Do they really affect the trail of the bike that adversely when cornering? I saw pic of a CBR1000 with them ..I thought it looked great.

 

Feels
Like your tires are somewhat square...great for drag...fair lady straight away. No twisties

 

not true. mine is 4 over with a 250 tire and i dont even notice it. it just something that you will get used to. roaring toyz made one with 4 over 240 and turbo and road raced it.

 

You wouldn't think that a 6" extension would affect the trail that much but they certainly improve the appearance of the bike...I wish I could ride one that had them installed for some real world experience.

 

On a norm...you would not notice any difference buyExtended swingarms are primarily for drag racing. Pushing the rear tire backwards hinders the front end from coming up during hard acceleration.
The effect on handling is generally exaggerated. It will effect the bikes ability to lean into corners (shorter wheelbases turn more sharply) but for the vast majority of riders, the effect is well short of your ability to push the machine. Say the swingarm effects handling 10-15% and a "good" rider can push about 75-80% of the bikes potential (riding hard BTW) it wouldn't effect that rider's use at all.

If he likes the look, do it. Start with extensions though, cheaper if he ends up not liking it.

 

The geometry of the 1000RR wasn' designed for drag racing or extended swingarms. A Hayabusa would be a better choice for that.

However, if you like it it's your bike to do with as you please.

 

I tend to disagree with it not affecting the bike much. A lot will depend on your riding style to what degree you will feel it. If your riding a lot of sweeper corners, it probably won't matter much at all. The area your going to notice it is during the initial turn in, and if you ever run across switchback type turns where your flicking the bike back and forth. It will take more effort on your part, plus be slower at changing direction from one side to the other. Although, if you do ride sweepers for the most part, you may find the bike is more stable during that corner. If your riding mostly straight roads and seldom ride corners, it won't make much difference at all. Most bikes are set to have the best of both worlds with stability and flickability. To a certain extent, your taking away from flickabilty and adding to stability.

Take this for what its worth, I've experemented with different gearing and chain lengths throughout owning my 1000RR. I can feel the difference in handling when the rear axle is adjusted closer or futher away from the pivot point. It was only about an inch of difference, but it affected the way the bike handled. And, I'm not a very aggressive rider. If an inch makes a difference, I know 6 inches will be quite substantial. But our roads around here have a lot of corners and many of them are switchback type corners up and down hills. If you live in Florida, your not going to have the same setup as if you lived in North Carolina.

So in my opinion, it will affect the bike itself considerably. But it depends on your riding style and where you ride as to what degree it will affect you.

 

Short answer:
Yes it changes the whole feel and operation of the bike
BUT....
That doesn't mean it NEGATIVELY alters the ''feel'', that's for you to determine.

I have a gsxr grudge bike slammed and stretched that I ride on the street but I also have a track day cbr that too is street ridden. I enjoy them both, but two totally different monkeys. And yes you need to ride one first before you fork out money to realize you f***** up.

I live in nc and take the gsxr through all sorts of very twisted roads so it isn't impossible just not ideal.