does anybody have a pic of their LOWERED xs11??

[tribaltalon]

i'm really wanting to see a pic of an xs11 lowered with the 11" harley shocks to make sure its even worth doing before i do it. and also, i kept wondering, about how you cant lower the bike too much before the driveshaft angle goes bad, what about putting a cardan cv joint in it instead of a regular ujoint? i still havent seen what a xs11 driveshaft looks like so this might just be a retarded question. the reason i ask is if it would be possible to do that, i'd want to drop it low and make it a rigid, that would also help keep the driveshaft in one place with the cardan and keep it from bouncing around and kinking. thoughts on this? i'm hoping to get more luck in this forum, Topcat is the only one who ever replies in the other one!!!! come on guys, there has to be somebody that's done this stuff before!

[John]

I have lowered my 81 SH

I lowered it by 1 1/2 in the rear, and by 3/4 inch in the front so SWMBO could ride it. I used 11 inch shocks in the rear. I had to find some handlebar risers in order to raise the fork tubes up in the triple clamps. They will only raise 1/4 inch without the risers. I had to shorten the sidestand and the centerstand. Remember, like a car's drive shaft, you should maintain an angle on the U joint or it will wear abnormally fast, if it doesn't flex any. There is no way to grease the U joint with out removing it from the yoke and packing it by hand. I don't have any pics of it lowered though.

[tribaltalon]

hmm. do you know what a cardigan(sp?) joint is? see, i'm coming from the offroad world, where we use alot of cardigan, or even double cardigans to offset the huge pinion angles from lifting a truck really high. thats why i was thinking perhaps a cardigan joint could be used in place of the u joint, that way it could still operate perfectly fine even though its at more of an angle...

[Ken Talbot]

We tried a set of 11" Harley shocks on SWMBO's 'H a few years ago and found the bike rode like a buckboard - way too stiff. We pulled those off and installed a set of 11" Progressives with some soft springs. With a 16" wheel from a Special, and a bit of a raise of the front forks, it made all the difference for SWMBO. She can now flatfoot her bike. It's pretty hard to make out anything because of all the luggage, but there's a picture here if you're interested. The difference is quite obvious when you see her ride parked be side Tsunami which is also an 'H with the full touring package. If you look close at the picture, you can see how much I had to remove from the sidestand between the spring attachment point and the foot. Look at the corresponding length of the stock sidestand in this picture of an '80 LG.

[xs650mike]

Was checking out those driving lamps on the pic of SWMBO's bike. What's the wattage on those. How much extra lighting will the 11's alternator handle? Thanks.

[Ken Talbot]

Those are Denji DJ99 lamps, each with a 55 watt halogen bulb. They cast a pretty nice light, but I'm pretty sure they're way more than the charging system can handle over a long distance. I think the last SWMBO and I rode after dark may have been at BI2K the night we all went out for dinner, so it's not like they get much use.

[xs650mike]

I used to run 1 fog and 1 driving lamp on my XJ750RH but I never ran them at the same time, had the fog linked with the low beam and the flamethrower with the high, think they were 55w. Never had a problem about the battery staying charged. I do want more lighting on my SF since I live in deer country.

[tribaltalon]

i could care less about headlights! keep it on topic.


how much does your wife weigh? the reason i ask is, if she's like 100 pounds, she's going to get a very different experience then i would, at 180 lbs. *shrug* and i'm mainly wanting to see the tire/fender clearance, thats what i wanted to see. i guess i'll keep looking. doesnt look like many people have done this at all.

[Ken Talbot]

Sorry about that, I was actually thinking I should split the thread...

Back on topic - SWMBO weighs 'something more than 100 pounds', and with her luggage packed for touring like we do each summer, the total weight would be in the ballpark. A couple of years back, one of our XSives from Calgary was over our way for some work on his ride. He's certainly up in the 220+ category and he took out SWMBO's lowered 'H and really iked the way it felt.

In fact, I'm pretty close to your weight, so could hop on tonight and give you some details on clearances, etc. Anything specific you want to see?

[tribaltalon]

well, i mainly just wanted to see how the profile was in regards to the tire/fender. like if it still looks like a 4x4 with the 11" shocks. but its going to be hard to see because that bike is a dresser. ah well.

[Ken Talbot]

You're right about it being tough to see because of all the baggage.
Looking up on Tsunami looks like this:


A similar angle on Purple Reign looks like this:


On Tsunami, I can shove my arm way up there, turn my hand sideways, and spread my fingers to approx 6" between the fender and the tire. On Purple Reign, I can't get my forearm in there at all.

Looking between all the cr@p on Tsunami, it is clear there is daylight between the top of the tire and the lower rim of the fender. That must be what you mean by the 4x4 look. On Purple Reign, the lower rim of the fender corresponds more with the place on the tire where the sidewall transitions into the tread - certainly no daylight to be seen.