Lowering my bike
 

I have an '04 GSXR 600 and I need to lower the bike. What is the best way to do this without throwing off the dynamics of the bike?
I probably need to drop it about an inch.

Thanks!

look on ebay,great deals on lowering links.easy to install,wont throw off geometry and will make u a little quicker in the quartermile due to a smaller aerodynamic profile.

The easiest and cheapest way to lower a bike without altering the suspension is to shave the seat.

The portion of the seat where your inner thighs touch can be taken in as well.

Shaving that and the ass portion of the seat can allow you to easily gain an inch or so.

Pay someone at a shop if you aren't sure exactly how to do it properly, even if you can obtain the parts yourself.

+1 for shaving the seat though.

Honestly, you shouldn't be messing around with the geometry of the bike. Its not the same as lowering a car. Your bike was engineered and produced with specific geometric measurements. I've read a couple articles about it in various magazines and its highly suggested that you do not use lowering links.

I don't know about you but, if i ever lowered my bike im sure i would bottom out on speed bumps, and begin to have clearance issues when cornering hard, i'm already scraping my stock foot pegs and lowering it an inch may mean scraping the stator cover or the clutch cover.

You also change certain measurements u may not be aware of like trail, and rake angle, which ultimately will affect your ride.

Can you one foot your bike? if u can thats fine. If you want to lower it, then i'ld do what everyone else suggests, shaving the seat.

shave the seat first then look into the lowering links. The less you lower the bike, the less it will mess up your handling

what he said...or trade ur gix in for a 250

I was told that as long as you lower the front and the rear by the same amount, then its pretty safe. Could be bs tho.

Another +1 for seat shaving.

Lowering at the same rate will affect handling. As the previous poster stated, rake and trail play huge parts of handling. They're calculated by engineers and I wouldn't want to mess with them too much.

Though if you're into ghetto stretched chrome swingarms... then I'm sorry, nothing can help you.

recommended places to get seat shaved?

Doesn't the gixxer come with an adjustable link from the factory?

I have an 06 GSXR 600 and i got the lowering links. The bike handles better! and is easier to throw around because of the slightly lower CoG. They are offered from many companies as upgrades BECAUSE they change the geometry. Lowering the rear of the bike changes the head tube angle of the front forks, which some say improves handling into and out of corners.

If you need to lower the bike solely because you can't solidly reach the floor, shave the seat. if you are tall enough, but just want your bike to look more bad-ass and handle more precisely, lower using links.

As for seat shaving..... take your seat off and take it to any upholstry shop. ( ifyou take it to a bike shop, you risk getting over charged), as they just un-staple the seat cover, take a spinning disc sander and sand the foam down and re-staple the seat cover back on.

http://www.nycparts.com/index.asp?Pa...ROD&ProdID=282

Either way, the solution is cheap.

edit: the geometry is made to be adjusted, which is why most , if not, all lowering links come with more than one hole so you can "tune" the geometry.

( i was probably repetitive to the previous posts, i just scrolled up and read them after i posted my reply) lol!

Lower CoG? Are you serious? Bike's handle better from suspension adjusting, not lowering. This isn't a high riding 4 wheeled vehicle.

Sportbikes are engineered with the CoG where it is to promote maximum traction and stability at full lean. Tossability is a result of weight, not height.

Sorry but u really need to get your facts straight, if you're going to give people advice, make sure its RIGHT.

The change in vertical CoG results in handling response, it allows more time and more precision for riders in slow speed scenarios.

Example: those bicyclists that slow down before a light usually stand up (raising the CoG) why? so they can stay on the bike easier. Similar to motocross riders, their position on their bike is alot higher and they are constantly standing, not just because of clearance issues, but to aid in handling in rough terrain, etc. Try doing slow speed maneuvers like a figure 8 on your bike while your tucked behind ur windsheild (close to impossible); its alot easier to do slow speed stuff when your body is higher up. high CoG = more throwability

lower CoG = stability, high CoG = handling

A change in horizontal CoG will change weight distribution on the horizontal plane. Lowering ur bike will increase weight on the rear, which is not what you want when entering high speed corners

Further, lowering links will increase your trail (in your case, a decrease in head tub angle), increase trail angle means less flickablity. does an american chopper (huge trail angle) handle like a sportbike? Uhh... thats a no brainer.

what you mean by better handling in corners is actually: better stability in corners

that isn't even the case because unless you lower the front forks to match the lowering link in the back, you bike is off balance already, you've got more weight in the back, and less turnability, which will ultimately be a shitty experience in a high speed corner.

bottom line, if you lower the back, you MUST lower the front to properly lower your CoG evenly. how do you lower the front? either by cutting the fork tubes, or by lowering the triple clamp (however you might have clearance issues with bottoming out your fender with your upper cowl)

and after you do it properly, remember you've now lowered your CoG vertically, meaning you will have less handling response in corners

and to add ontop of that, when you put in lowering links, your rear shock will be subject to more constant compression affecting spring rate (harder suspension) and also it will be subject to bottoming out easier.

AND your kickstand is not properly proportioned to your bike anymore because you've lowered it, the kickstand will make your bike sit more vertical now which will be subject to easier-to-tip-over-ility:haha:

so you'll have to cut your forks and cut your bike stand, just for lowering links, and suffer a less handling capable bike.

but hey if you just ride a bike in a straight line really fast and pussy out in the corners, then by all means go for it. but if you care about handling, corners, and track days like i obviously do, then its clear that i've stated my views on lowering bikes in this post.

so why do some suzukis come with stock links that can be lowered? so you're going to say, why else would they put it there?

suzuki also has adjustable stock rearsets, and the reason? think about sales. it would be easier to sell a bike that had options. bikes don't ever come with options.... thus they have lowering options to help sell their bike gixxers also come with the largest rear cowl storage, headlight flashers, motogp shift pattern all stock. why do you think the gixxer population is so large? R6s are touted as the best off production 600 track bikes, they sit higher up, higher than my cbr. obviously its not because they have a low CoG.....

but in all honesty i will admit that these changes from lowering your bike may only affect your bike to a certain degree, but why make something worse?

just a portion of the information i talked about covered here
http://www.sportrider.com/tech/146_0...wer/index.html

and CoG (actually the height of the CoG)

^ thanks for the info...I'm thinking of adjusting the ride height back to normal. I only like the bike lowered because I can back up easier...

^ I can flat foot my cbr, but i feel your pain, a friend of mine has to one foot his gixxer and he can't duck walk his bike to back it up. he has to get off his bike to do it.

i feel you guys, it sucks... but i wouldn't mess up my ride for anything.

I envy the riders who can flat foot. I one foot my gixxer as well and I can duck walk it, assuming the ground is flat. Any crown will be difficult for me, kinda. It really just depends. I really should shave my seat but I just keep forgetting, even though I can get it done for a case of beer. haha