ive had mine lowered and not stretched and you wouldnt believe how much more comfortable it was for cornering. somethin bout that lower center of gravity. im 5'11 so im not too short or too tall and the 54 seems somewhat itty bitty to me, but lowered and cornering felt extremely more comfortable than stock height. with it being lowered and drag racing the only issue i saw was traction, which again wasnt that bad at all. tinker around wit ride height if u plan on lowering it (cost u around 40 bucks to purchase the lowering links to do full lowering) and see how it feels, u might like the lower stance overall more than the factory ride height which may come in hand for those roll ons u like doin and those twisties u like..... if u need a write up on lowering the bike let me know and ill help you.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Honda...Q5fAccessories

actually cheaper than when i bought them. easy to install and a helper is not necessary at all, all u need is a few wrenches, set of allen keys, rubber mallet, tape measure, jack(hydraulic or manual), 2x4, and no more than a hour of ur time. the front end will take me about 10 minutes, 5 mins dedicated to measuring. the rear would take me about 30 minutes.

 

Go to your nearest Kawi dealer and tradeDont get me wrong, the 954 is a nice bike, but no 10R

 

I'd put my 954 against your 10r anytime .

Alot of people will tell you NOT to lower and stretch your bike, because it throws off the geometry of your bike and it won't handle as well in the corners. My buddy has a GSXR 600 thats lowered and stretched, and I can tell a BIG difference in that bike in the curves, from its stock form. Before he could stay with me, now he lags WAY behind. I wouldn't mind lowering my 954, but I'm pretty tall so it fits nice. Just google or search around here for lowering and stretching your bike and make a informed decicion. Alot of guys with the 954s that have a 3-4 inch stretch say they couldn't tell a big difference. But to each his own.

 

You have a 7-8 year-old bike. And a nice one at that. But it is what it is. In its day, it would take on just about any comparably sized bike and usually won shootouts:

http://www.visordown.com/road-tests/...f-r1/4496.html

In that shootout, it handily beat the ZX-9R, GSX-R1000, and YZF-R1. But it's not going to beat a current liter bike unless you crack it open and swap out pistons, cams, etc and/or add a turbo charger.

My advice? Be happy with what you have. Appreciate the 954 for what it is instead of dwelling on how to beat a ZX-10R. If that's not possible, find a late model, slightly used, well-cared-for ZX-10R. I almost bought one in April - a neighbor was moving and was ready to sell me his '07 10R with 2500 miles on it for $7K. I nearly did it, but I like the 954 too much. My .02

 

Yea back in its day, it was the best. But look around in the 954 section and you will see a thread where I asked about comparing the 954 to newer liter bikes. My personal opinion, the 954 is lighter than any other liter bikes out there. The torque and horse power are a little lower, but with some modifications some of that can be made up. Having said that it comes down to the rider/driver of each bike. And which is the best, the 954 is a solid bike, as are most of the new liter bikes. But to each his own. Personally if I could afford a 08-10 CBR1000RR I'd jump on it. Dunno if I would trade in the 954 for it. but hey its all good.

 

Yeah, but it is also gonna make the 954 that much lighter. At least, I thought that was the other benefit of a full exhaust system. I'd be more concerned about keeping that front wheel down so you can launch harder and shift at a higher RPM.

Mine's lowered in the rear. I want to raise it back up, but some dude claims he is coming to buy it today. We'll see.

 

Whoever wrote that article was a noob, and not around during the 90s. probably in middle school. As I recall it, before the R1, the only serious trackbacks bigger than 750s were the zx-9r and the cbr900rr. The gsxr-1100 and the yzf-1000r were both junk. Nobody had them, and everybody who had anything bigger than 750cc had one of three bikes: ZX-9R, CBR-900RR, or if you were into muscle, a ZX-11. Although, I do recall one guy who had an RF-900 suzuki.

So that article makes it seem like they had a long history with these 900cc+ bikes, when they didn't. Suzuki had been competitive ONE freaking year, and the R1 owned everybody as soon as it came out in what 98?