[GMAK]

At speed you'll be dragging hard parts (if you lower it.)

ive heard this like 5x already.
all pros have lowered suspension. of course lower center of gravity.
dragging pegs isnt bad...just cost a little $$$ if you do it on a daily basis.
but you make it sound like its bad....
dropping the suspenion more than 1"-2" isnt good. stock dirtbike height isnt going to handle as great as modified. you'll be much faster 1" closer to the tarmac

 

[carlsoti]

I have to, in some respects, agree with GMAK. However, I'm still running "sportsman" setup. (read that, I'm to cheap to buy 17"s!) A lot of these guys are running 17"s on both ends, plus a suspension drop. For my bike, that would naturally drop the fron 2", and the rear 1/2", just with the change in rim size. With my current setup, I've got a drop that's on par with what most guys are running.

 

[Quickbrit]

If you want to improve the handling, you don't need to lower it.

For the street a fork brace will stiffen up the front end very nicely and you won't be dragging the pegs - if you drag your pegs you risk levering the rear tire off off the ground.

The pro's have lowered suspension in the US, in Europe most don't. No pro runs a 300LB XR650R (Steve Drew tried to in the very early years).

The XR already has a low center of gravity, the motor is big and low...

You could always stiffen up the suspension too - how much do you weigh in full gear?

MikeE

ive heard this like 5x already.
all pros have lowered suspension. of course lower center of gravity.
dragging pegs isnt bad...just cost a little $$$ if you do it on a daily basis.
but you make it sound like its bad....
dropping the suspenion more than 1"-2" isnt good. stock dirtbike height isnt going to handle as great as modified. you'll be much faster 1" closer to the tarmac

 

[LordMDP]

my XR is lowered about 1.5 inches rear and around 2 front

traxxion dynamics did the work-they also revalved and resprung the front and rear-i think they had to put osmething like a 900lb spring on the back

heres a good side shot of it in action next to a 560smr

 

[carlsoti]

Quickbrit,
You're right. No one races with an XR, myself included. It's my commuter and play bike. I'm not looking for a world champinship trophy, just a bike that's unique, and will allow me to show my buddies (that ride sportbikes)how mountain curves should be taken. So far, i'm set.

 

[Quickbrit]

Car'

My bad, I just noticed in your signature that you're running stock rims.

When (or if) you run a pair of 17's - you'll drop the front considerably which in itself calms the bike down..

MikeE

Quickbrit,
You're right. No one races with an XR, myself included. It's my commuter and play bike. I'm not looking for a world champinship trophy, just a bike that's unique, and will allow me to show my buddies (that ride sportbikes)how mountain curves should be taken. So far, i'm set.

 

[khelton]

my XR is lowered about 1.5 inches rear and around 2 front

traxxion dynamics did the work-they also revalved and resprung the front and rear-i think they had to put osmething like a 900lb spring on the back
[

If I can ask, what did they charge you to lower it ? Also, how and how much did it effect it ?

 

[khelton]

If you think you like the XR now...wait until you get 17's on it...

 

[apa]

Car'

My bad, I just noticed in your signature that you're running stock rims.

When (or if) you run a pair of 17's - you'll drop the front considerably which in itself calms the bike down..

MikeE

What do you mean by calms it down? 17's = better tires and more traction?

17's will drop the front end down lower and tuck in the front geometry resulting in a much quicker stearing bike with more of a tendency to shake its head....... wouldnt it?

 

[Quickbrit]

In theory, but it doesn't... the stock tires (trail type) are very vague at speed.

The 17" combination works wonders.

MikeE

 

[arctic954]

When I had the 954..... I ended up installing a scotts steering damper --- I had soooo many scares from high speed headshake.

The normal 21" front setup on the XR, seems to be raked enough to never need anything like a stabilizer. (even if you sit down a bad wheelie....)

Do you have to worry about tank slappers with 17's?

 

[Quickbrit]

I had a Scotts on my XR - but only as insurance for bad wheelie landings rather than handling issues.

Personally I think Supermoto helps you ride a bike using your hips and butt, instead of aggressive hand/arm inputs (that lead to slappers).

MikeE

 

[carlsoti]

So the verdict is in! After roughly 1000 miles (500 commute/500 mile 1 day trip from chandler,az up 89A back down the 17 to chandler) the front suspension mods haven't changed. So shim-shimmying, no violent headshake, no worries! I still haven't been able to find my camera, but I'll try to get some pics up when I can.

 

[fjefman]

Lowering the pig

I posted this a couple years ago but I think it is very appropriate for this discussion.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
You will lose wheel travel if you lower either end of
the bike. On the back this will occur whether you shorten the shock or use
a lowering link (Koubalink). Neither of these options should make a
drastic difference in how easily the bike will bottom out but both will
shorten your tire-fender clearance. Actually, depending on how much the
lowering link changes the wheel rate, or how you revalve the shock, both of
these could make the bike less likely to bottom out. If you accept this as
an option then I think your best bet is to shorten the shock internally and
get it revalved at the same time. The lowering part is a very easy process
of installing a spacer (called a droop spacer) between the valve assembly
and the seal head assembly. Any competent suspension shop should be able to
do this in about an hour. You need to keep in mind that the BRP has a
roughly 3:1 linkage ratio. This means if you shorten the shock 10mm then
the seat will be about 30mm lower.

I WOULD NOT cut the springs to lower the bike. First off this really won't
work (more in a minute) and cutting/closing a spring is easy to mess up..
Did I mention the increased spring rate. The reason this won't work is the
extended length of your forks and shock is determined by the internal
length of certain critical parts, not by the spring length. In order to
shorten your forks and shock you need to make them top out earlier. I've
already mentioned how this is done in the shock, and the forks are no
different. You must install a spacer between the critical parts.. in the
forks' case this is between the rebound valve holder and the top-out spring
(the BRP's topout spring is on the inside of the cartridge). Just remember
that unlike the shock this is a 1:1 ratio. Add a 10mm spacer and the forks
will be 10mm shorter. Oh.. while you are doing this you might as well
revalve the forks....


Shortening the forks and shock will likely cost more than buying just the
koubalink but you have the added benefit of getting the suspension revalved
which will give you a wonderful return worth well more than the monetary
figure of the work.

FYI.. I lowered by BRP forks by 30mm and shock by 10mm and have yet to
bottom the bike out. Well, I should add that I am running .60kg/mm fork
springs and a 16.1kg/mm shock spring so this isn't quite apples and apples.

 

[carlsoti]

Thanks for the input. It echos the rest of the accurate info regarding how to properly lower and set up the suspension. I should probably change my screen name to "cheap-assed bastard" or the like, so people have a better idea of why I do the crazy (read UNSAFE) mods that I do. I am somewhat practical about the level of "unsafeness" I'll go to. Really, I care about my life. Sorta... LONG LIVE SUPERMOTO!!!

 

[junkie650]

I know I'm gonna sound stupid, but could you remove the springs and heat them to acheive the desired amount of lowering?? In my uneducated opinion, it would be a low cost alternative to, well, lowering it the proper way. Just a thought...

 

[joev]

junkie 650... sounds like a great idea. heat up the spring just for a moderate 1 " change. I did it to my front springs to my 1968 camaro and it looks great and does not seem to change handling. It is not a racing car just a hot rod cruiser!!! any thoughts gang ? If you mess up buy a new or used spring. joev

 

[carlsoti]

a new spring only costs about $100. My main concern would be that, on the afforementioned '68 camaro, if a spring gives way, you've got 3 more to help support it. On a bike, it's not going to be as "pretty" when one of the jimmied springs decides to give up. If you're willing to spend the $100, it'd probably be better to find a used kouba-link for the rear, choke the forks up in the tripple tree, as much as possible(3/4" or so, but 3-3/8" for whack jobs like myself) and run heavier fork oil to slow the front end damping down a bit.