Lowering Front End, Shortening Travel

[grubsie]

Maybe someone can clear my thinking on this kit. I already have Sonic fork spring springs, but thinking about lowering the front 1" by shortening the travel to make the bike easier to handle in all situations like I had when I did this to my last RSV.. I would have my machinist friend cut the spacers down to 1” that I have a link to or just have him make them like the last ones he did.

 

These are the spacers I am talking about. https://www.baronscustom.com/catalog...559/index.html

 

I understand how these work and the principle behind them and know that I will have to cut the top spacers 1" and all that, but I am probably over thinking things.

 

I know that these spacers in the lowering kit go on the underside of the dampener piston along with the top out spring. There are 2 holes drilled in the lower end of the dampener tube near where the bolt that secure them to the lower fork, but if I remember correctly, there are 2 smaller holes the upper part of the dampener tube a little over 1" from the underside of the dampener piston.

 

2 concerns here:

 

 

 

1) As the forks compress, the top out spring and spacer have no pressure and can slide freely slide up and down the dampener tube as their sole purpose is to limit the fork length when fully extended. Can the spacer block/interfere with the 2 smaller holes in the tube depending on how compressed the forks are and can limit the dampening? If i remember correctly the larger holes on the bottom are for compression and the 2 smaller holes at the top for rebound. The spacer can't interfere the lower holes because top out spacer prevents that. I think a solution would be to have spacers made up so they fit tight on the tube and install a set screw in the spacer to lock it in place so it acts like it is part of the piston therefore never interfere with the upper holes.

 

2) With the 1" spacers in, the 2 top holes are now 1" higher in the lower fork. Or I guess 1" closer to the bottom of the upper fork tube. Would this change the timing of the job the upper holes in the dampener are doing? If that's the case, I am thinking I would rather have my machinist remove a 1" section from the dampener tubes, weld them back together, clean up the welds and slip a fitted tubes over the welds and weld those to the dampener tubes as backup strength. This would eliminate the need for any spacers. Ideally, the best, easiest route would be to be able to buy 1" shorter dampener tubes but I doubt they exist.

 

 

I added the 1” lowering spacers to my last RSV that I had my machinist friend make and everything seemed fine. The bike handled way better for me, especially in slow maneuvers. It felt much less top heavy so much that I hardly noticed the top weight any more, plus the bike was much easier to manhandle around the garage and walking it in parking spaces.

 

 

I am not interested in raising the tubes in the triple trees. Been there, done that. Didn’t like that option at all.

[djh3]

I just loosened the pinch bolts on the triple tree and "sunk" or slid the forks up 3/4" inch. No tearing and disassembly of forks required. Lowered the front end and really dont change the travel. I do remember something about a clearance issue when doing this, but it was like a bracket or something minor to correct. You need to split fairing and loosen the bolts for the rear part of fairing to frame mount. I think I could probably do one now in say 4 hours.