Lowering Links

[vanion2]

I ordered a set of lowering links for my wife's Ninja 500. Due to a poorly written description of the links I ended up with 7075 aluminum flat links (as opposed to 303 stainless steel which was included in the description). I did some research on 7075 aluminum and apparently it is widely used in the aerospace industry for its light weight and high strength.

My question is this: Are these safe to use?

My biggest concern is the hole separation between the inner and outer holes (stock = inner, 2" lower = outer). It is .066" aluminum which seems pretty damn thin to me. If lowering the bike required use of the inner hole I would be more comfortable with that but I have to use the outer hole and my fear is that separation won't be thick enough to hold up very long.

I filed the RMA this morning but I can cancel it easily enough should the consensus be these are safe. TIA as always.

[SEBSPEED]

Got a pic?

Aluminum without a bushing, and only 1/16" thick could wear more quickly than you'd like it to. It won't immediately fail though. Stock Honda triangles on our VFR's are non-bushed, 2-3mm (080-125") thick and carry the entire stress of the suspension... alloy unknown though.

[vanion2]

Got a pic?

Aluminum without a bushing, and only 1/16" thick could wear more quickly than you'd like it to. It won't immediately fail though. Stock Honda triangles on our VFR's are non-bushed, 2-3mm (080-125") thick and carry the entire stress of the suspension... alloy unknown though.

I will post a pic up this afternoon. It does not have any bushings. The separation is 1.67mm if that helps at all.

Not failing immediately indicates failure at some point and that won't work for me. I do love my wife after all.

[cruzinaz]

I put a lowering link on a 500 a few years back, will be riding with her this weekend and will check it. To be honest I cant remember the style we used on that bike...We also made a few out of T-6061....see no reason T-7075 would be an issue

Best one I saw was one a friend bought for his F4I....adjustable and well built

On a side note...we also took a couple inches of foam out of the stock seat and narrowed the foam also, that made a huge difference Being 5' nuthing she needed it.

[CandyRedRC46]

i remember the thin triangle plates on the vfr being stainless steel. and the dogbone being pretty thick aluminum when i pulled mine off...

[ggathagan]

i remember the thin triangle plates on the vfr being stainless steel. and the dogbone being pretty thick aluminum when i pulled mine off...

Not to be argumentative, but I believe the triangles are type also some type of aluminum alloy. Stainless steel is generally too brittle for that type of duty.

[mechdziner714]

Most who race an EX500 use the FOGbones from ex500.com that are aluminum. I raced one and installed them and it made a world of difference on turn in by raising the rear. My opinion is the aluminum is fine for this application. But lowering the rear will negatively affect the handling unless you drop the front.