The PO of my bike dropped the top clamps through the forks. How do I un-drop them? Do I literally just remove the pinch bolts on the clamp (right above the Virginia inspection sticker) and have gravity do the rest?
I imagine having the bike on the center stand will help the gravity aspect.
1. Grab a chunk of 2x6 or or 2x8 and roll your rear wheel on to it before you put it on the stand.
2. Get a caliper from HF to check your fork height above the top triple. The line is not a bad idea, but this is a better measurement.
3. Adjust your forks one leg at a time, the damping and spring in the other leg will make your adjustment easier.
Being inseamed challenged (29") I run mine about 3/4" down and have the triangle mod. With your reduction, you may not even have the original dog bone as 1 1/2" is about the amount of lowering that is possible with the Sigma Cycles or Soupy's Performance dog bones. Also, if you find that you have to undo the triangle mod, you will need to lift the swingarm to compress the spring for the original position. A small jack, or wood blocking under the rear tire works nicely for that job.
Thanks everyone. I got the gap from where it was (north of 1.5") to less than 1/4". I'm having trouble getting it completely flush with the base of the handlebar mount. Assuming that the left bar is even to the right bar, should I stop where I am and call it good?
Are there any tricks (strings and plumb bob, for instance) to make sure the front wheel is straight relative to the 'bars when I re-tighten them?
Interestingly, now that this has been addressed, the rear wheel is completely off the ground when the bike is on the center stand. Previous to that, the rear wheel was still touching the ground even when the bike was on the center stand.
1/4" is a nice drop on the front end, it will quicken the steering over stock without being too far off scale. As long as your fork tops are even height to the upper triple you're ok.
What did you find with the rear suspension triangles?
As for aligning the front end, as long as the front tire is unloaded, as in off the ground, I usually begin with the bottom triple clamp and tighten that first, then work my way up. Never had a problem with funky steering or anything. Just follow the torque settings in the manual.
Interestingly, now that this has been addressed, the rear wheel is completely off the ground when the bike is on the center stand. Previous to that, the rear wheel was still touching the ground even when the bike was on the center stand.
That's very odd, the rear wheel should have been much further off the ground (on center stand) before you corrected the triple clamp position.
1/4" is a nice drop on the front end, it will quicken the steering over stock without being too far off scale. As long as your fork tops are even height to the upper triple you're ok.
What did you find with the rear suspension triangles?
As for aligning the front end, as long as the front tire is unloaded, as in off the ground, I usually begin with the bottom triple clamp and tighten that first, then work my way up. Never had a problem with funky steering or anything. Just follow the torque settings in the manual.
I honestly haven't looked at the triangles yet. Do I need to take any fairing pieces off to get to them?
snip
Interestingly, now that this has been addressed, the rear wheel is completely off the ground when the bike is on the center stand. Previous to that, the rear wheel was still touching the ground even when the bike was on the center stand.
That's very odd, the rear wheel should have been much further off the ground (on center stand) before you corrected the triple clamp position.
Well.. then I may have broken the laws of physics :sad: but it was definitely still touching the ground when on the center stand. I remember, as I was worried the rear tire would flat-spot over the winter during storage.
Actually, now that I think about it, I may have had the bike on a front stand as well as the center stand. But I'm pretty sure (albeit not positive) the rear wheel was touching the ground, regardless of how I had it configured.
Edited by number9, 20 March 2012 - 03:36 PM.
Both triangles point forward. Looked like they had "FR MBG" or similar written on them, too. Dogbones looked as old as everything else on the bike, i.e. they weren't billet unobtanium or anything.
Here is the bike post-lowering. Thoughts? Haven't tightened anything up, yet.
You can get the triples up the remaining quarter inch by loosening the handlebar mounts and rotating them slightly till they locate into the pinch bolt gap in the upper tree.
My god - those are way too high in the yokes. Bloody dangerous...
Put the bike on the centre stand, then first loosen and lower the bars on the forks to where they should be (you can see the line on the forks in the photo where the bottom of the bar casting has originally sat (about 7 or 8mm lower). Nip these back up, loosen both upper and lower yoke pinch-bolts (no need to fully remove them) and - by manually twisting/turning each fork stanchion whilst pulling downwards - lower the forks down to the yoke so that the bar casting locates into the notch where the top pinch-bolts are. You should end up with 30-35mm from the very top of the preload adjusters (very top of the fork) to the top of the bar casting.
You should then have a quick steering, and stable bike - rather than a death trap. It will also remove that nasty and, again, potentially dangerous bend from the throttle cables where they emerge from the ferrules. Don't ride it 'till you've sorted this out.- the PO must have been an absolute idiot, so I'd check over the bike generally to make sure its safe.
I've umm... well I've put about 7,000 miles with them like that! Prior to this I've only ever owned lightweight, quick-steering Ducatis so I guess I'm used to nervous bikes! Or maybe I'm just a really good rider :tour: Seriously though, it's been like that since I got the bike a couple of years ago, though to be perfectly honest I raised the bars myself recently (those are the marks you can see on the fork tubes) but left the forks where they were.
Your explanation makes sense -- thanks very much. I totally forgot about the pinch bolts on the lower clamps. I think the height (or lack thereof) makes the bike actually quite difficult to get on the center stand, believe it or not.
The clamps are indeed insanely low on the tubes. Some people may lower the clamps up to a half inch, but that appears to be a good 1 1/2 inch. It will indeed be easier to get on the C stand
A small floor jack under your headers, with the bike on the centerstand, will help you get the front end sorted when you loosen the pinch bolts and slide the forks down again.
Is the rear of the bike lowered also? Maybe they rotated the triangles on the bottom of the shock?
If the triangles are in the correct orientation, the arrow should point toward the front of the motorcycle.
Can't really see the arrow here, but it's there. Check yours.
I actually couldn't get the bike on the damn center stand this morning :huh: It's the only bike I've ever had with one, and I suck at getting it up on there.
I'll check the triangle linkage - thanks! Should I need to remove any fairings to see it?
i put a car jack underneath, loosen the bolts and crank the jack up...
I used this to lower it and then again undid it...
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Bike getting lowered.jpg
Album: Lowering the bike
Uploaded 15 Jan 2011 - 13:08
End of thread · 20 posts recoveredWayback Machine snapshot 21 Jun 2015
