How To Guide: Raise Forks / Lower Triple

Was raising my forks up the way I had them before I took the bike in for warranty work on throttle cables, figured I would do How-To in case anyone was interested that was unsure what to do. Enjoy!

Cover tank before you start, in case you drop a wrench or something. I've learned from experience.
Edit: Forgot to mention, raise the front of the bike up before you start. The bike will come crashing down from the weight when you loosen the 4 triple clamp bolts if you don't. I put mine on the center stand and pulled the back down with a tie-strap.

[image: Forks1.jpg]

[image: Forks2.jpg]

[image: Forks3.jpg]

[image: Forks4.jpg]

[image: Forks5.jpg]

[image: Forks6.jpg]

[image: Forks7.jpg]

id be cautious loosening both legs at same time. seen one person due that with weight on the front and soon as he loosened the second legs lower pintch bolt the both legs went sliding up and a crushed up fender was the outcome.

767fixer, Feb 7 2007, 11:11 PMid be cautious loosening both legs at same time. seen one person due that with weight on the front and soon as he loosened the second legs lower pintch bolt the both legs went sliding up and a crushed up fender was the outcome.

Owe yeah, lift the front off the ground first, edited first post to add that. I just put it up on center stand and tie-strapped the back down to lift the front up.

Nice pictures tinyminds! fing02.gif

767fixer, Feb 8 2007, 12:11 AMid be cautious loosening both legs at same time. seen one person due that with weight on the front and soon as he loosened the second legs lower pintch bolt the both legs went sliding up and a crushed up fender was the outcome.

Put hose clamps around the tubes under the lower tree to catch the tube for safety from this........can use them to set the amount lowered also................................... beer.gif

Good write up, reminds me to buy a proper gauge... (I used the good ol' measuring stick and one crooked eye....)

+1.gif on doing one by one, I was surprised how heavy a single fork is.

Since I had nothing to strap the rear wheel down on, I placed the bike on the centre stand and placed a carjack under the exhaust headers. Not purrfect but a man has to do what a man has to do... It is ofcourse NOT rock steady this way....

[image: HPIM3516.jpg]

Dutchy, Feb 8 2007, 04:12 AMGood write up, reminds me to buy a proper gauge... (I used the good ol' measuring stick and one crooked eye....)

Nice post Jason, and now I see your "secret"... mount the tubes higher in the gen mars... ahhhh...

I'm with Dutchy, must go buy a proper gauge... I too use a MM measuring tape and contact lens corrected eyesight with 1.50 magnifying glasses over top of that... real accurate and precise... rolleyes.gif

Great pictures and instructions........ fing02.gif ....after flipping the triangle(damn, sometimes being short has it's aggravations), I kept lowering the forks until the ride/ handling suited me again. I just realized Tuesday I had room for a "double-stack" of Gen Mar risers under my stock bars. I rode them just clamped this height for a coupla' days and loved the comfort before I purchased the second set. Now I have the non-swivel safety pegs back in use......turned out great........................... fing02.gif

skuuter, Feb 8 2007, 09:41 AMI just realized Tuesday I had room for a "double-stack" of Gen Mar risers under my stock bars.

Wow, thats a lot lol. Suprised you don't have ground clearance problems with that. I'm contemplating investing in an Ohlins rear shock, I've just never been able to get the suspension setup the way I want on the rear. Gotta wait til after TMac because that will be a 2 week trip for me so need to save $$$ til then.

tinyminds, Feb 8 2007, 02:03 PM

skuuter, Feb 8 2007, 09:41 AMI just realized Tuesday I had room for a "double-stack" of Gen Mar risers under my stock bars.

Wow, thats a lot lol. Suprised you don't have ground clearance problems with that. I'm contemplating investing in an Ohlins rear shock, I've just never been able to get the suspension setup the way I want on the rear. Gotta wait til after TMac because that will be a 2 week trip for me so need to save $$$ til then.

With me sitting on it, my bike is "only" 7/8" lower than stock. When you "flip" the triangle, the bike runs up hill to the front. My bike basically has "stock" pitch angle again with the fork lowered to this point. I rode it stock height for 2 1/2 months before lowering it. Backing into parking spaces, low dips in roads at stops, parking lots etc., turned into real issues sometimes. Ya' gotta' do what ya' gotta' do sometime. Besides...not likely to "drag" at my pace......probably have been close sometime riding 2-up, but I factor in all the variables then and ride accordingly.......................................... rolleyes.gif fing02.gif beer.gif

Just an FYI on fork tube height [top of cap to top of yoke], since this hasn't been discussed here lately:

Raising the tubes in the yokes (from the OEM setting) gives better turn-in and snappier handling.

Lowering the the tubes does just the opposite, making the bike want to go straighter. It's kinda like the caster angle settings on a car. Casters want to go straight, like a shopping cart's front wheels. (except when one of 'em wiggles...what's up with that? I HATE that and always go get another cart so I can be railin' the aisles at Food World....)

But the limit to raising the tubes is the point of instability and headshake, since you don't ever get sumpin' fer nuttin'.

I set my tubes to 49mm. I went to 52 as an experiment, but got a wee bit of shake blink.gif under full power once, so I returned to 49.

Depending on what manual you read and/or what Gen you have, OEM height is either 39 or 44, and there's always much controversy about that number!! But 49 worky niiiiice.

What's the best way to support the front while undoing these triple clamp bolts? I'm thinking the headers aren't an ideal support, I can't find anything else under there.. what if I stack up sand bags on the passenger seat? How much weight is needed? I'm not sure I understand the "tie-strap" technique?

Regards,
Bruckner

Bruckner, May 5 2007, 05:03 PMWhat's the best way to support the front while undoing these triple clamp bolts? I'm thinking the headers aren't an ideal support, I can't find anything else under there.. what if I stack up sand bags on the passenger seat? How much weight is needed? I'm not sure I understand the "tie-strap" technique?

Regards,
Bruckner

The headers are plenty strong enough as long as they are generally in sound condition - plus the most obvious point :



DO ONE FORK LEG AT A TIME! rolleyes.gif

Rod

Rogue, May 6 2007, 06:51 AM

Bruckner, May 5 2007, 05:03 PMWhat's the best way to support the front while undoing these triple clamp bolts? I'm thinking the headers aren't an ideal support, I can't find anything else under there.. what if I stack up sand bags on the passenger seat? How much weight is needed? I'm not sure I understand the "tie-strap" technique?

Regards,
Bruckner

The headers are plenty strong enough as long as they are generally in sound condition -

+1.gif

[image: HPIM3516.jpg]

and having an allmost empty fuel tank saves 20 kilo's of pressure...

DO ONE FORK LEG AT A TIME!

I'm not sure that's so obvious.. since fork legs are perfectly parallel, wouldn't pulling on a single unbolted fork while the other is bolted tight risk damaging the whole thing??? Things may look more obvious when I get down to it but seems like sliding the entire assembly up and down is the only way to go; now of course measuring the proper height and tightening clam bolts will be done ONE FORK LEG AT A TIME, I hope that's what you meant??!?!

As for the headers, hmmm, is there a better solution?

Regards,
Bruckner

Bruckner, May 8 2007, 04:02 AMDO ONE FORK LEG AT A TIME!

I'm not sure that's so obvious.. since fork legs are perfectly parallel, wouldn't pulling on a single unbolted fork while the other is bolted tight risk damaging the whole thing??? Things may look more obvious when I get down to it but seems like sliding the entire assembly up and down is the only way to go; now of course measuring the proper height and tightening clam bolts will be done ONE FORK LEG AT A TIME, I hope that's what you meant??!?!

As for the headers, hmmm, is there a better solution?

Regards,
Bruckner

Seems perfectly obvious to me. Pulling on it ?... one fork leg will be unbolted in the yokes and will move in parallel through the yokes - hey it's a spring! It will extend through the yoke by it's own unless it is stuck..the other fork will still be tight and will support the bike.

Rod

OK job's almost done but ran into a bunch of problems. I lowered the front about 20mm (back was lowered roughly 22mm using a longer 'dog bone'), when all was tightened up to spec (good thing I had a long torque meter handy, access isn't great), I wanted to remove the handles to slide spacers to raise the bars, with the forks now protruding the clutch line prevents me from lifting the handle high enough, I didn't want to risk damaging anything so I undid the triple clam bolts to set the fork at factory height again, then removed the handles and noted that one of the spacers I bought wasn't large enough to fit around the fork tube.. the other spacer fits fine but the difference in diameter is visible so I brought both pieces to a machinist to enlarge the opening of the smallest one hoping it'll work.

Unless I'm doing something terribly wrong, the handles and spacers must be installed on the fork at factory height then sliding the fork up, unless there's a way to get enough slack in the lines to lift the handle up an extra 20mm (or whatever extra height is dialed in).

Thoughts?

Regards,
Bruckner

Bruckner, May 5 2007, 12:03 PMWhat's the best way to support the front while undoing these triple clamp bolts? I'm thinking the headers aren't an ideal support, I can't find anything else under there.. what if I stack up sand bags on the passenger seat? How much weight is needed? I'm not sure I understand the "tie-strap" technique?

Regards,
Bruckner

If you're only working with the forks, a rear/head stand combo is perfect for this.

[image: gallery_7259_2217_430178.jpg]

If you have to work on the triples themselves, then a rear stand/floor jack works better.

[image: gallery_7259_2217_333309.jpg]

Bruckner, May 9 2007, 05:58 PMOK job's almost done but ran into a bunch of problems. I lowered the front about 20mm (back was lowered roughly 22mm using a longer 'dog bone'), when all was tightened up to spec (good thing I had a long torque meter handy, access isn't great), I wanted to remove the handles to slide spacers to raise the bars, with the forks now protruding the clutch line prevents me from lifting the handle high enough, I didn't want to risk damaging anything so I undid the triple clam bolts to set the fork at factory height again, then removed the handles and noted that one of the spacers I bought wasn't large enough to fit around the fork tube.. the other spacer fits fine but the difference in diameter is visible so I brought both pieces to a machinist to enlarge the opening of the smallest one hoping it'll work.

Unless I'm doing something terribly wrong, the handles and spacers must be installed on the fork at factory height then sliding the fork up, unless there's a way to get enough slack in the lines to lift the handle up an extra 20mm (or whatever extra height is dialed in).

Thoughts?

Regards,
Bruckner

The normal amount of "adjustment" in order to sharpen up the steering is between 5-10mm, so the answer is that you have raised the forks too much to lift the bar over the top of the fork leg, as you have said.

I realise that this has been done to lower the bike.

You could have simply unbolted the clutch assembly (2 bolts) and the switchgear from the bar..

further thoughts - it also helps a lot if you loosen / undo all the cable ties / clips which hold the wiring / throttle cables etc..

You should have bought properly designed and manufactured Risers... 491.gif

Rod