So I just got my first bike, a CBR600F2, and it's a little too high for me. I can handle it but when doing things like backing up, it's very hard because I'm on my tip toes. The previous owner was quite a bit taller than me at around 6" I believe, whereas I'm only 5"7. Anyways, he owner before him put an adjustable suspension on the bike (Because he was even taller) but the owner before me never changed it because I was fine. Unfortunately, this means the person I bought it from hasn't dealt with it and subsequently doesn't know how to adjust it. I'm sorry I can't provide more detail but I don't know the brand or anything of the suspension. What should I be looking for? This is my first bike so as much detail as possible would be helpful. I'll poke around in the morning and try and take some pictures when it's light out, but any help would be appreciated.

 

Well if it's truly an adjustable lowering link, it'll look something like one of these:



It replaces the standard linkage which is item #3 in this schematic

 

Alright, I'll take a look, but I seem to remember the previous owner saying something about a button. Have you ever seen an adjustable suspension like that? He could've been wrong/lying though. Just in case he was, what would it cost me to lower a bike? And lastly, does this look raised? It seems the rear of the bike is too high but I could be wrong.....

 

Button? Like they installed air ride like you can put on a harley?

Most "adjustable" suspension uses a threaded link like Kuro posted, or they have an aftermarket rear shock (like the Fox Twin Clicker) that has threaded shaft end that can be adjusted.

take a pic of your shock and dog-bone linkage and show us what you're working with - otherwise we're all making wild-*** guesses.

 

Nevermind - I tooka closer look at your pic of your bike - the yellow spring gives it away. The prior owner installed a rear shock from a F4/F4i. F2 and F3 rear shocks have red springs.

The F4 shocks are longer than the F2/3 shocks and will raise the tail of the bike almost 2 inches.

You might be best off installing a F2/3 lowering link which would bring the bike down 1" in the tail.

edit: or you can get a F3 shock.

You can see the difference here - F4i shock is the yellow spring, red spring was my stock F2 shock, blue spring is the adjustable Fox TwinClicker I installed. You can see I have it set splitting the difference between the F2 and F4 shock length. I got 1.5" of rear end height lift which really helped me, as I'm just over 6' tall and was flat footing the bike. Feels much better to me now, both with the little quicker handling you get from raising the rear end of a bike, and the fact that I'm not flat footed at red lights.

 

Ahh, ok. So it's not adjustable then, right? Would it be possible to just buy a stock F2 spring (Or something lower) and do it myself? Or is there more to it than just replacing it?

 

No, replacing springs would be much harder than just replacing the entire assembly themselves. Plus the problem is that the F4 shock body is longer eye-to-eye than the F2/3 body.

The F4 shock is probably a little better than a used F3 shock anyway. At least probably not any worse. I'd recommend a lowering link and be done with it.

 

Oh sorry, I didn't realize it was more than just the spring. I have a friend who lowered his bike, but I'm not sure how he did it. I overheard him say you just take one thing out and replace it with another (He was talking to someone else, so I don't remember specifics) but would it be possible to lower it without the help of a mechanic?

Also, I have a very simple question that I don't want to start another thread for. I need new tires, and my rear says 170/60 but the specs for the bike say 160/60 and another friend who works at Harley (Though he rides a Ducati) says to get what the specs say. The front also says 120/70 whereas the site says 120/60. Here is the link is that matters http://www.bikez.com/motorcycles/hon...600_f_1991.php What do I do? The rims look stock, so maybe it has a slightly wrong tire on it? Again, I'm sorry for such stupid questions, I just want to be sure I'm doing everything correctly

 

Guess you could use one of the adjustable lowering links I showed earlier or a non-adjusable one to lower it. Not all that hard to do, just need to get the rear off the ground without using the swingarm to lift it.

Sounds like the previous owner put wider tires on for some reason. People do that, usually for looks. Doing that does change the handling characteristics of the bike, with whether it's for better or worse is a personal opinion.

 

If I put lowering links on it, would I have to change the spring too? My friend lowered his Gixxer so he could help me out. Do you know any places for cheap (Yet sturdy) lowering links?