How I lowered my 6th Gen (New Triangle)

[jsherer91]

I'm 5'10 and I have never been able to firmly plant my feet on the ground while stopped. I read the triangle flip article and did that and liked the results, I just wanted to go farther.

I fabricated a new triangle made from wood!
It's the same concept as the triangle flip kind of.

1. Take one triangle off and take one bolt out.(the one that holds the dog bone shape bar up)

2. With a jack under your back brake, raise it up two inches. The height of the top of the rotor was 18.5" so I raised it to 20.5" which tucks the wheel in the well more.

3. Raise the dogbone back up to the triangle. The holes with NOT match up. We have to make a new one. So stick a pencil through the dogbone to mark a new one. I then copied all of these dimensions from the original triange with the 'new hole' to a wood concept.

4. I cut out the wooden triangles and drilled holes and then bolted them up. I just wanted to see if everything fit smoothly. But I did not take it off the centerstand.

5. I took the wood triangle and the original to a welder down the street and asked him to make my new triangle from steel 1/4" thick opposed to the original thickness of 3/16" I believe.

6. I also had him make the entire triangle 1/4" bigger around the eges for extra assurance but I ended up having to grind down one edge because it was too big.

The new seat height is 30.5" but I don't know what it was before. 1" or 1.5" drop I believe. The bottom of the kickstand does not sit flat anymore. The backwheel now sits 4" off the ground while on the centerstand. And I takes more energy to get it on the stand. This a 2-3 hour job and the welder only charged me $25.

Let me know what you think. I'm also interested in lowering the front, any suggestions on that? And how to do it.

[jsherer91]

And here are some pics from how it looks in the back before and after.

[FJ12rydertoo]

I don't mean to denigrate your efforts, but I don't understand why you want to give up clearance in corners in order to put your feet firmly on the ground. I'm 5' 8" and cannot firmly plant my feet on my '99. Granted it would be easier to back up and you do get a bit more confidence at slow speed if you can plant both feet, but no way would I give up ground clearance. When you're riding you don't put your feet down that much anyway.

That being said, you did an excellent job. Very sanitary and well thought out.

[tgreene5]

Hello,

I have a 2002 VFR. I've dropped it 3 times, I'm only 5'5". I've ridden since I was 16, but am new to this weight class of bike. My last was an older triple Kawasaki 500. I purchased a customized Sargent's seat, with most of the "stuffing" taken out of the front to help drop me an inch or so. Which with it I can now get the balls of my feet on the ground, both. I am thinking about lowering it, like you did.

Have you ridden much since you modified it? Can you tell a difference when you corner at speed, or higher speed? I'm very nervous about changing the geometry of the bike, I really love the way it handles as it is, just wish I wasn't so damn short!!

Please tell me the pros and cons. Would you do it again if you had the choice?

Thanks very much for sharing, and giving me another perspective on it.

Theresa Greene

[deepdish]

I'm 5'10 and I have never been able to firmly plant my feet on the ground while stopped. I read the triangle flip article and did that and liked the results, I just wanted to go farther.

I fabricated a new triangle made from wood!
It's the same concept as the triangle flip kind of.

1. Take one triangle off and take one bolt out.(the one that holds the dog bone shape bar up)

2. With a jack under your back brake, raise it up two inches. The height of the top of the rotor was 18.5" so I raised it to 20.5" which tucks the wheel in the well more.

3. Raise the dogbone back up to the triangle. The holes with NOT match up. We have to make a new one. So stick a pencil through the dogbone to mark a new one. I then copied all of these dimensions from the original triange with the 'new hole' to a wood concept.

4. I cut out the wooden triangles and drilled holes and then bolted them up. I just wanted to see if everything fit smoothly. But I did not take it off the centerstand.

5. I took the wood triangle and the original to a welder down the street and asked him to make my new triangle from steel 1/4" thick opposed to the original thickness of 3/16" I believe.

6. I also had him make the entire triangle 1/4" bigger around the eges for extra assurance but I ended up having to grind down one edge because it was too big.

The new seat height is 30.5" but I don't know what it was before. 1" or 1.5" drop I believe. The bottom of the kickstand does not sit flat anymore. The backwheel now sits 4" off the ground while on the centerstand. And I takes more energy to get it on the stand. This a 2-3 hour job and the welder only charged me $25.

Let me know what you think. I'm also interested in lowering the front, any suggestions on that? And how to do it.

love to see the american enginuity(sp), great job! the front.,to lower is slide forks up, this may cuase bottoming front fender to fairing so be careful. as far as handling rack and trail should be the same(if even) but suspension travel will suffer. therefore grinding appendages.. but if you are not track daying your bike and riding it as designed sport tour, no worries, take off curb feelers and stay upright. afterall every roadracer i have watched does not want to be scraping metal or on edge of tire they want to get back to center as fast as possible..(add rearsets) Thank you for pics great ..job..brillant idea...

[someguy]

lower it, front and rear. you will be very happy, and unless you normally knee drag in the twisty's, doubt you will every have a problem.

[Trunks81]

Hello

Can somebody tell me what the dimensions are of those triangle metals are,
Because i bought an VFr 94 and haveing real troubles to get my both feeth on the ground iam 5,5 feet. It so stupid that you need to pay round €100 for 2 pieces of metal. I you can help me i would really appriciate that

Kind Regards Trunks