Rear suspension

Recently purchased a vfr 800 vtec 2003 , bike sits low ( seat height 31”). Think it’s been lowered , what’s the best way to get it back to standard, uk bike 

I think stock seat height was like 31.5" or there abouts. Start by checking the triangles at the lower shock / linkage area to see which way the small arrow is pointing.  Stock, the arrow is pointing forward.  Some folks lower the bike by rotating the triangles to have the arrow pointing upwards.

Arrow pointing forward , very hard to put on centre stand 

Does it have stock looking silver colored triangle pieces?  Otherwise could possibly have a lowering link / dog bone.

Granted I use center stand on all my bikes and by no means is the VFR the easiest, but isn't what I call dificult either.

Stock components as below

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If the front end has been lowered (e.g. fork tubes slid up through the triples) then that raises the rear wheel further when on the stand and makes it harder to lever onto the centrestand. If you have the stock bars, the retaining circlip on the fork tubes should be in contact with the bar tops which will be in hard contact with the triple clamp. A lower-than-standard profile rear tyre would also do this but I'm not sure whether they exist (stock is 180/55, maybe a 190/50 would drop the rear profile by a few mm).

What size tyres are fitted?

5th Gens on stock suspension with forks thru yokes at stock height are a bit of a haul to get onto centre stand, if bikes on a stock rear shock & spring, adding a 5mm spacer on top under frame rail makes it way easier to centre stand it & it'll turn in better too.

Do some basic checks to confirm stock or aftermarket parts.

Stock shock is 325mm measured at bolt centres.

It's possible you have aftermarket parts fitted, longer lower dog bone link or triangle plates that aren't OEM, you may even have a shorter aftermarket shock fitted.

To centre stand the bike, just run rear wheel over a piece of wood 20mm or so, it'll be easier, but there's a bit of a knack to it, once you find it, it's easy.

Try running the front wheel up on a wedge to gain an inch or two. Then pulling onto main stand is a doddle.

Just to go over the technique to get it onto the centrestand - once the stand hits the ground you need to simultaneously push down on the centrestand tang and pull up on the little grab handle at the pillion peg. About equal pressure on both, and it comes up and back nicely.