Like a new bike!

[az1103]

Lowered the front end this weekend... Went for a ride today:big-grin-emoticon:it was incredible! The wife is tiny as it is but now she is barely noticeable, good thing we talk or I would have to check that she is still there. And the bike itself has lost a good hundred pounds...Stops and slow turns are a pleasure.

I understand the geometry change, shorter wheelbase, sharper rake, lower cg ..... all that's fine but I realy did not expect such a noticeable difference. Why ithe world doesn't Yamaha assemble them this way in the first place:confused24:. I bet they would sell a lot more of them.

Those of you who have been considering - what are you waiting for????

Those who haven't...you should.

[flb_78]

Im want to raise my bike. I hit floorboards and mufflers in turns bad enough already and Ive got the baron's pipes which are half the size of the stockers. Im glad lowering the bike works for you, but for big ass, it'd be a deathwish.

[pegscraper]

Now try the narrow front tire. It makes as big of a difference again. I've done both, raise the rear and use the narrower front tire. I recommend doing both. (Raising the rear or lowering the front does the same thing.)

[RedRider]

For those of us ..um .... bigger guys, lowering is not a good option. The leveling links raise the back end and it is great. Certainly don't want anything lower. The 'bigness' of the RSV is what sold me on it in the first place.

 

Glad it worked for you. It can be a beast to handle at slow speed without some modification.

 

RR

[KiteSquid]

How far did you lower the front?

 

I lowered mine 1" and I think it is too much....

[Kregerdoodle]

How did you lower the front end???

[VTirelli]

I put the levelling links on mine this year and the difference is great. I personally don't like the idea if a smaller front tire, but to each his (her) own.

[az1103]

I lowered it 1", and yes, possibly a bit less would have worked as well. However it feels so good this way that I think I will leave it alone and just enjoy it.

At 5ft9 it still fits me just fine. If I were over 6ft perhaps I would opt for raising rear instead. The point here is not the height, it's the rake (the angle of the head tube, and contact point offset)

You generally don't hear much discussion of this in motorcycle talk - it is of much greater concern in bicycle design. A steeper rake makes for quicker response. Also if you look down the fork you will see an offset from where the extended fork would touch the ground to where the tire actually contacts. The greater this offset, the more the bike physically raises and lowers as you rotate the handlebar. If there is no such offset and resulting vertical movement there would be no dynamic balance and you would not be able to maintain a straight line without constantly controlling ( no hands off handlebar), the bike would feel squirelly!

On the other hand, as the offset becomes greater, the sheer weight of the bike acting like a lever with the offset makes the steering cumbersome, although easily balanced at speed. Great at speed, but when slow and standing it handles like a water buffalo!!!

Add to this the highly positioned weight of a passenger and it's as nimble as a walruss. Sorry about the zoological analogies, but they are properly descriptive.

For those who wish a GW comparison the head angles are GW:29.15 RSV: 29.10 pretyy close but the killer is the rake(trail) GW:4.3" RSV: 6.0" The additional 1.7" is the cause of the "walruss effect". What does a smaller tire do? It just slightly reduces the trail. Therefore more nimble.