So, my buddy decided it would be a good idea to lower his gixxer 2" the other day... I remember reading that its a dumb idea and isnt good for the bike, but other than that, I dont know exactly why.... I wanna talk to him and sound intelligent when I call him a retard for doing it, but I need some info first..

So, why is lowering a bike bad?

Why did someone I know buy a gixxer?

Where do babies come from?

 

...A man has a ***** and a woman has a vagina. The man will look at dirty movies or go to the strip club, andlater that night,bug the woman about her vagina. A few months later, a baby comes out, and he looks a lot like the landscaper...the end.

I wanted to lower my F4i for my wife when I choose to upgrade to an RR (years from now). I read that lowering the bike may cause you to scrape earlier when running through the twisties. 2" seems to be a lot...at least that's what I tell my wife. Hopefully some "trackies" (Tahoe, Abad, Woody) will chime in, because I think they would know for sure.

 

There is the advantage to lowering, so you feet can touch firmly on the ground. The drawback is if you have ridden with it standard then lower it, it might throw your balance off. And taking corners, you will not be able to lean as low, cuz you can scrape. But if you don't feel comfortable riding cuz your feet don't touch, you will prob won't like riding as much.

 

Since Voodoo asked nicely, I'll chime in

yes, a bike can be lowered. Does it make a difference in handling?? Yes, it does. Anyone who tells you differently isn't pushing their bike hard enough to notice. Is it a bad idea??? That depends on how much you lower it and what kind of riding you do.

Generally, you won't notice any difference in lowering (except that your feet will reach the ground better) until you start riding aggressively. I had an F3 that I lowered 1.5" in both front and rear. It was fine for the street and the twisties (I don't ride the twisties very hard). Once I took it to the track, it was a different ball game. I was scraping my lowers. At times, I thought I would lowside because of it. I ended up raising it back up to stock height, I even went higher than stock in the rear.

So if you're only going to putt-putt around town and do some mild twisties, lowering is okay (just watch out for speed bumps and steep driveways). If you want to push this bike to the limit, do not lower it or you'll eventually regret it.

 

^^ +1