Lowering my bike

[/quote] Than I would just trade it for a LTD or CSR stile bike. The seat is quite a bit lower on those.[/quote]

If I could find someone willing to do that, it would be done with a quickness.. lol...

otakar wrote:

kawasakispeedin wrote: i have a 1980 KZ1000 and i lowered the front end about 2 inches by using a set of woodcraft clip-on's and droping the front forks 2inches. all these people say the bike handles worse after lowering it but as far as my bike goes they are wrong! it handles way better! i did have an issue once or twice where i scrapped my exhaust on sharp right hand turns... but i raised up the rear end a 1/2 inch with longer zephyr shocks and solved that problem. my bike takes turns and corners with no problem and is stable at all speeds.

Attachment newshocks.jpg not found

Lowering just the front end actually increases your handling rake. On these bikes that is good as long as you reinforce the front of the frame. But lowering the ass end is not such a good idea.

lowering just the rear has same affect as raking frontend,handles better at high speed in straight line but slows steering.
lowering front more than rear makes steering quicker but id definately suggest a steering dampner to help avoid a sudden suprise tank slapper. (ask me how i know this! :sick: :woohoo: )

Wireman wrote
Lowering just the front end actually increases your handling rake. On these bikes that is good as long as you reinforce the front of the frame. But lowering the ass end is not such a good idea.[/quote]lowering just the rear has same affect as raking frontend,handles better at high speed in straight line but slows steering.
lowering front more than rear makes steering quicker but id definately suggest a steering dampner to help avoid a sudden suprise tank slapper. (ask me how i know this! :sick: :woohoo: )[/quote]

See this is what I mean. This makes sense. I had a couple bikes with quick steering and yes they were prone to doing squirrely things. But when right they were handling machines. Still riding on that edge I figure either I should be nuts or somebody should be paying me. Maybe both. Good advice to get a dampner if you are redoing the geometry on a bike and a fork brace too. One thing still does confuse me tho. Lowering the rear makes it handle better in a straight line? Handle better in a straight line I cannot get my head around. Care to expand on that please?
Same thing with bobbers. Loves me a nice looking Bobjob but the hardtail hurts my back just looking at one and I wonder at the geometry change. Then too a lot of them I see have like 16 inch ape hangers on them so I guess they are not going for handling anyway. I do kinda like it when I call for a course change the bike agrees and doesn't try and buck me off. Call me crazy. Some things just make sense and somethings.......

How about his instead of lowering your bike:

kzrider.com/forum/23-for-sale/456323-1980-ltd1000-for-sale

I would love that bike... getting mine sold and that one being 1200 miles away are a couple of problems I would have to figure out first tho... lol...

Proxy wrote: Wireman wrote
Lowering just the front end actually increases your handling rake. On these bikes that is good as long as you reinforce the front of the frame. But lowering the ass end is not such a good idea.

lowering just the rear has same affect as raking frontend,handles better at high speed in straight line but slows steering.
lowering front more than rear makes steering quicker but id definately suggest a steering dampner to help avoid a sudden suprise tank slapper. (ask me how i know this! :sick: :woohoo: )[/quote]

One thing still does confuse me tho. Lowering the rear makes it handle better in a straight line? Handle better in a straight line I cannot get my head around. Care to expand on that please?.[/quote]

What lowering the rear & the resultant increase in rake does is to make the bike more stable in a straight line. They also are less responsive to turning.

WIREMAN...

I completely agree with you and actually am in the market for a steering dampener! so if you know of one at a good deal please feel free to let me know!

Proxy wrote: Wireman wrote
Lowering just the front end actually increases your handling rake. On these bikes that is good as long as you reinforce the front of the frame. But lowering the ass end is not such a good idea.

lowering just the rear has same affect as raking frontend,handles better at high speed in straight line but slows steering.
lowering front more than rear makes steering quicker but id definately suggest a steering dampner to help avoid a sudden suprise tank slapper. (ask me how i know this! :sick: :woohoo: )[/quote]

See this is what I mean. This makes sense. I had a couple bikes with quick steering and yes they were prone to doing squirrely things. But when right they were handling machines. Still riding on that edge I figure either I should be nuts or somebody should be paying me. Maybe both. Good advice to get a dampner if you are redoing the geometry on a bike and a fork brace too. One thing still does confuse me tho. Lowering the rear makes it handle better in a straight line? Handle better in a straight line I cannot get my head around. Care to expand on that please?
Same thing with bobbers. Loves me a nice looking Bobjob but the hardtail hurts my back just looking at one and I wonder at the geometry change. Then too a lot of them I see have like 16 inch ape hangers on them so I guess they are not going for handling anyway. I do kinda like it when I call for a course change the bike agrees and doesn't try and buck me off. Call me crazy. Some things just make sense and somethings.......[/quote]looks like you combined mine and ottos posts! :laugh:
anyway lowering just the rear of bike has basically same affect as raking the frame to a certain degree,it kicks forks/front wheel out at more of an angle which makes bike more stable going in straight line.the more rake in the frontend the more it wants to go straight,if youve ever ridden an early 80s gs1100 suzuki vs a kz 900/1000 youll notice the suzuki is a lot more stable at high speeds in a straight line compared to the kz.
try laying the same suzuki into a hard corner at a good clip and youll come out the other end of the corner with a whole new outlook on life! :sick: :woohoo:
the suzuki takes a line and follows it ,whether or not its the line you want it to take.
on my old gs1100 i actually lowered the front end and left the rear high just so the stupid thing would corner slightly better than a fast moving overloaded coal train running out of control! :woohoo:

130 in the rear (not sure what the height aspect is compared to a 120), lowered about an inch in the trees, progressive spring in the forks... result turns in quick but no clearance issues on the shaft model. Have done the ton with it and no odd behavior, the 130 doesn't like rocks in the corners but then again neither do I! :side:

Thinking about a custom fork brace for it and rebuilding a set of Marzocchi's I have for the rear. Probably go back to the 120 on the rear next time, isn't pinched but the extreme roll-up when pitched over combined with the shaft-jack effect gets a little exciting sometimes. Like all mods, try to leave yourself an out so as to return it to the way it was if the result is the bike becomes wild weasel ride.