Lower the bike?

[Xarik]

Hey,

If anyone was following my last post, they will know that I'm excited to get my bike and work on it! For now, I want to make as many plans as possible before I have it in my possession again.

I'm wondering if there is any way that I can take the front forks and lower them so that the frame is a bit more flat. I want to make a cafe/brat style bike, but have a special tank, so obviously it'll look a little off, but I've seen them look completely normal because the entire bike looks very flat from the bottom of the tank to the back of the seat and I want that.

Along with this, I'm going to tack on the added question of clubman bars and how I can get those to work. I want to have the handlebars VERY low, almost even with the top of the tank. Are clubmans a good option or is there anything that will work with lowering the front forks? In addition, I plan to add on TKAT fork braces, so let me know if this changes things at all!

(I plan on somehow lowering the headlight too so it isn't so high, might do this by flipping the brackets upside down to drop it another inch or so)


Here's the bike as it sits now. I hate the flat bars that are on there because it looks like a bicycle lol.

[mrhammer2u]

Here's a post for ya on lowering
http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98

[crazy steve]

There's another way to lower the forks that doesn't require you sliding them up in the triple trees. It does require you to disassemble the forks, but you were going to rebuild them anyway, right?....

Look here: http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37399

Note the rebound spring on the damper. If you lengthen this spring, that will effectively shorten the fork by however much you lengthen the spring. This may make the main spring too long (depending on how much you add) but in most cases you'll simply have more spring preload. This isn't necessarily a bad thing; this also reduces fork travel by the same amount, so having effectively stiffer springs will help prevent bottoming out. I would say that 2" longer would be the very maximum you'd want to add. You can simply stack another OEM spring, or substitute another spring of a different length. DON'T use a spacer, that can partially block the damper holes.

[TopCatGr58]

I hate to say it, but you barely have enough ground clearance with those 4-1 pipes as it is...and if you lower it much, you'll be scraping them badly. Now, if you are going to be putting on some other pipes...4-2's or such that won't be as thick/tall under the frame/engine, then you might get some room to be able to lower it a few inches and still have decent ground clearance!

Good Luck!

T.C.

[Fearthepack]

Xarik, Don't overlook raising the rear of the special tank an inch at a time....Might give you the line your looking for without the hassle of messing with the ride height.....As for the light you could cut the lower section off below the headlight ears and stack on top of the top section effectively lowering the light by the amount you cut off.....Clubmans just need to clear the tank on full turns have no experience on them for the XS, the bike is heavy so you maybe man handling it the hole time an not enjoying the ride (opinion).
p.s. I like the bars you have!!!

[RyanMR2]

I just saw this thread that has more pictures of your bike after I PM'd you.

You'll need to go clip-ons with the desired ride that I know you're wanting. You can get riser clip ons if you are not wanting to lean but want the leveled bike look.

TC is right, with your exhaust you're going to have to go higher in the rear if you drop the front much. I dropped the front around 4 inches and raised the rear about an inch to get the desired levelness. I see that you have relatively new rear shocks so replacing them might not be in the plans like I suggested but if you only drop the front 4 or more inches you may risk scrapping the exhaust and the bike will look a little less sporty if it's all too low.

You might try Fearthepack's method and raise the rear of the tank up a little bit. The seat you have right now has enough thickness it won't be noticeable. I think I might try that as well because my line is just slightly off.

Definitely lower the headlight and I have a feeling you'll probably want to get rid of some of that chrome too. You can find headlight brackets pretty cheap online, I wouldn't mess with the stock one. They give you no maneuverability.
I sightly bent my gauge bracket to a more obtuse angle then mounted them underneath the triple tree mount with spacers and longer bolts to match up with the lowered headlight.

[Bikes]

I'd have to agree with not changing the suspension rather go for the optical presence....clubmans, dropping the headlight, raising the rear of the tank...
Be interesting to see what you wind up with....

[jetmechmarty]

https://youtu.be/LVshrUyxfbo