Height adjustment on a KX250
Joe Couto
Queen has only one problem.... she is a tall one. I am 5' 6" tall and
weigh 160 pounds. So while riding I am loving life. When I stop or
dump it on a muddy slope, not so good. I find myself doing the
complicated "one tiptoe and keep your balance while jumping to kick over
a beast" ballet! I am ok at it but it really is tiring so I was
wondering if anyone out there has any advice on lowering a bike like
mine. Can I make adjustments the the height of the rear shock so that I
can get both tip toes on the ground? Maybe some sag in the suspension?
And what effect will that have on the feel of the suspension when I
ride and/or jump? Thanks for any advice.
Joe
01' KX250
Anssi Lehtinen
> mine. Can I make adjustments the the height of the rear shock so that I
> can get both tip toes on the ground? Maybe some sag in the suspension?
If you just increase sag, it will make your bike handle like crap plus it
won't lower the bike a whole lot.
The correct way to lower suspension is get new linkage parts in the back
and maybe only new (shorter) springs in the front. Needless to say, this is
not exactly inexpensive. If you are going to keep your bike for a while, it
might be worth to do this and have the suspension set up for you at the
same time. If done like this, the suspension will probably feel better than
stock.
A cheaper way is to get low seat foam, but that will at most get you maybe
an inch, and that's pushing it.
--
Anssi
520 SX
Dudley Cornman
The first is to have the internals of the suspension changed.
There are lowering links available for some bikes (usually drops about 3/4")
KTM owners often shorten the lower rear subframe members by 5 to 8mm
resulting in an inch or inch and a half drop.
shorter seat foam
"Joe Couto" <jco...@bayarea.net> wrote in message
news:3C34BA84...@bayarea.net...
MX Tuner
<Dudley....@eku.edu> wrote:
>Dropping the sag is not the way to do it...
>
>
>The first is to have the internals of the suspension changed.
>There are lowering links available for some bikes (usually drops about 3/4")
>KTM owners often shorten the lower rear subframe members by 5 to 8mm
>resulting in an inch or inch and a half drop.
>shorter seat foam
Yeah, but the lower links accomplish this by changing the rear
suspension ratios. Not good.
By far the *best* way to do it is all internally. You add a spacer
inside the shock under the top out bumper. Doing this 1/2" will result
in a seat height 1 1/2" lower since there is a 3:1 ratio from shock
shaft travel to rear axle travel.
The forks need to be shortened the exact same amount to preserve
handling traits. You (well, *I* have anyways) use ascending diameters
of rubber tubing to create one fat spacer that goes on top of the top
out spring inside the cartridge.
On bikes with full length fork springs (virtually all Jap bikes),
you'll need to either have your stock springs shortened or get shorter
springs. Shortening your existing springs will increase their
effective rate. The rear spring can be readjusted to compensate for
the shorter length as long as it is within the adjustment range (about
1" or so- normally plenty of room for "normal" shortened ranges).
Doing it this way will result in a normal handling bike with normal
suspension. In other words, you won't create any problems that you
would doing it any other way. Cutting the seat foam just results in a
seat with less padding- not good unless you stand up all the time.
MX Tuner
Brian McGarry
"MX Tuner" <mxt...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
some snipage applied:
>
> Yeah, but the lower links accomplish this by changing the rear
> suspension ratios. Not good.
>
> By far the *best* way to do it is all internally. You add a spacer
> inside the shock under the top out bumper. Doing this 1/2" will result
> in a seat height 1 1/2" lower since there is a 3:1 ratio from shock
> shaft travel to rear axle travel.
>
> The forks need to be shortened the exact same amount to preserve
> handling traits.
I have the rear suspension modification Mark detailed above on my KX250
(lowered the shock internally). The Front shocks <stupid face crap> I left
stock and moved the fork tubes up in the stock triple clamp. Using Pro-taper
bars with their stock triple clamp mounting kit the Fork tubes can be raised
about 1 1/2 inch. At 6'3" my goal was different than yours.
I wanted a lower center-of-gravity trail bike.
Mark or anyone else, is my suspension balanced? Since I didn't change the
internals of the Forks.
Brian
MX Tuner
wrote:
>I have the rear suspension modification Mark detailed above on my KX250
>(lowered the shock internally). The Front shocks <stupid face crap> I left
>stock and moved the fork tubes up in the stock triple clamp. Using Pro-taper
>bars with their stock triple clamp mounting kit the Fork tubes can be raised
>about 1 1/2 inch. At 6'3" my goal was different than yours.
>I wanted a lower center-of-gravity trail bike.
>Mark or anyone else, is my suspension balanced? Since I didn't change the
>internals of the Forks.
How much did they shorten the shock? Moving the forks up the same
amount would work okay but the big killer for that is the front tire
usually ends up hitting the fender in near-bottoming situations.
MX Tuner
Brian McGarry
About an inch.
Thanks for the info, thought it was OK the way I did it, just wanted to make
sure.
Brian