Barons Rear Lowering kit Travel Change

[grubsie]

Does anyone know if the rear wheel travel is changed from the stock 4.1" with this kit?

[Du-Rron]

Does anyone know if the rear wheel travel is changed from the stock 4.1" with this kit?

The dogbones are longer which lets you sit lower. I do not believe travel is changed. With the dogbones completely off, the swingarm will go up higher till it hits something. Shock travel is not changed.

[grubsie]

Gotta stop asking questions before checking things out. I was thinking about the wheel travel while on my way to an appointment so I stopped and asked the question here. Just got home a few minutes ago and looked closely at the linkage on the bike with the Barons kit on it. It appears to me that the longer dogbones have no affect on the travel and their only job is pulling on the linkage to the shock. The shock is still going to travel it's full distance.

 

I installed the lowering kit I kept from my last RSV on my current RSV last week. I was hesitant in doing so because the the Vance & Hines Monster Ovals that I also kept from my last RSV are on my current RSV. I ran my bike this way all last year and never dragged the V&H exhaust. It happened quite a bit on my last RSV with the lowering kit.

 

Thinking maybe now I will pull the lowering kit back off and see about having Rick Butler Modify my seat instead.

[grubsie]

The dogbones are longer which lets you sit lower. I do not believe travel is changed. With the dogbones completely off, the swingarm will go up higher till it hits something. Shock travel is not changed.

 

Thanks Du-Rron.

 

You just confirmed what I thought after physically looking closely at the setup on my bike with the lowering kit.

[djh3]

Hmm makes me do thinkin. Which can hurt me. But it only stands to reason if you lower the bike on the suspension by X, the travel will be reduced. I think it is changed because you have to have the remount bracket for the rear caliper.

[grubsie]

Hmm makes me do thinkin. Which can hurt me.

 

Yeah, me too. I had a migrain by the time I got back home to look at it.

 

But it only stands to reason if you lower the bike on the suspension by X, the travel will be reduced.

 

That was my thinking until I looked closely to how it works. The actual suspension (shock) never changes it's position and maintains it's full length of travel. What changes is the height of the swingarm from the ground or closeness to the top of the fender depending on the way you look at it. The longer the dogbones, the more the swingarm raises and vice versa. None of this affects the shock. The only job of the dogbones is to pull on the pivot (for lack of a better term)that the shock is attached to, compress the shock as the swingarm goes up. The shock doesn't care what the length the dogbones are.

 

I think it is changed because you have to have the remount bracket for the rear caliper.

 

The reason for remount caliper bracket, in my opinion anyway, goes as follows. Because the swingarm is now 1" closer to the top of the fender with the new longer dogbones, the caliper in it's original position is now approx 1" closer to the fender, the caliper is going to hit the fender with 4.1" travel. My thinking is with the original shorter dogbones, the caliper was at least 4" away from the fender and with the longer dogbones, it would be closer to 3" left in it's original position.

 

If a shock could be found that only allowed 3" of travel or find a way to limit the travel of the stock shock, it would solve the problem of the caliper location. A 3" travel would also solve my problem with the mufflers dragging.

 

Lets say the ground clearance for my mufflers is 10" in stock form with no dragging. Caliper on original position. Bottomed out on a big bump with 4" of travel, I have 6" clearance.... no muffler drag

 

I lower it 1" with the kit, so now I have 9" of clearance. Relocate caliper. Bottomed out on a big bump with 4" of travel, I have 5" clearance...muffler drag.

 

I lower it 1" with the kit, so now I have 9" of clearance. Find and install a shock with 3" travel that would work on this bike. (not likely) Bottomed out on a big bump with 3" of travel, I have 6" clearance...no muffler drag (Caliper could stay in it's originally position if you wanted)

 

 

Or, I could just pull the lowering kit back off, Have the seat modified to lowered it to the desired seat height and....no muffler drag. I think this is the better option.

[grubsie]

Well I solved my problem with the Monster Ovals Slip-ons dragging with the rear lowering kit on. Cost me about 3 hours of my time to do it. I shortened the inlet pipe 2". The inlets originally extended about 1 1/4" beyond the chrome covers on the mufflers. Took the chrome covers off, cut 2 inches off the inlet pipes and 7/8" off the chrome covers on the inlet side. Brought the pipes to a friend of mine that has a custom muffler shop and he expanded the inlets to the correct size again as the pipes were only 1 3/4" ID on the pieces I cut off and only 1 3/4" OD the remainder of the way. Put the chrome covers back on and made 2 new brackets for the back and now they are ready to go.

 

The mufflers originally extended approx 3" beyond the saddlebags, now only about an inch with the lower slash cut flush with the back of the saddlebags. Just for the heck of it, I decided to measure the length of the stock mufflers because they never dragged with the lowering kit on. They were 28 1/4" from inlet tip to outlet tip. The Monster Ovals are now 28" tip to tip. So that must explain why the stock mufflers never dragged.

 

Took it out for a test drive on some hilly areas near me and no more dragging and I intentionally tried to drag them. I froze my tail off while test driving it as it's only 30 Degrees here today but it was worth it.

[Mike G in SC]

When I had the Baron's kit put on my RSV (also on my RSTD) years ago, it was to low in the rear for my add on mufflers.

I went to a fab shop and had a set made that were half way between the old stock and the Barons.

So, this more or less dropped the rear only 3/4" instead of the Baron's 1 1/2".

The new ones are simply rectangular with holes,, not dogbone shaped.

 

I drew up a template for the fab shop. See picture.

You might be able to make some cheap out of bar stock from Lowes. (Fab shop charged me about $40 for both.)