[jacko]

so i bought this bike not realizing all the things that were wrong with it, modified, reasons for talking down the price more, blah blah blah.

i found out the other day it was lowered in the rear with a generic looking dogbone. i went on a ride with a sport bike group a few weeks ago and had her leaned over far enough to get my chicken strips down to about 1cm and i was impressed with how it felt in the turns, but this is my first sport bike so i don't know how it is supposed to feel.

it has a 3 position adjustable dogbone on it and it is currently set on the middle hole.

i have a few questions...

1. how do you unload the swingarm so you can adjust move the bolt? i've heard everything from lifting the rear with ratchet straps from the ceiling in the garage to using a car jack under the oil pan. i've also been told you can bend your oil pan and make it leak if you jack it up there.

2. how likely am i to throw the rear out of wack by going back to stock height? i have no idea if they previous owner actually had it tuned at this height or if he just lowered it and ran with it like that.

3. i've heard there is a washer or shim that can be removed to lower the rear height. can anyone tell me where that washer is so i can check to see if it's still there while i have the swingarm unloaded?

4. is there anything else i should be looking at while i'm down there?

thanks a bunch!

jacob

 

[jacko]

also, is this a good guide to suspension setup?

http://www.gostar-racing.com/club/motorcycle_suspension_set-up.htm

thanks!

 

[luxuryliquidator]

the oil pan work bend just put the jack under the oil pan and get it under it firmly you dont have to lift the bike up. then undo the bolt take it out. jack the bike up until you can fit the bolt into the inner hole( this is the stock position). and reconnect the bolt.

you wont throw the rear out of wack it will actually ride and turn better with the back higher.

there is no washer to remove to lower the ride hieght, you can either lower the front forks or buy the rear links like the previos owner did. you can how ever adjust the preload on your forks and rear spring which will adjust how low you bike sits when you are one it. this is called sag. it should be set around 30mm on front and back from fully extended. setting this will make your bike handle ten times better
this is a excellent article about suspension with good setting for our bike
http://www.sportrider.com/bikes/146_suspension_settings/index5.html

 

[jacko]

awesome... thanks! i'm heading out to the garage now to look at raising her up. =)

 

[jacko]

she's done!!!

first i put her up on front and rear stands and then *slowly* jacked her up with a hydraulic car jack under the oil pan. both the fork and the rear shock raised up quite a bit so i put some ankle weights on the front wheel just got make sure.

once one side of the swingarm came a few millimeters up off the rear stand i scratched my head for a while trying to figure out how to make the bolt come out easily and also making sure i was sure the damned thing wouldn't fall over on me when i did it. =)

i ended up having to lift up on the swingarm a little bit because its weight was resting on that bolt. once i did that it came out pretty easy.

then i slowly jacked her up little by little until i could line up the holes, then bolted it up and lowered her back down onto the rear stand.

man... it made a bigger difference than i expected. i'm 5'11" and it feels like my feet are barely flat on the ground.

there's a race/mechanic shop by my house that's open saturdays. im gonna swing by there tomorrow and see how they want to do a basic suspension setup for me.

i can't wait to get it out and see how she handles the turns now.

thanks for all the info guys!!!

jacob