Lowering info and experience please guys.
 

Well I finally picked up the bike yesterday and after what is possibly the longest ever transaction in the history of bike sales (at least an hour) and I was riding home on my new bike.

I love it, great to ride and loads of fun in the country lanes, I think I need to get into cruising a bit more as the buffeting was quite bad but then I was doing 85mph and realised I should slow down a bit and enjoy the scenery, my last bike was an R1 and everything was done in a rush....

Anyway, I'm only 5'7 and need to lower it a bit, I've only just got my tip toes on the floor so it needs to be done.

How low should I go ? I hear that when you add the lowering bones it increases the leverage on the suspension and it can go down more than you want it to.

I was thinking 50mm ? anyone dropped it by 50 and how did it go ?

I will be dropping the front too to keep the balance.

any help welcome guys and thanks in advance...

I went down 50mm on my XTR...
was great....
BUT....
I dented the MM pipe with the brake caliper & smashed the
inner guard under full suspention compression..
I now have it set at 30mm lower..
I made my own links..
every 10mm longer drops the rear 25mm..

I think the XTZ is diffrent....

How does the side stand cope after lowering by about 30mm?


Sent from my iPhone with a smile :)

i would say 30mm the limit before you need to shorten it..
it can still be a pain on uneven ground...
i have taken 50mm out of mine the extra lean
makes it easyer to thow yer leg over...

I would wait a few months, you might change your mind. I am not so tall so ive had to consider new boots and how i handle the bike.

+1 There are many riders of your height who get on fine with the XTZ after they've got used to it and modified their mounting/dismounting and riding techniques.

That would probably be a good rule of thumb on a showroom fresh bike, but once the Ten's done a few miles the shock settles and eventually begins to sag. By 5K miles mine was getting very precarious on the side stand on anything other than dead flat ground, and that's without having lowered the suspension.

Hi chaps, thanks for info so far....

The bike is 4300 miles old so not brand new and has maybe had time to sag a bit.

I'm definitely going to lower it a bit as it just doesn't feel safe not being able to get a decent foot print on the floor.

What I'm after is any experience from guys who have lowered the bike, I hear that the TDM dog bones fit and lower the tenere a bit, any idea on that anyone ?

Thanks again.:confused:

I have dropped my XTZ by 50mm using
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3508359837...84.m1439.l2649 (Brilliant service & next day delivery)
and dropped the forks through the yolks by (from memory) about 20mm.

Also backed off the preload at the front completely & reduced the sidestand length by 20mm.

With hindsight, 20mm wasn't enough. Ok on flat hard standing, but a bit to upright most of the time. I might wind the preload back up a bit to get the lean on the stand. Also, it's a REAL effort to get the bike onto the centre stand now!

I did all this because I collected the XT660Z brand new, 60 miles into my 1st ride between Bala & Trawnsfynyd on a single track road, went to dismount to open a cattle gate, heel caught the seat and I found myself on the brink of falling backwards down a hillside, possibly with the bike following me. Ripped my left arm tendons trying to hold the bike (3 weeks on and still painful). Hence the mods.

I'm going to splash out on a kahedo low seat as I find the standard seat the most uncomfy seat on any bike I have ever owned.

Having said all that, I love the bike. Can't wait for it to be run in. Hope this helps

I see your thinking.... which would apply to 99 out of a 100 bikes...
But wheather new or done 100,000k it still should have the same static sag
it's part of setting the suspention...

Not necessarily. A weakened spring (which is what the Z suffers from) means that the spring rate is lowered as each coil sits slightly closer to the next. So the static sag reduces at a directly proportional rate to that at which the spring rate is reduced (by stress, fatigue and collapsing coil spacing.)

On the Z, most owners find that this manifests itself as having to dial in more and more preload as the bike mileage builds up just to keep static and dynamic sag within the correct range... Until you run out of preload adjustment, and ultimately need a spring or shock change.