Hi, I have a Ryca bike and am looking into the possibility of lowering it an inch or two.  The reason is because I am 5'7" and with the 31 inch inseam on the bike, it is slightly too tall. Just wondering if anyone else has tried this. My ideas are too-
1)possibly find a new front fork that is slightly shorter to install on the front end of the ryca, and then correspondingly go to a 12 or 11 inch progressive rear shock set to balance it out
2)lower the battery box, lower the seat pan, cut the frame even lower in the back where the seat attaches to, and install an aftermarker seat on there that will fit and be horizontal.
3) lower the front shock even further on the savage fork, leaving only 1.5 inches of travel, then swapping out the rear shock accordingly to match.

I won't be doing extremely hardcore riding on this bike, so tight corners and leans won't be an issue, i.e. scraping the bike on turns.  It is more important to me to be on a bike where both feet are on the ground when I come to a stop.  Additionally, on a bike this light, a lower center of gravity will be nice to have at higher speeds, leaving one feeling less like a leaf about to blown around at highway speeds.  

I am have limited mechanical experience and was hoping that someone might reply to this topic with some know-how on the subject, I appreciate any and all input.  Thank you.

1.5" of travel won't be nearly enough on the front.

If you only need a little,.. an 11" rear shock should do it... (Watch for tire clearance)...
Any more lowering will hurt handling... front is already suffering from lack of travel...
...Or,.. some taller boots...
... even setting the 12"s you have on a softer setting might give you an inch, for free...

Nope... lower forks will have less travel.. regardless of brand... It's just a matter of distance from tree to tire...

Real extreme... but good solution...  lace up to a 18" or 17" front wheel... then drop to a 11" rear shock...


This is way more pricey than taller boots... ...

Serowbot wrote on 06/30/12 at 09:00:01:


Actually, it's not too too bad.
It is a bit of a pain in the butt, but I found a used 18" rim on Fleabay for about $65 I think, and it's a fancy, vintage Akront high shoulder rim. A brand new rim can be had for around $100 I think...
Buchannan's knows what spokes to get; those were $125 or so I think?
I'm fortunate that I know someone locally who knows how to lace a new rim who is going to help me with that next week. It is tricky, and not something I would tackle myself, but it's possible. There are lots of tutorials online if you want to learn how to do it yourself.
It's a pretty common thing to do among the Cafe Racer crowd...

It'll lower your front by 1/2"
Remember to take into account your tire height as well: a 100/90/18 tire is going to be taller than a 100/80/18 or 100/70/18, etc. Do some searching around to see what sizes might be available for your bike...

A smaller front wheel will give you a quicker turning response. It's neither better or worse; it's just different, and really depends on the rider to decide if you like it. Although the bike might seem quicker and more "flickable" in twisty road conditions, it might also seem twitchy and less stable in other conditions...

Most sport bikes use a 17" front wheel as standard, and the old 1980's Nighthawk S and Interceptor models, among others, even used a 16" front wheel. A 16" rim on the Savage would lower the front end by almost and inch and a half... without messing with the forks at all...

The stock Savage/S40 has a 19", so dropping to 18" isn't a drastic change, and the effect would be softened if the rear suspension were lowered at the same time as well. (If you only lowered the front, not only would it be shorter, but the fork angle would be steeper, which also makes for quicker steering.

And yes, a narrower seat would help get your feet closer to the ground, but the RYCA seat is very narrow already....

Serowbot stated the best option for you.

The stock shocks are about 10 inches or so long. The ones Ryca puts on there are 13 inches.  

If you lower the shocks without changing the rear tire/wheel size you will likely hit the light on bumps. I think Ryca says you need 2.5 inches of free space for suspension travel and they are right in that area already.

To keep a cafe look you could go to a 17 on the back and either a 17 or 18 on the front and lose some height.  It sounds like you would have to find someone to do the work, so you are looking at about $300 bucks per wheel. And another $100 for shocks. I would start asking myself if I like the bike so much that I want to dump another $700 bucks or more into it.

There are lots of options out there and this change will end up changing the look of the bike, it may not be as cool looking when done, hopefully , but maybe not.

Then again, you can sell of the parts you remove and re-coup a lot of the cost. I know those wheels would sell pretty easy if you left them intact.