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Showing results for tags 'LoweringKits'.
Found 32 results
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Pumpkin powered people eater. -
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First bike. Still learning, but I think it's perfect for a beginner like me. -
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Best lowering link on the market? One better the other?
bigredpiggy posted a topic in XR600R & XR650R/L
1997 xr650l, would like to lower it bout an inch. i don't want to shave the seat and I already made the adjustments to my suspension. I would like to pick one up at the end of today and just curious as I see different models and diff manufactures, was curious if there was an outstanding model or a reasoning for getting one verses the other, thanks for the feedback ahead of time. Cheers, safe riding. -
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Typical Honda both the good and bad. Feels like a nice improvement over my previous '05 CRF250R -
Having trouble tuning your suspension with a lowering link?
motoinmoab posted an article in Articles
The longer your links are, the more they lower your seat, and the more they affect your suspension: The rear end gets too soft. Lowering links increase the leverage, or compressive force, applied to the shock as it travels thru the stroke. The different components that make up the rear suspension linkage are very well engineered and balanced by the factories. Changing any one piece affects the overall function. The lowering link introduces a longer lever arm into the heart of the linkage mechanism, applying greater force to the spring and compression damping circuits. They make the ride more plush initially, and much softer near the end of the stroke. The links that drop the seat more than 1” usually work good for someone who doesn't ride really hard, like a dual sported bike that sees dirt roads and trails at moderate speeds. But when you turn up the speed, or hit rougher trails, these links will soften the rear end too much. If you are frequently bottoming your suspension, you’ve got too long of a link for these conditions. Now the fun part begins: Tuning. The longer links are a fairly aggressive modification to your suspension’s design, you’ll have to spend some more time and money to make it ride right again. Although this is one of the easiest ways to get your feet closer to the ground, the suspension action is greatly compromised. For more aggressive trail riders, the links that lower 1” or less will usually work OK, without softening your effective spring rate too much. With the links that lower more than that, the ride gets too soft for you: The bike will most likely bottom out hard on your bigger hits, especially when jumping, and in deep compression G-outs like crossing a wash. If you’re having these problems with one of the shorter links, the following suggestions should help get your butt bouncing back under control. Any lowering link for heavy riders, or race speeds, can easily overpower the shock and it will blow through the travel. The rear end really needs to be stiffened up. The easy adjustments that you can make are somewhat limited: Adding Preload to the spring doesn't change the overall strength of the spring, it only affects the initial stiffness, and can seriously affect steering. Preload is the “Race Sag” adjustment, and not the proper way to correct for the lowering link effects. And the “Free Sag” measurement, for determining proper spring rate, can’t be used with a link. It will measure out that you need a softer spring when you really need a stiffer one. A Stiffer Spring may help, at least it sounds right in theory. But the increase in force applied to the spring isn’t necessarily linear, it varies with different bike models, and the force can increase through the compression stroke. As I said before, you’re messing with the heart of the design. While a new spring alone isn’t guaranteed to get your good ride back, it can help a lot. Another important point: Have you checked to make sure that you have the correct springs for your weight? Springs that are too soft initially will compound the link issues. Check out the RaceTech Spring Rate Calculator, and figure you will need to add at least a couple of steps heavier. (I tried a 1 1/4” lowering link on my Suzuki, went up from the stock 5.3kg to a 5.7kg, it wasn’t enough.) The link only affects the rear spring, you don’t need to get stiffer fork springs to match if they’re good now. Adjusting your Compression Damping will help, but you are limited by the range of the adjusters, which might not be enough. Turn in your compression adjusters a lot, high and low speed if your shock has both. These adjusters really affect the ride, so you will probably need to play with them a few times until you find an adjustment that you like. If you need help understanding how to tune your suspension, the ThumperTalk store sells a good DVD on the subject. Too much compression damping and a weak spring will make your bike ride terrible. Another option is to ship your shock off to a tuner, who will take it apart and change the internal damping shims to a stiffer moto or SX like ride. I've spoken with a couple of tuners about this, they didn’t like tuning for lowering links, they prefer to shorten the shock stroke to lower the seat height. That service is more expensive than a simple link modification, and you will lose some travel. Many riders that have tried both methods preferred shortening the shock and forks, and resold their links. The factory designers aren’t idiots, they’ve designed a good working suspension, and the linkage components are balanced to each other. The real problem is just that they are all too tall. If they had short legs like us, we’d get a good fitting bike off the showroom floor. Anything we do to lower the seat height, afterwards, will have an effect on the quality of the ride. If you can’t make your bike ride right with the lowering link, you do have some other options you can try. Read this article about Lowering your seat height for more ideas. -
5 reviews
DESCRIPTION Don't be fooled by other lowering links that only lower your XR a 1/2 inch. XR's Only Lowering Link provides you with a true 1-1/2 inch of lowering and is the only lowering link available today that provides a lower seat height for your XR650L without sacrificing any rebound or damping and does so without having to open up your shock. And as for an added performance and maintenance bonus, XR's Only equips each XR's Only Lowering Link with the additional performance feature not found in many stock applications. We equip our lowering links with zerk fittings for the ease of greasing your bearings. FITS: Honda XR250R (86-95), XR350R (85), XL600R (83-87), XR600R (85-2000), XR650L(95-up) -
9 reviews
GENERAL INFORMATION Kouba lowering link (CRF250L-2) will lower the rear 1.75". Comes with bearings and seals installed for a quick and easy installation. Instructions included. -
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Got to admit this is one hot ride, Even tho it's not as fast or great off road to it's rival's. It's Worth the least but looks and performs GREAT! Not a great off road bike but on road, Dragging knee all day! -
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Amazing bike. First FI bike, not missing the carb one bit. Clean manageable power. Had some flame out issues when I first got it, but after adding a Yoshi exhaust and getting the ECU remapped by Toyko mods that issue is gone. Ditched the Dunlops MX51s and went with MX32s and couldn't be happier. Love it so much I had to go all out making it a one of a kind. Tore it completely apart and got the frame, swingarm, skid plate, rad braces, and triple clamps anodized black. -
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Great "all around" bike. -
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Love it -
1 review
World's #1 selling Yamaha lowering link with a grease zerk! YamaLink guarantees every YZ WR and TTR lowering link bearing will last longer than you own the bike or we'll replace them for FREE. -
1 review
CNC machined from 6061 T6 Billet Aluminum Lower the frame for easier mounting and control for smaller riders Increase aerodynamics for speed and performance Polished for a show look Include holes for adjusting ride height as noted in chart (Hole 1=1in. means Hole 1 lowers the bike 1in., etc.) Fully adjustable fitments have a larger range of lowering capabilities -
Ok I was thinking of buying a lowering link and a tall seat next payday so I can turn better and grip the seat better with my knees but I'm 6'2 so I was wondering if this is a weird thing to do? I think I would go with the ride engineering yz125 performance link and a tall seat. But is this a weird thing yo do for a track bike?
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There are several ways to lower your bike, from cheap to expensive. All have their advantages and issues. Warning: When you lower the bike, your frame and foot pegs go down. Do only as much as you have to, you will bash your skid plate and kick bad stuff that others will clear. The cheapest thing you can do is cut your seat foam. You can do this yourself, it's pretty easy, but you’ll need a very powerful stapler to put your cover back on. Take out 1" to 1 1/2" and you'll really feel the difference, in height and comfort There are many companies that sell a lower seat pad with a wider profile and more comfortable foam, I’ve used Seat Concepts and like it much more than when I just cut down my stock foam. You’ll notice immediately that when sitting you've just raised your bars and tightened up your knee bend. Some people don't like that, while others feel better balanced sitting lower into the bike. Also reasonably cheap and easy is a lowering link. I've used a Kouba Link on a couple of my bikes, there are several other manufacturers of lowering links out there. They’re very easy to install and don’t cost too much for most bikes. Usually several different lengths are available, but the more you drop the seat the more it affects your suspension travel. You’re changing the length of a lever arm in the middle of a very complex mechanical system. Here’s a quote from the Kouba site FAQ’s: “They put more leverage on the rear spring and make the rear more compliant on the small stuff but may require a heavier rear spring to help prevent bottoming if a rider is very aggressive.” In my experience the model that drops your seat about 1" is the best compromise, going more than that and the suspension tuning and steering problems can start to arise. If you’re not a real aggressive rider, lowering links are great. If you ride “race pace” then you might need to buy a stiffer rear spring. A new spring makes this mod a lot more expensive. You can take your suspension to a specialist shop and they will put spacers inside your forks and shock. These will restrict the overall length of your shocks, lowering your whole bike by reducing the amount of travel you have available. This service will require new fork springs, and can include custom tuning the suspension valving for how you ride. Cost runs from $500 to $800, and you lose some travel, but if you’re a trail rider with a harsh MX suspension, this mod can take care of both issues. I have lowered the suspension on 3 of my bikes over the years and never liked the ride as much as stock. I cut them down from 1” to 1 1/2” and used 3 different Well Known companies. Many riders post that they Love this mod, posting “Best Money I Spent On My Bike!” A different rear tire can lower your seat a lot. The typical 110/100x18 knobbie is a tall tire, racing has proven the need for that tall sidewall design. If you don’t race, a Dunlop D606 is a much lower profile dual sport tire, 120/90x18, that is still very aggressive in the dirt and DOT legal also. Some riders choose to cut their sub-frame. You cut out a small (+/-1/4”) piece of the diagonal strut of the sub-frame and weld it back together. Be Careful- too much and you will bottom your tire into your fender before you use full travel. The subframe and seat will now slope backwards a little; a friend did this to his KTM and it felt weird to me. The back of the seat got lower, the front not so much. Lower the bike too much and your kick stand will be too long. If you ride aggressively off road, lowering the suspension a lot can come at quite a cost in ride quality. And speaking from personal experience- I’ve had my feet swept off the pegs by rocks and in deep ruts that everyone else cleared on their taller bikes. And that shit hurts.
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First off-excellent site. Glad I found it! I'm thinking about installing a Kouba Lowering Link. The specs say it will lower my '04 CRF450R rear end about 1.7". The bike sits a bit high for me and I was thinking this might be a quick fix. Any advice or opinions either way would be appreciated. Thanks, Ron
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1 review
Lower center of gravity for quicker ETs and improved rider confidence 2 or 3 positions for quick/repeatable adjustments Adjust seat height from stock to slammed for drag strip use CNC machined from 6061 T-6 billet aluminum -
2 reviews
Designed to improve rear suspension action by allowing rider to lengthen or shorten the pull rod Lengthening pull rod will lower rear and soften linkage ratio Shortening pull rod will raise rear and stiffen linkage ratio Comes with seals and bearings -
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I love it. Faster than I can ride it and just feels good both on a track and on the trail too. Perfect the only thing I wish for is electric start but not hard to start really. -
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Great bike for trails.
