Are my forks lowered?

Was installing my heated grips tonight and noticed for the first time that my tubes see to be quite high in my triple clamp. Has someone lowered the front? Which may explain why it is quite nervous feeling in the front end?

 

Your forks tubes are "raised", which actually lowers the front end. The worst case scenario with this setup is if you bottom out, your wheel may smack into something and you loose contro! The other side effect of this is quicker or "twitchy" steering and/or poor high speed stability. The opposite to this would slow steering and increase high speed stability. The stock height your forks should be above the top triple clamp is: 41mm or 1.6 inches (this is for 2002+)

 

Mine are 2.5 inches above so I guess the front is dropped quite a bit. Wonder if the back is dropped as well.

 

Where precisely should I measure? Straight edge across the top of the fork cap to the tree? Or top of the tube beneath the cap to the tree? Would like to put the whole bike back to stock.

 

Looking at the spacing on top it looks like they didn't mess with the clip-ons, you should be able to loosen the bolts and slid the forks down until the clip-ons hit your top yoke.

 

No, your forks are f...ed up. Thats a mess..... Yeah just loosen the bolts top and botom and drop to bottom of bars. If you want to measure it is 1.6" from top of tube not cap.

 

Better? Now how do I verify the rear is correct?

 

The sharpie looks ominous

 

Yea, actually didn't see the sharpie until I looked at the pic. On the back edge it says front mcw I think.

 

That is an adjustable lower link ya have there so I'm sure she has been lowered in the rear. Shorten the link to raise the rear.

Oh wait!!

If the bike was lowered front and rear, it is very likely that the side stand is also shortened. If you raise the bike back up it may fall over when you try to put it on the side stand. Be careful. :tongue:

Give us a pic of the bike so we can see how much clearance you have between the rear tire and the fender and take a shot of the side stand too.

 

Good catch

 

Yah yer riding low dude!

Looks like the side stand is adjustable so perhaps you can just extend it after you raise the rear end. With the bags installed it is hard to say how low you are but I would venture a guess at an inch and a half give or take....

 

Sooooooo, how do I go about figuring out the correct reas suspension geometry? The issue that I fear the most is that this is one of the only bikes I've owned that I can actually touch the ground with both feet. I have an Aprilia RSV Mille that sits because of this issue, sold my 998 because I nearly dropped it too many times... Damn short legs. Bought this bike (which has a salvage title and who knows what history) and got it together and running this winter. Tires are ordered and guess I need to figure the rear end out before I ride it to the bike shop. Rode it the other day and it turned quicker than any bike I've been on which makes sense now that I know the front was dropped. I guess what I would need is the 3 dimensions of the rear triangle plate (since I don't know if mines stock) and the center to center measurement of a stock link if someone would be so kind as to measure those. Thanks for all the help so far, fantastic forum.

 

Since your link is adjustable, just adjust it till you are comfortable. No need to change anything unless you need more height but more than likely you will be fine. It would also be pointless to crank it up to a factory height if that causes you issues. After the rear is set, you can try dropping the front a tad to see how it handles. No need to go crazy like it was originally.

 

It still feels decent to sit on as is, is there any real problem if the rear is lowered an inch or so and the front is back to stock? I'm just a little paranoid because I wrecked my ZX9R years ago right after adding a lowering link (didn't touch the front). Can't say it was the fact that the rear was lowered that caused it, but the broken bones make it stick in my head a little. If someone could give me some measurements I would at least know how far from stock the rear is. Thanks guys.

 

Well, that arrangement will not handle properly, but then again having the front and rear super lowered isn't great either. I would balance it off so the front and rear are both dropped the same amount so the steering angle is as close to stock as you can get.

 

Makes sense, just need to figure out how much the rear is lowered.

 

Measured with the bike resting on the side stand (which isn't really how it should be done) I have 8.5 inches of clearance between the top of the rear tire and the inner fender.