Dropped Forks 10Mm

[MadScientist]

Maybe it's too early in the morning for my brain to comprehend but does lowering the front offset the benefit of puting risers on handle bars? Meaning, does it put your riding position back to where it was prior to installing risers? Now, time to go get coffee so my brain can warm up to operating temp. thx

When we say lowering, it refers to lowering the bike on the forks (or from the other perspective, raising the forks in the triples). We are decreasing the distance between the triple and the front axle. If the rear ride height remains constant, then steering axis becomes more vertical, reducing both rake and trail.

The seating position can change in a couple ways, depending where you position the clip ons:

1. If you leave the clip ons up against the triple, then NO change will occur WRT the butt/shoulders/hands triangle. However, the seating angle will be tilted further down towards the front, which will increase the rider's forward lean angle relative to the ground. Picture a triangle that has the top rotated forward in space, but with no other geometric rearrangement.

2. If you leave the clip ons up against the stopper ring at the top of the fork tubes, then you will effectively bring the handlebars up and slightly forward (away from the rider, due to reduction of fork rake). I don't have the geometry of the VFR in front of me, so I can't comment on the exact magnitude of the change. Picturing it in my head, I would say that the bars are moved up more than they are forward. This should cause a decrease in shoulder->bar distance and an increase in butt->bar distance. If you keep your arms at the same length as before (don't bend elbows more), then you will have a more upright seating position since the butt->shoulder distance remains constant. Alternatively, you could have a shorter reach to the bars (more elbow bend) with roughly the same amount of rider forward lean. However, you may be limited in the amount you can raise the bars due to interference with the front fairing. There may also be issues with throttle cable and clutch line length.

[CornerCarver]

^ Excellent and comprehensive response.

[soichiro]

Am I reading this right? the rear shock shim is multiplied by 3 at the wheel, due to linkage. I added a 5mm shim between the shock mount and frame. the bike has a lot more feel. the only issue is the tire hits the ground if I put it on the center stand. will a 4mm shim correct this?

[CornerCarver]

2 hours ago, soichiro said:

Am I reading this right? the rear shock shim is multiplied by 3 at the wheel, due to linkage. I added a 5mm shim between the shock mount and frame. the bike has a lot more feel. the only issue is the tire hits the ground if I put it on the center stand. will a 4mm shim correct this?

A 4mm shim instead of the 5mm may work but not better than 250 miles of tire wear.  My tire never clears the ground until it has a few hundred miles of wear on it.

[mellowgold]

Scrap  of plywood under the stand works as well. 

[Rich]

nm

 

[soichiro]

Been using a piece of plYwood. I went with  3.2 MM WASHER. MY TIRE HAS 1K MILES ON IT WAS SITTING ON IT.

Works great now. tire is 1-2mm off ground

[Lint]

On 4/15/2016 at 8:09 AM, soichiro said:

10mm was too much for me. I went with 6mm. Low soeed stability is horrible over 6mm.

I never experienced a difference.