Lowering the rear, what brand to look for?

[Skin Krawler]

I tore down my G today finally. Removed the fairing, sissy bar, front tire and forks. Sh!t canned the bad battery and old holy saddle bags. Now, as I wait patiently for new parts (come on, come on!) I'd like to lower it. I know the whole don't go less than 11" eye to eye jazz. My question is what type of bike have you that have done this taken shocks from? There's a motorcycle grave yard in Fresno I hear, and I plan to go exploring. Maybe a new seat too if i'm lucky to find one.

[thewiz]

Well ...

Welcome ... do a search on 'lowering' ... there are numerous threads telling what shocks to use and even where to get 'em, IIRC.

here's one

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...light=lowering

[Skin Krawler]

Gee thanks buddy. Now next time you wanna be cute why don't you give me a link to what i'm asking. I never said i needed help with the front end. Apparently you one ain't one for conversation and just give links to everyone. You must be a blast in person to hang out with!

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Skin,

You're new here, so you aren't familiar with the HUNDREDS of threads in this forum. There have been several discussions on this and many other topics, and the information is readily and easily available with a little searching. Some folks may not have much time to provide a lot of detail in a reply, or like me, their "oldtimer's" kicks in and we can't necessarily remember a lot of the fine details, so we will offer up a LINK to where the information can be found. That thread possibly talks about lowering the FRONT END, but IIRC, it also has info about lowering the REAR as well, the shorter shocks, etc.!!

So...please try to be a little more considerate in your postings, or you may NOT receive much other asssitance? We do this for fun, but being brow beaten and such doesn't give us much of a reason to keep trying to help!
T.C.

[John]

Dear Mr Richard Crainium

Gee thanks buddy. Now next time you wanna be cute why don't you give me a link to what i'm asking. I never said i needed help with the front end. Apparently you one ain't one for conversation and just give links to everyone. You must be a blast in person to hang out with!

Or may I call you Dick? Here is a link to the lowering I did of an XS11. As TC said there are many threads pertaining to this subject, and it is easier to provide a link to them instead of typing everything out. You keep treating members like that and you will get no help from anybody at all. Use the search function and that way you may not look like such an unintelligent Dick, but an informed one.http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...light=lowering.
Have a nice day.

[Skin Krawler]

Yeah I did go over the edge, I won't make excuses, I do apologize for being a dick. And a hypocrite. I hate that crap when I see other people do it. Note to self: no forums after old lady pisses you off! Check. My apologies to all, including you Wizz.

True is that I did search around times before, "I just got these shocks off Ebay, or you're shocks must be this long." I wasn't finding anywhere where someone said what they were from.

I'll check out the leads you have been so kind to still give me Top, John, after my rant. Thanks guys.

From dick

[Eveready1100]

What Shocks?

Xv 1100 Virago shocks bolt straight on and drop the rear about an inch.
Regards,
Errol

[xs11lover]

Dear Mr Richard Crainium....hee heee hee

[thewiz]

Apology accepted .... I was trying to help. Have a great day !!

[BEAR]

In the same boat here, want to lower it by 2 to 3 inches in the rear but I really didnt find alot of usefull info. I dont really want to go rigid either. Guess I have to look around some more.

[fredintoon]

Got duck's disease?

Hi list,
Lowered bikes drag stuff when they corner and generally handle less well so I wonder why folks do it?
Only two reasons I can see are:-
1) Style.
If it's that you prefer style over utility send me a PM and I'll PM you back a page of mockery and derision.
2) You are inseam-challenged.
If your feet can't reach the floor there's better ways of lowering the seat height than fitting shorter rear shocks.
If you ride a Standard, the Special frame is lower and a complete frame swap is feasible.
Shorter than that? Reupholster the seat with thinner padding, reshape the seat pan to be narrower.
Lower yet? OK, now you must get medieval on the frame to lower the seat rails and that's major surgery.
Last resort? This is not for everybody, fit a sidecar. Then your feet don't need to touch the floor.

[crazy steve]

Progressive still lists stock length rear shocks for this bike (but no shorter versions) but does sell shocks as short as 11" for other bikes, so if you can stand new, it might be worth giving 'em a call to see if they can cross to something. If no luck there, the rear shocks they sell for H-D Sportsters will fit if you get some spacers to shim the shock eyes. What you need for that is McMaster Carr item 89955K27 (steel tube, .625" od, .555" id). The 'shorty' 11" Sportster shocks show up regularly on Ebay (got a all-but-new set for $80) and can be had with HD springs, which would probably be the best choice for the heavier XS. Anyway, just food for thought...

'78 E original owner

[Ken Talbot]

Dennis Kirk sells Progressive Series 12 (pn 58-981) with 11.5 inches e-e that you can spring with black or chrome springs. Swap out the 17" rear wheel for a 16" rear off of a Special. Raise the fork tubes just a hair, do a bit of seat foam re-contouring, and you're good to go. You'll be low enough you'll have to trim off the sidestand to get it to sit over far enough to the left to be stable, and you'll have to remove the centrestand or you'll grint it off.

We did all this to SWMBO's 'H and the difference is very noticeable. She can flat-foot hers, where she is on tippy-toes on my stock 'H.

[lostsoul74]

hey crawler, if your still around, better late then never. I know what your looking for, your like me, instead of paying 75+ plus bucks for aftermarket lowering springs, you'd rather find a model with shorter stock shorts that you can just grab at a junk yard or ebay for cheap.
I've found most stock shocks are 12-14 inch stock, i prefer 10-11's. You may find them local, but on ebay, in the past guys have usually bought the Harley lowering springs which are usually 11 inches. You just have to change the gromit where the bolts go through for our size. But recently i've seen these also listed for Asian bikes with the proper gromit mount, but I think if I remember right they wanted over a hundred bucks for them, i'd rather just get the regulars for 75 and replace the gromit for a buck ya know. Plus you can usually find them used for under 40 anyways.
Just type in lowering shocks in the motorcycle parts catagory of Ebay. Theres generally 2 styles, 2 hole top and lower mount, or hole and clevice style (meaning insteadof a hole on the bottom, they have two forks that go around the frame mount). I think all yamahas are double hole mount.

If your looking for extreme, like I do on mine, you can always chop your springs too, I generally use 10 inch chopped springs, drops me nice and low, and very stiff springs that dont bottom out, just make sure you seat is comfy, I go chopped over links/struts for 2 reasons, a better mechanical look over just a piece of metal with two holes, and like I said, their stiff, but I still get about 1/2 inch of give so a "little" more forgiving.

Just make sure your springs are straight springs, on my 78 standard, it had tapered springs, so I couldnt cut those, I grabbed a set of good excellent chrome ones off xs750 for 5 bucks off ebay, straight springs so i just chopped 5 links off the bottom. I dont think yamaha does, but you got to be careful with certain suzuki springs, some of them use a retainer clip to hold the top together instead of a solid perch, just make sure you dont see a ring with a gap in it (though i still do anyways, i just weld the ring to the perch)

you can take a look at my profile and see how low mine was dropped, thats 10 inches, almost the same reverse angle of the shaft, I probably wouldnt go much lower then that due to angle of shaft.

But yes, i fully know what you mean by getting link replies, I flip and chop old bikes, so i'm a member of more sites then I can count, usually when I need an answer to something, i'll take 10 minutes and do a search and read over old posts, but if i'm not seeing my question is being answered directly without spending 2 hours reading hundreds of pages from years past, I'll ask a question, and yep, I get the same thing, links that dont answer my question at all. lol. As for your question, the shocks your commenly being seen mentioned, are usually Harley lowering shocks, their not harley model specific, just what ever inch size they state, some 11, some 11 3/4, etc. Theyre aftermarkets. But like I said, last time i searched they also had some for asian and clevise style. Sorry I dont off hand know other make and model sizes to have any recommendations for you. Just type in shocks in the motorcycle catagory of ebay and half the time they say the size from mount to mount.

Hope this helps. or others that read this with the same question.

[lostsoul74]

oh here, heres an example, heres a gs1100 i picked up for 300 bucks last weekend, sat about 5 inches higher, kind of awkward and goofy looking, that dated look back then, i chopped 4 links off the 14 inch springs it had, giving me 10 3/4 finish, i dont even notice the stiffness cause of the big ole seat, but probably will after i shave the seat down for a low pro look. It originally sat about as high as my XS did, and now it has a leaner more updated look. A bike is a bike... make it yours.