lowering the rear of the bike does look good but is a potentially bad thing to do in terms of handling, and steering responsiveness- if you think about it, when the rear is dropped the angle of the forks is made more horizontal, a mild 'chop' if you will- race bikes have lengthened rear shocks to make the forks more vertical, to increase steering feel. but if it makes the bike more comfortable and safe to ride maybe shorter shocks are worth it. I'm not an expert on this but this is how its been explained to me, and I think it makes sense. experts please chime in on this! hope that provided something useful, Pat
That's what I was saying that some would tell you to lower the front, to match, so as to not alter the ride 'geometry' or whatever.
Like, you could push the fork tubes up two inches, above the triple tree to compensate for the drop in back (and use that space to mount clip-ons, if you wanted)
I have to say that for me, lowering the back end, or the ride height in general, was seriously a whole another world as far as confidence and even safety went - just because I could touch the ground, and firmly (not on tippie-toes. . .lol).I would REALLY recommend them to other women especially or to anyone a tad short on the inseam.
I left the front end ride height the same and now it looks a tad chopperish or whatever, but I don't do the twisties much - just ride and like I said, I didn't notice a whole lot of difference in handling and I like the look.
Also, I forgot to mention that I have never bottomed out the new shocks yet, either - like on the fender - railroad tracks and all that and even with a pretty good load on back (running manuals to the Post office for shipping). Then again, I am only like 115# or something so I'm not going to stress ANY shocks too much. . . .lol.