Lowering a CBR125. Links provided, opinions required. | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Lowering a CBR125. Links provided, opinions required.

Forum Sponsor
Low rider said:
I would listen to Brian on the technical aspects of lowering a bike, I know Brian, and I know he knows what he is talking about.
On the other hand, as an instructor, and as a rider of over 40 years, I have ridden many bikes where I could barley touch the ground.

Your real issue here is your experience. If you are a good rider, you will not ever be scared of riding a high bike.
If you know how to handle a bike, it should be a non issue.
The problem here is gaining the experience to gain confidence.
The best way to do that is to jump on a few dirt bikes and let loose.
After a lot of dirt riding, the confidence of riding a street bike will be incredible.
Click to expand...

I've found out by searching the only option I have for lowering the bike is to buy the shorter springs from Hyperpro, just wondering if there were any other options that I could not find myself. The bike is for my wife to learn to ride, she has no experience at all and would like it a little lower for comfort. Sorry I should have clarified earlier that I have a CB500X myself that I can not flat foot and have no issues riding. Thanks everyone for the advice and if anyone comes by any other info about this issue please post for me.
 
Several insurance companies I talked to said they would not insure a bike that's been lowered in any way.

Just letting you know. Most people don't care and just don't tell insurance when they do something to their vehicles.
 
Just do it...until you approach the limits of the bike in ground clearance while cornering or going over bumps, it doesn't matter.

The naysayers are right in theory, but in practice what they are saying isn't relevant for you and your girl.

I lowered one of my bikes so my girl can ride it, but I don't just send her out on it blind...I take it up the canyons and make sure the handling is safe:

- weight distribution and handling like original; eg: bike isn't twitchy to steer, or ponderous
- ground clearance going over hard bumps is good (speed bumps make good testing for this)
- ground clearance during cornering; if I can lean the thing over in the canyons without scraping pegs or hard parts, she can ride it on the street to practice with no issue.

If you're not dragging hard parts, bottoming out, or negatively affecting the bike's handling by skewing the weight distribution, you're fine. Ride height matters beyond these things for track, but for street as long as YOU (the experienced rider) test it first before sending out the newbie on it, it's fine.
 
oh yeah, and maybe you thought of this already, but before you start screwing with the bike by adding different fork springs or a different rear spring...have you tried just backing the preload all the way off? the static sag will be screwed up, but it may make enough of a difference for her to ride it without installing any aftermarket parts.

honda loves cheaping out on smaller bikes and not giving any adjustment, but if the forks have preload and the shock has preload (bikes shouldn't be allowed to leave the factory without at least preload and rebound adjustment IMO, but whatever) just back them both off to maximum soft and have her try it.

I would take this opportunity to remind these "suspension gurus" or whatever who are waving the white flag of surren...err, I mean of caution, that it's for his girlfriend...by the time she gets good enough to be impacted by the reduced handling limits from lowering the bike, he can easily just raise it back up again and she'll be competent and comfortable riding so she won't need it low anymore.
Forum Sponsor
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom