I went and did it!

[jimmydsmith7]

I lowered the front of my RSV today with the help of the post on here. Was really not that hard, just took it slow and all went well.

I love how I now can flat foot the bike. I am 5'7" and was not able to flat foot the bike before this. I did not feel uncomfortable on the bike by no means, but it sure feels better now! The slow speed handling is better as stated in previous post. I am suprised at how much 1" changed the feel and handling of this bike.

If anyone has any questions about the process just let me know, I will try and help however possible.

 

 

SLim Jim

[Gambler]

Congrats Jim

Glad everything went well I will think fondly about you riding while I

look out the window to 1 foot of snow. At least its suppose to rain

tommorow

 

Gambler

[eagleeye]

I'm more interested in knowing if there was any difference in handling at highway speeds?

 

Steve

[nkbjones]

I want to do the same thing to my bike, but am a little hesitant to do it by myself. How long did it take you? Any problems to look out for?

[Guest tx2sturgis]

You know the Royal Stars already have a bunch of hardware hanging low....last thing that I'd want to do is put that valuable oil pump housing closer to the speedbumps and potholes.

 

Then again, I'm 6 ft and dont see any need for it.

[gibvel]

Just found out that the PO of my bike did this. Makes the air valves for the forks harder to get to and almost impossible to install the air balancing kit on as they are a lot closer to the handle bars. That's a negative that I found about it.

[KiteSquid]

I lowered the front of my RSV by 1" and noticed a little better handleng in parking lots.

 

HOWVER I have had the bike wobble at speed, so I will be raisng my front back to stock ASAP....

 

 

I will be practicing the lessons from the MSF Experienced RiderCourse and Ride Like A Pro V.

[jimmydsmith7]

I did not have a problem with the slow speed handling, I just wanted to flat foot the bike. It has made it easier for me to back the bike up. It has improved the slow speed handling noticeably for me. I only rode about 10-15 miles so I really don't know about hwy speed handling yet. I did have the bike up to about 65mph for several miles and did not experience any wobble, but that remains to be seen. I do like the feeling of being able to flat foot the bike at stops and, as stated, backing up the bike.

The whole process took me about 3 1/2 hours, but I did take it slow and easy, refering to the post on here for advice. Now having done it, I think I could do it in well under half that time.

Overall, I am pleased at this point, but hope I do not develop a high speed highway wobble as some have mentioned.

SLimJim

[yamahamer]

I Just Dropped The Tire Size On Mine And My Wobbles Are Less. I Think The Fronts Are To High From The Factory. I Love Mine Since The Tire Change Slow Speeds And Highway Speeds Overall Bike Just Feels Better!

[WIKD]

I also lowered mine a little while back and love it now. I hated the higher center of gravity on these bikes. It affects slow speed riding something terrible and has the look of a motorcross bike it's so high.

Now the slow speed handling is dramatically changed for the better. I tried the leveling links first and although that stabilized the bike it raised the COG which still made it difficult to do very slow speed u-turns. Now it's much easier to do all that and I have not had any problems at 100+ speeds. No wobble at all so the wobble described above is probably not from lowering the front.

The only draw back is that it is a little more difficult to get to the air valves on the forks. Still can get to them but it's a little more difficult than before. That little setback though pales in comparison to the benefits of lowering it and none of the hard parts come close to hitting any speed bumps.

I think this is how they should come from the factory.

 

On a side note I have heard of problems, mostly wobbles, if you lower the bike and put the smaller front tire on it also. But to be fair I've also heard complaints of the smaller front tire wobbles at speed when there is a slight wind without lowering the front also.

If anyone has any questions just let me know.