Lowering bike

Hi all I'm new to bike world and fell in love with vfr so purchased a nice looking blue and gold 53 plate 800 vtec and love it however I'm not the tallest and due to weight of the bike I could do with some advice in how to lower it so I feel that bit more in control with feet flat on floor I need about an inch at least cheers

 

Duccmann should be in here shortly (no pun intended), he has his '02 lowered and can probably give you the 411 on how he did it. I can say that Lust Racing is in the UK (http://www.lustracing.co.uk/lowering-kits.html) and they offer lowering kits, but the free version is to rotate the triangle of the rear suspension linkage and raise the forks in the triple clamps, the only other item(s) to address after that is to cut the side and center stands down a few inches (center stand is more optional).

 

Hey V. Welcome. Its ok D. I know I'm vertically challenged.
So ya being 5'6 the first day I had my bike I took it to my seat to my upholstery guy and had the inside of my thighs shaved and a little off the top.
Then ordered from Lustracing the lowering triangles. Pretty easy mod....found a local welder and had the kick stand cut down ( a must )...Heli arched.
Still able to get it on the center stand..just takes a little more muscle.

 

Cheers mate I've been looking at the lust lowering kits and some say it's not recommended but I'm going to have to give it a go as I'm no boy racer and can't see it altering things to much in handling as for the seat I will look into this cheers

 

I too was going to lower it-but before you do buy some sliders R+G and do what I do-it may fall but the sliders will save it-ground clearance is nice to have and bad roads.

 

Well everybody's got their own opinions I think it's one of the best mods I've done and it handles even better

 

oh that's why you don't fall-you cheat!

 

May be I'll inspire you to learn to ride it in stock height. I'm 5'4" with 28" inseam and I ride mine stock and with no frame sliders. Frame sliders are for delicate boys.

 

YUP....its not that I cheat its that I know how to ride. I think you need to take the CHP course maybe two three times .

 

So you're saying it's nice to have bad roads? Interesting, maybe that's why you need the sliders. If you stay off those bad roads and you won't need them

Cheers!

(Sorry Velocity, had to do it)

 

there is bad roads everywhere-that means don't ride-a brand new Harley got taken out by a pothole-the rider is dead-and those bikes have big tires-the size of a small car. I got a scotts damper because of bad roads-it does help. But being up in the air is better.

 

Greetings velocity. I would suggest starting with what OOTV suggested with the flip of the triangles and raise the forks in the triple clamps. I went this route and it has helped. I spoke to Jamie at Daugherty Motorsports about doing this when I was having him upgrade the stock suspension (2007) bike , he cautioned me about lowering the bike, mainly for safety I think because of the possibility of bottoming the suspension and hitting hard parts. If I remember, he said if I didn't raise the forks more than 10mm I probably wouldn't have any problems, and it' been over 6,000 mi. with no problems. I should get the side stand shortened as I have to be conscious of what angle I park the bike on. Center stand is not a problem unless the luggage is loaded, then I needed help. You can do this yourself in probably an hour, maybe two if having a few beers. I'm 5'8" , hope that helps.
John

 

Did Jamie suggest the no more than 10mm for bottom clearence or was it for trying to keep the rake and trail numbers close to what they should be. Lowering a bike can be tricky to keep the geometry correct. Get it wrong and the bike will not handle nearly as well.

Duc you said yours handles better after the lowering, I'm curious in what way as it is usually the opposite and they handle worse.

 

Before I lowered it just seemed to fall into the turns and after I lowered it just seem to track a lot better .. I just feel more confident....
Its probably all in my head..what ever works right?
I did stiffen up the forks with two lines showing. .. never ever hit hard parts but I dont ride like that on public roads.

 

I'm pretty sure that Jamie was just wanting me to be cautious (hard parts) for safety reasons. I changed several things all at the same time so couldn't really say what effected what. Lowered slightly, JD suspension magic, new PR3's, brake pads. You could probably flip the triangles and raise the forks in an hour and test it out, and if you don't care for it pretty easy to reverse.
John

 

Short of some gussets on a centerstand, cutting one down is IMO not a great idea. Can it be done? Sure. Can it be done wrong? Yep.