I'm thinking about lowering my bike a little - maybe 1"-1.5". I mainly use it to commute and a lot of straight driving. Does lowering it effect cornering at all?

What's the best way to lower the back?

 

This question comes up quite a bit here on the forum. I would do searches in the F4 & F4i sections to narrow the responses for F4/F4i specific handling characteristics & experiences.

To strictly ans your question though...yes, it does effect cornering. The degree of which, depends on how much lowering is done. For a lot of straight-line & commuting, it would be less critical than twisties.

Personally, I wouldn't lower a bike unless it was absolutely necessary. That being said, I know several female riders that have needed to lower their bikes. To that, they get the lowering links for the rear & adjust the front forks. As long as you maintain that relationship, you can maintain more uniform handling.