I'm going to lower the front end a few inches using the same procedure outlined in the Tech section. But...I was wondering if anyone had tried cutting the soft portion of the springs instead of the top spacer. The springs seem a bit squishy as they are, so I was thinking this would reduce bottoming out.

Any thoughts?

Lowering the front (or rear, for that matter) will have the effect of making the sidestand seem longer, holding the bike more upright when parked. At the extreme the bike will fall over to the right. You might have to bend or shorten the stand.

Lowering the front by shortening the springs will cause the effective travel to be shorter, so I think the fork will bottom more easily. These bikes don't have an awful lot of suspension travel in the first place. You might first try raising the fork legs in the triple clamps as far as possible. At the least, that alteration is reversible.

caseyLA wrote on 01/13/10 at 23:58:19:


I think you're right.  The top of the fork tubes are threaded into cap screws which hold them in the top triple, so there's no adjustment there.

caseyLA wrote on 01/13/10 at 23:58:19:

I haven't heard of anybody doing it.
Being that to get a replacement you'll have to buy new and replacing that tube is easy, I'd go the tube route.