Topic: Lowering a 650's front end, Qs

[750goes]

there are some on ebay now - but I want them - so I will send you the link when it is over - if I don't win them of course....

sorry kit I need them for the 750 project whenever it may get finished....

yours has progressed extremely well, you should be proud of what you have done..and I'm sure will continue to do....

[martino1972]

hey ,kit......
okay.....first off,put on your 11" rear shocks,it's a 5 minute job.....and ride it like that for a few miles.....
like looking at your pictures in the vote tread,honestly it would look better with the back end dropped a bit....
you made a statement in your first post here,that your willing to drop the rear till it becomes unsafe in the like cruiser thing....fact....the mellower the front fork is placed,the easier it gets to handle on high speed,and these bikes tend to be a little nervous stock,so laying the front fork down a bit is only a good thing....
THEN.......if still too high and you want too lower the front forks....cut some of the inner springs off in the front tubes.....
handle bar raisers will change the way you sit and "feel" the bike,and might not be what you want,plus i think it looks ugly having the front tubes stick out on top of the triple tree....
cutting the inner springs will allow you too keep the stock look and you can even put the outer tubes back to flush with the top triple tree set up....then it all seems stock,just it's a bit lower.....

you asked for it and here it is...lmao...(insider joke..).....

let me know what your deciding....

[CBJoe]

Oh, CBJoe, those '81s are air-assisted, right? how do they work/feel compared to the old school versions?

I have to admit that I've never ridden with the Air-Assist forks.  Of the three 650's, the '80 Custom was the only road worthy one.  It'll probably be a couple months before I get one of those rebuilt and riding. 

Joe

[Really?]

we talkin' something shaped like this?

That is what I was talking about, well, at least meant to describe, lol.

[HavocTurbo]

Yea those are pretty much what I was trying to post but designed different.

[Frankenkit]

I think I'll go with Hush and Martino's suggestions first because they seem the simplest at the moment...

[Hush]

That's it girl, keep it simple and as cheap as possible.
Would be nice to have a spare old set of fork springs to chop down and see if they work for you or not, it's kinda final if you cut your own.
But definitely throw those shorties on and see if it helps, if you find they make the handling worse you can always go back to the old shockies and scratch your head again.
Glad to hear most of your initial problems finally got cured, a bottle of carb clean in your gas tank might cure your carbs too.

[Frankenkit]

...Going with Marty's suggestion (or just ruminating on it...) I don't want to cut *my own* springs, but I feel just fine about going to the boneyard and picking up good-looking springs that are, perhaps, shorter than my current setup (or that I can stand to cut)  but I can't find, I mean anywhere, official spring length for 650s vs. 550s or 750s.  I know 650s started as just really hopped up 550s from Honda, but beyond that, I don't know how other parts compare in the real world.  Beyond that, when people cut down their springs (or use shorter ones in stock tubes) I  see reference to using pvc spacers.  What is that about? Just for reference, how do they work?  Bear in mind, I'm not a racer, I'm not dropping this bike to make it better for racing, just so maybe the CG is a bit lower and easier for my small frame to handle.  I'm 124# and don't expect to bottom it out very easily.

[754]

cutting springs is easy, reforming ends is a bit tricky.

can give you a bit more info tonite.


might not hurt to look up spring shop in the phone book, they may be able to help(mostly car/truck type work)