We left with Height Mod 1 (Low Seat) with a little more than 4.5 inches. Next up let's see what we get from the rear shock height adjustment (Mod 2). After supporting the bike on a center block, and removing the linkage bolts, we were able to take adjust the rear. I am bit forlorn that the Mod 2 hasn't resulted in more than 1/2 inch lower. Sigh.
Mod 2 Rear Shock Height Adjustment--4.0 inches
Mod 3 will be raising the forks in the triple tree. Ordinarily, I've had terrible results with doing this as handling is often degraded. However, desperate times call for desperate measures. And we are closing such a large gap, we'd probably have to level the front out somehow anyhow. We had intended to raise the forks until they hit the handle bars, however, we were limited as the outside of the forks are tapered 1" down. The stock position of the forks is the silver cap is level with the top of the triple tree clamp.
So many angles and dangles! This was appears to better than a 1:1 ratio! We've done some fairly low cost and simple adjustments, and we've shaved nearly 3 inches off this seat height. For many riders, this would have been plenty of height savings and they would be riding. For me, not so much. The first rally on this bike is in a little over 6 weeks away. Next week, I will mail the front forks and rear shock to Fastbike Industries for final lowering via internal modifications. I am excited as we've done a few projects with David, and all have out performed OEM 'Spench.
Mod 3 Front Forks in Triple Tree--2.75 inches
Mod 4 (which we inadvertently forgot until we started pulling the parts to mail out) is to take all the preload out of the rear shock (Mod 4)
Mod 4 Rear Shock Preload removed--2.0 inches
I should have done a better job here, but here's the measurement from ground to the bottom of the skidplate.
