Anyone tried lowering the top yoke 10mm? Do it now. It's the best way to improve the handling on your bike and will feel like you've spent a wad of cash on it for 10 minutes work. It's simple to do; Put you bike on the centre stand, undo the yoke bolts, and lift the back end of the bike until the yoke drops 10mm, tighten the bolt up again and hey presto. Instant handling upgrade.
Is there any potential downside to lowering the yoke, either in terms of too-nervous handling or mechanical wear and tear? Is one cm enough to notice the bike has a more forward posture to it when you're sitting on it?
I've only recently heard of this mod and it applies to all Viffers (although may not need it on the VTEC as they have more sporting stance anyway). There is a huge thread on it on VFR.org I think. Anyway, it comes highly reccomended - 'something for nothing' was often quoted and while some queried the possibility of the bike tankslapping, no-one has had anything bad to say about this mod. Will be doing it myself (by that, I mean I'll be paying someone to do it for me!) on Monday. Will let this thread know how it goes. Oh, and Rick: 10mm is said to be plenty. Some of the members have adjusted anywhere between 5-10mm HTH elv
In effect what you're also doing is lowering the seat height by 10mm, so it shouldn't create a more severe posture. What it does is quicken the steering in to corners without any 'scary' effects. It doesn't effect it so much that it's jerky or 'nervous', just easier to turn. The Viffer is a heavy bike and can feel a bit barge-like into corners. This will help...trust me!
I trust--I'll try it this weekend or as soon as I get a chance and will post any obs I have about it... The physics of it make good sense...thnx. 8)
I would suggest before you lower your forks, that you get your preload set correctly front and back, since preload effects ride hieght. Set the rider sag to around 30mm front and back and you will find the handling improve. You might have your fork preload set too high so your getting understeer.
I agree with Miguel. I mounted new and better springs front and rear this winter, and this weekend I took it out for some fun for first time again. I made sure preloads were set for correct sag and noticed the following: - bike is higher, more clearance. - more lean on the wrists. - easier to turn into a corner and going left to right or vv Basically getting the springs right will give the same result as lowering the forks. Only with 1 big difference. Lowering the forks will hide the symptoms, setting up your suspension correctly will cure the cause.
Dropped the forks 4 mm. on my 94 last year. Only time I get a little headshake is when chopping the throttle with very little pressure on the bars. (Trying to induce it) I feel a substantial difference in handling. I've kept them that way...works for me! ryan
Is it gonna make a difference that I've got GenMar risers on my bars? Will they still sit right if I lower the yoke?
Dropping the Forks 10 mm in the yokes is a pretty standard mod for the Fi. Be aware though that the 10 mm is from the original Honda recommendation of 39mm and they revised this to 44mm some time ago. To clarify the measurement should be 49 mm from the top of the stanchion to the top yoke. I know of some who have taken it a bit further but you will start to run into handling problems ove 52mm and at 55 mm there is a danger that the oil cooler will contact the mudguard.
Consider raising the rear ride height instead of lowering the front (sliding the forks up). You reduce your trail when you slide the forks up, possibly introducing instability. I left the forks at 39mm and added a 4mm shim under the top shock mount, raising the rear by ~9.6mm (see Karl Marsh). Quickened the steering w/o losing stability, running Bridgest 010/020 tires @ 33/37 psi. YMMV. Scott
Raising the rear or dropping the front is the same thing, except for one significant detail: when you drop the front, you decrease clearance, while when you raise the rear, you increase clearance.
I know this is an old thread, but I wanted to stop anyone from making this mistake. 10mm is wayyyy too much for a heavy bike like the VFR to handle. I did it last year and it screwed up the geometrics of the bike. First, it puts too much wieght on the front tire in a corner. Slowing down for the turn loads up the front end and causes the tire to dig in too much. Second, it chews up front tires. If you have anything other than a DOT (or similar) tire, it will get wasted in no time. My BT020s lasted all of about 300 miles without severely cupping. 5mm is a very good setting. This increases the aggressiveness of the front end, you get a good cheat on the rake angle, but it doesn't transfer too much weight up front.
