leans over so the trick is to keep it vertical. My first bike was a 2007 Ninja 250 and even with the bike it was a tricky spot for me when I first started. Before you get to the stop make sure you have a plan and are in first gear well before. Starting is not as hard but don't let the bike lean to the right. Start going straight then turn right. Also remember when making a turn without stopping accelerating will stand the bike up. Early on that saved me a couple of times.

For weight reduction a Lithium battery will take a few pounds off and that is higher weight. Don't do like I do and have a tank bag loaded with stuff as that adds weight up high.

 

The exhaust may get 15 lbs off the bike, a high tech battery would be a similar reduction….. the first-30 lbs for around $700….. somewhere around $20/lb. then, it starts to get much more expensive.

 

very best case scenario you save 8lbs on the battery and maybe if you get rid of the entire exhaust system and go aftermarket you can net a 15lb weight savings but not with a slip on and especially not on a bike from the mid 90's!

and shorty cans are just stupidily loud and obnoxious and look horrendous too imo....

 

Thank you everyone! Very insightful! I’m looking at changing the exhaust so will definitely check out the exhaust above and think battery needs replacing. Hopefully both will help! Will be looking at changing suspension slightly anyway, especially as in early stages so not used to the bike one way or the other

 

It’s also worth mentioning that if you’re moving the bike from the ground, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with resting it on your hip. Let your legs do most of the work.

 

I am in the process of making a track bike out of my 21 636 and have reduced weight significantly. The major weight reduction components are:

Full exhaust
Wheels and tires
Lithium battery
Unnecessary components such as smog items, factory plate holder, passenger equipment

You will also be surprised that most aftermarket billet aluminum parts weigh far less than the stock cast items such as the brake calipers and controls.

Lastly, I am keeping street plastics to go back and forth between track and street duties but the OEM street plastics are very heavy. Going race plastics saves about the same as a full exhaust. I assume buying cheap aftermarket street fairings would yeild similar weight savings over the heavy, over engineered OEM plastics.

 

She is riding it on the street not racing, so any weight savings you get is mute.
not like she can axe the 6lb headlight or 20 lbs of other lights, mirrors and bodywork and put on lightweight race plastics

and wheels and tires- are you fucking kidding me............. IT IS A OLD ASS STREET BIKE NOT WORTH AS MUCH AS ANY AFTERMARKET WHEEL WOULD COST!

and even if she could get a net weight lose of 20lbs (best case scenario!) on a 430+ lb bike via a battery and full exhaust system, is it even going to be noticed and help her situation for the around $1000 she would have to spend to find out........... fuck NO

people are stupid and unhelpful, read the fucking room and the situation and reply properly or shut the fuck up already.... and it isn't just this post I am talking about