Please dude I have seen some crazy sh*t done to bikes and the riders are just fine, I am not so sure what makes you an authority on advice giving but lowering your bike isn't gona kill you. especialy if you are not out showing you ***. You can lower your bike raise it, go back and forth lengthin it, put choper handles on it, put oversided tires onit,you can even wear a funny freakin hat and makup if it makes you feel good on your bike, what ever as long as you don't push the bike past the limits of what you have done to it. Dam some of you need to come off your high horse and get real. Not everyone is out trying to get the best lap time they just wana be comfortable on their bikes and have fun.You need to take precautions in this sport, but if you are carful you can ride for may years without problems, even on a lowered bike, I've seen it done.
Speaking of advice you don't have to try and scare the crap out of somone just because they are doing somthing you wouldn't, let the dude do what he wants as long as safty is first.
...and further more I happen to know a great deal about street riding, track may be not , but street riding I happen to be pretty good at. Yes I know what is next, there is always room to learn, of course but because you have your bike set the way you want dosn't mean thats the only way to have it...Oh my god because somone has been on the track dosn't mean they are the god of bikes. I understand you are experienced but you have now Idea as to how well I ride nor do youhave any Ideaas to my capabilities.Before you reply to this in you post tell me what is so wrong about my advice, tell me for instance, what the death toll or crash records for lowered bikes are compared to untouched stock bikes or somthing anything other than stop giving my opinion and telling me what I do or don't know.The onlyreal advice or opinion I have seen on this thread is he shud have bought a bike thatfit his hight especialy if he is a new rider.Hell if some of you guys had it your way he'd be outon a tricycle in the drivway running around cones and practicing hand signals or some crap.... Well I need to quit drinking coffe but I had to get some of this out.

+1

 

I don't sugar coat things, especially when it comes to safety! I'm an emergency room nurse in a level one trauma center and I've seen some crazy sheist too...some directly as a result of lowering motorcycles...it scares the crap out of me, so why not passthis experiencealong?
I guess I know a little bit about riding too since I started riding dirt when I was 8 years old, got my first street bike in 1984 (but I started street riding earlier) and rode pretty consistently ever since...I put 65,000 miles on my first motorcycle. However, I am new to sport bike riding...I've only been sport biking since 2003 when the 600RR came out...it's a completely different style than cruiser riding...I have no idea why you think I only have track experience unless you're trying to use that as a way to exclude me from giving out "real world" motorcycle advice?

So you ask me what's wrong with your advice, but then you limit me to only respond with giving statistics about lowered versus non-lowered motorcycles...I couldn't even begin to think of where to find those statistics, but I'm sure they're out there...am I going to look for them...no...

The problem about throwing on a dog bone, getting confident then raising it back up is the bad habits that will develop as a result of riding on a lowered bike, then trying to adjust again after you raise it up again...stop light confidence might mean a lot to some people, but I would rather learn on a stable motorcycle with a suspension set up properly for my weight and riding style than have both feet flat at a stop...but I guess some have differentconcepts of safety...aye?

You're right, I have no idea how you ride, but I do know what you write and like I've mentioned before, most of the stuff you write is waaaaaay off and flat out wrong and if you follow the techniques you write, then your style is probably equally wrong...have I made an inaccurate assumption?

 

STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN'T LOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRR
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[sm=WTFsgign.gif]

 

As far a bad habits you will learn, the balance, turning and stoping of a bike are all the same no matter what the height the bike is, you mention books in other post, here is one for you. Look up thedynamics of Motorcycles on the web you will find a book by Vittore Cossalter and a link to wincyclopedia These will both show you that no matter how tall, long short or small the bike is as long as it has only two wheels and steers at the front it will operate the same no mater how many moving parts, gravity g-force and centrifugal force are always present and have the same effect on the bike, the improvements that have been made in these past years are simply ways to better manipulate these factors.
If what you are sayingwere true then every one that learned how to ride on an older bike that had terrible handleing and steering capabilities has poor skills andevery time you get on a lessor or different bike you are ruining you skills and learning bad habbits. If he learns on a lowered bike and then raises it then he must in escence, re-learn how to ride the bike? Wellthis happens every time you get on a bike that is unfamiliar, you would probably call this getting a feel for the bike, however it is the same thing as re-learning you just have the basic skills mastered so that this "getting used to it" period is very short maybe a few rides or just a few miles.
My ability to feel the effects of my bike transform these feelings into technical Jargan and then transform that into writing is not a reliable way to determine my skills, That would be like saying since I can't spell very well I must not be able to drive a car. and if that is true, people who don't know politics shouldn't fly planes. You see I know what I am feeling on the bike, I know what I want the bike to do, I just don't know how to word the questions in technical terms so that you will understand it, and I am sure if you were in the pit at a GP race, evenyou may even seem less skilled when disscusing technical info.

As you stated above you learned on a street bike, I learned on a Honda Trail 90, 20 years ago. This bike was crapy and had no ability to turn well or do much of anything does this mean that all of the skills I learned are crap as well NO. I was just unable to push that bike to the limits that the RR can go to. YES I re-learned some things on the RR but the basics were all the same and any bad habits were transformed as I got better and rode longer, and they are still improving today.

After all of this BS in my humble opinion I say make your bike fit your needs and wants and as they change you can change your bike with them to keep yourself out of harms way.

 

Dude, I know its frustrating, but your wasting your time ! The lack of any real understanding of how a suspention works makes some guys so scared to mess w/it that they're just going to blather on and on about how it shouldn't be done. (mostly because if they don't get it, the rest of us must not get it either) The Honda gods made their bike that height, so it must not be changed, and they will come up w/all sorts of reasons why. Some of the points are valid, but not to the degree that they are spouting off about. Like the story about the girl who low-sided "because her bike was lowered". Guess its not possible that she was over riding the bike for the conditions, or that even a stock height bike may have had a similar problem, or maybe even that she was just a poor rider !!?? NOOOOOO.... it was caused by lowering a bike that she probable wouldn't even have ridden at stock height. If they had a clue, they would say "Its not the best idea, but can be done" Not all this the sky is gonna fall on you bs.

 

A quote from Sport Riders about the do's- don'ts of lowering a bike.

"Although lowering sportbikes is more commonly associated with dragracing, the new breed of sporting machinery has sufficient ground clearance to handle some slight lowering for those individuals who feel more comfortable having both feet on the ground at a stop. As long as you remember the limitations of this modification, and get the proper professional technical assistance to set up your bike after being modified, you'll be able to experience nearly all of the exciting performance of today's sportbikes you thought you'd miss out on"

The whole story...https://cbrforum.com/m_172601/tm.htm

 

I see where you’re going with that and I’m sure the book describes it better, but the way that is written right now is unbelievable and inaccurate…altering the suspension changes the dynamics of the motorcycle; for example, dropping the front will make it turn too fast, or dropping the rear will make it turn too slow. Also, in every instance your going to change ground clearance which is a huge issue on a sport bike! Additionally, throwing on a dog bone “screws up the lever ratio of the rear pro-link suspension. The angles on the 'C' piece of the linkage change pretty significantly which affects the pull on the bike and affects how the rear shock responds.” I can’t imagine how every motorcycle will be the same as long as it has two wheels and steers at the front, but that making sense to you again reveals how little you know…

Another thing is it may seem as though I’m being mean and picking on you, but my criticism goes beyond grammar and spelling…I’m judging by the information and content you write; for example:

Maybe you were just describing what you suspension issue was making you do, but that’s not why you lean off the bike…even abadfish commented on this, but you were very focused on your suspension being the issue and not your riding style, but you can’t tell someone something when they won’t listen.

Then there was this:

[quote]ORIGINAL: NotSoMellowYellow

As far a settings go I tried sport rider mag settings and they work fine on the road until I try to get giggy with it. Let me ask some more anoying questions here. Same question new perspective.
Why would the front tire trail outwards, or fade out from under the bike when in a steep turn too much counter steering? suspension to soft causing the bike to close the forks? Dampining not letting the forks rise back up and forks sink and stay compressed, or oposit staying out too far and to much rake causing the choper syndrome. I know it is probably a combo but

 

I can see you were sleeping in class too aye? LOL

It was a direct result of her bike being lowered! Here...let me describe what happened again (in a nut shell). Her bike was lowered three inches, she was on a leisurely (slow) ride with her boyfriend, she went over a very large bump in the road (these are common in Michigan), the bump hit the bottom of the bike, cracking the oil pan, oil spilled on her rear tire, she lost traction, went down hard and that's when I got the pleasure of meeting her in my emergency room!

Get it now...any questions?

 

I will put money on that you see more people in your ER that have way too much bike for them and can't handle it and crashover people that have lowered there bike! Mine was lowered for confidence not comfort and it was a must and I couldnt be more happier...

+1 Any way, I’m sure people are going to start complaining about me again, so I’ll let it go and maybe someone else can take over…
[/quote] Fretless

 

blah blah blah e-whine, e-argue e-pro....blah blah blah