Lower bike

[reinie]

If you do go with shorter rear shocks you might want to lower the front end as well to stay close to the same rake & trail. On some bikes you can loosen the pinch bolts in the triple trees and raise the fork tubes in them up to maybe a 3/4 to one inch or so. That would lower the front by that much without disassembling forks to install shorter springs inside them.

[jtopiso]

(04-04-2018 05:56 AM)reinie Wrote:  If you do go with shorter rear shocks you might want to lower the front end as well to stay close to the same rake & trail. On some bikes you can loosen the pinch bolts in the triple trees and raise the fork tubes in them up to maybe a 3/4 to one inch or so. That would lower the front by that much without disassembling forks to install shorter springs inside them.

I'd go for the lower seat (in fact I may do soon). I woudn't alter geometries, nor ride height (ground clearance, rake, antisquat, etc will/can change).

[Scooter12]

I too have a 30 inch inseam and the stock height wasn't bad unless there was gravel under foot when stopped/stopping. I lowered my 14 Std by installing 335mm shocks and raising the forks 7/8ths inch in the trees. The bike has the proper rake and trail and handles better than when I had only lowered the rear. If you use a lower seat you might cramp your leg room. I have a Corbin Gunfighter and Lady and my knees are slightly more bent.

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Forgot to add that I had to shorten the side stand after lowering. I cut out 3/4 inch under the return spring hook and welded the foot back on. Restored the original lean and now I can walk away comfortably, without worry.

[Perry]

+1 on getting your seat cut down as a first step. Here's a pic of my CB750 seats - the one in front I pulled the cover and shaped the foam for my custom build. I brought the reshaped seat to a local auto upholstery shop. They covered it to my specs for ~$160. You can see the difference compared to stock - I took it down more than an inch.



Here's my 500 seat done by the same shop for the same price:



The trick is finding someone who knows how picky us bikers are about how our machines look!