Lowering the bike

[Lucky]

working on the Mrs bike it's apparent it's just a bit too tall for her. i've lowered the fron't forks 3/4", at some point the seat will get cut down some, it has to be done anyway, & will look at the lower profile tires, & of course decent boots with some heel.  all should help.

I was thinking of looking over the shock mounts, if there is clearance either top or bottom, of having a shock mount relocated, or poss a shorter shock. (if they were rebuildable they could get a spacer inside, but they're not..)

any thoughts?

-Lucky

[The Prophet of Doom]

Glyn made a bracket to fit his Triumph shock.  It relocated the upper shock mount by about an inch higher.  Do that with stock shock and you have an inch of lowering.

[Lucky]

that's what i had in mind too...  i'd like to do something like doing cocentric washers to make it adjustable like crysler struts...  i have to look at the set up

[YellowJacket!]

I thought someone posted recently about not sliding the forks up as it would change the handling dynamics of the bike?

David

[treedragon]

yes it does change the handling dynamics of the bike, mine are up through the top yokes by 32mm (around 1" 1/4), it's been that way for a long time now.

Chalk and cheese in my experience, way more stable in all situations and cornering is magic. The difference was noticeable straight away even on the first bit of straight road out of home, I had 3/4 used tires on at the time. I have the thought that reduced fork flex possibly plays a part.

I seem to have hit a sweet spot on this bike as curiously if I jack the rear up (the YSS shock has a 10mm length adjustment), then the steering seems to slow down.......... odd

[Lucky]

I lowered (raised? whatever) on Cafe & i think it's 'quicker'. i like it.  Dave you have to give Cafe a ride with the pegs way back  as they are...

[The Prophet of Doom]

I currently I have stock (euro) progressive springs, longer spacers, no air.  I put a zip tie on my fork stantions as a dive guage, and was amazed at how much of the travel I use under hard braking.  I need to address this before I push the nose down any further.

[treedragon]

Lucky is on to it!  I second the motion  ;D

roro
similar setup here with the addition of the YSS damping units and although I had a similar depth of experience with the zip tie dept I have yet to bottom it out in hard riding and that includes a time when a bump  :o mid tight left hand corner........ launched the bike in the air  ::)  ::) and set down next to the center line, it just sort of......... well waggled it's ass and hoovered it's way around the corner like it was normal. I think the bike must like me,  :-*  :-*  these XZ's they are just so forgiving  8)

I did have to trim that lip off under the fairing nose for clearance and I have shortened the front mudguard for looks and because it was having a love affair with the radiator cowling which I also replaced for good measure, so there are trade off's depending how far one takes it.



Have say one of these stripped to the bone, tweaked around a little in the suspension and steering geometry dept, sporting the bare minimum of running gear, a small sleek tank, would make an awesome point to point cafe racer.

[kiawrench]

Lucky,
   you pretty much know i am possibly the shortest Vision rider in the forum ( maybe wife is shorter, but then, never met her so i dont know )  Yellow jacket has been here, so he can verify that claim, lol
 
    he has also sat on one of my vision bikes, with the "banana" seat alteration.this mod doesnt lend well to two up riding,and takes about 15 seconds to like it -or dislike it. just have to swap over the hardware and give it a ride  talk with him by phone or whatever, and if you think it will help, i can send you one to try out ! we can work out the logistics AFTER you talk to dave . reason is ,, the seat has very little padding in it, mostly just a pan, a cover ,a lot of staples and about one inch of foam to smooth the bumps out .

  quick note - i have 26 in trouser inseam, on work pants-- 28 on jeans with a little bagginess at ankles. the seat mod along with dropping front forks 1 inch, allows me to nearly flat foot the bike in riding boots, and fully flat foot it wearing wolverine work boots (old classic brown boot, nothing special about the heel height)--- keep in mind, we have had several female riders that have posted about heat transfer in seat  too, so that may be an issue in future

[Brian Moffet]

yes it does change the handling dynamics of the bike, mine are up through the top yokes by 32mm (around 1" 1/4), it's been that way for a long time now.
Chalk and cheese in my experience, way more stable in all situations and cornering is magic.

This actually makes sense when you think about it.  By shortening the forks, your rake angle drops a little bit. Your trail will also drop a little bit as well.  This is not the angle at the triple clamps, those stay the same obviously.  Because of this reduction, it will take less pressure to turn the front wheel, which will lead to a little less stability against human inputs. 

Because of the trailing fork that is on the Vision,  the vision Vends toward stability on a straight path.  The trailing fork was used to reduce the wheelbase of the Vision while still allowing enough rake angle. 

One of the things that the rake angle is used for is to keep as much of the braking/cornering forces in compression mode of the forks.  If you were to remove the trail completely, then the braking forces would probably bend your forks backwards the first time.  There is a sweet spot for all forks, I don't happen to know what it is.  You go out to the extremes (vertical fork like a shopping cart or horizontal forks like a chopper) and you seriously degrade the handling.

By increasing the rear shock, you are moving more toward shopping cart steering, which for most shopping carts is not very good. :-)

Brian