Suspension for Short People
Sheryl Katz
I can once again ruminate on getting a DP bike, especially since I've
been reading the book "Investment Biker" and fantasizing about touring.
Here's the thing. I want a DP bike that could be ridden with reasonable
comfort for a long distance. I don't want to be a serious dirt biker, I
want a bike that when the road turned really bad or turned to dirt would
get me across it. But I want a bike that I could ride all day. That
makes a 225 or 250 not very attractive. What I really want is a 600 or
650. But they are all way too high.
After reading the various email and so forth, it seems to be the solution
might be to get a 650 and get the suspension modified. If I'm not going
to be riding in really horrendous dirt, wouldn't the bike work well
enough for my purposes if I lowered it until the seat was about 31.5
inches, or is this so low that the bike's effectiveness would be
destroyed. What if the shocks I put in were stronger than stock. How
low could I safely get the bike.
I've talked to the Works Performance people here in LA, and they are very
accomodating about making custom shocks. Anyone else who might do it?
Is this a crazy idea? Thanks to everyone who has already given me a
lot of good ideas.
sherry katz
Denis Concordel
slk...@netcom.com (Sheryl Katz) writes:
[.. stuff deleted about wanting a lower DP bike]
> I've talked to the Works Performance people here in LA, and they are very
> accomodating about making custom shocks. Anyone else who might do it?
> Is this a crazy idea? Thanks to everyone who has already given me a
> lot of good ideas.
>
> sherry katz
You probably don't need a custom shock... just a modified one... I have
seen several DP bikes that had been modified to lower the seat height.
For starter, you can cut some foam off the seat (either DIY or any good
upholstery shop will do it). Depending on the seat and on how much
abuse your rear is willing to take, you can probably get between 1 to 2
inches worth right there. I think Corbin makes some seats for DP bikes
that are lower that stock... you might want to check that too.
You can get another 1/2" by raising the fork tubes in the triple clamps
until they hit the bar. That will modify slightly the bike geometry
(quicker steering, less stable), but most of the DP bikes are so
conservative in the rake angle that it shouldn't make much of a
difference.
The next thing (if the bike is still to high) is to find a good
suspension shop and have them insert spacers in the fork and the shock.
This will prevent the suspension to fully extend reducing the seat
height further. The drawback is that it will limit the travel of the
suspension of the same amount. This should not be much of a problem
unless you get into heavy duty off road (which from your post wasn't
the idea) or you weight considerably more that your height would
suggest ;-0.
Modifiying the shock on a DP bike can be tricky since most of them are
not 'rebuidable'. That's why a good suspension shop should do the
work. You can contact Jim Lindemann in Campbell, CA (tel. available
upon request!).
Good luck,
Denis
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Denis Concordel - de...@apldbio.com - AMA#674858 Dist36#308T |
| Don't need no stinking DoD# |
| XT 600 Superbiker - Husaberg FE501 - YZinger50 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Disclaimer: Opinions expressed above might not ,,, |
| reflect the one of my employer. (o o) |
+____________________________________________oOO__( )__OOo___________+
Thumper!
: Here's the thing. I want a DP bike that could be ridden with reasonable
: want a bike that when the road turned really bad or turned to dirt would
: get me across it. But I want a bike that I could ride all day. That
: makes a 225 or 250 not very attractive. What I really want is a 600 or
: 650. But they are all way too high.
The trouble is, in my opinion, that you're try to combine two mutually
exclusive things (touring and off-road ability) in one motorcycle.
In 1991, I rode from the Mexico border on the I-5, and then went up to the
Canadian border on a KLR650. My friend who accompained me was on a DR650.
As touring bikes, they lacked badly in three areas. I'll confine myself to
my experience on the KLR, which was actually better than the DR. Everything
I point applies in a slightly more negative fashion for the DR.
1) The seat is marrow, even considering the seat on the KLR is the
plushiest and softest of any DP bike I've ever ridden. This could likely be
changed by going to a Corbin seat, though.
2) VIBRATION! Lots of Vibration. Even though the KLR is a liquid cooled
motor, and I had a "bar snake" and foam grips on the bike, it made the
vibration basically tolerable for 75 mile stretches. We typically rode the
last 15 of that 75 mile hops staring at the odometer. :)
3) HEADSHAKE! In stock form at 70-75 miles an hour (the max you can really
survive at with stock gearing), the bikes were prone to mild headshake on
bad sections of freeways and highways. NOT a fun thing. A Scotts damper
would help that out, I would expect, but again, there's another $428 you
have to spend.
Overall, that trip was a fun trip, because it was an adventure. We got
great comments and looks out of people, especially once we got to
Washington. :) Mostly expressions of disbelief that there were people THAT
crazy out there.
What I'm saying is that NO DP bike is going to be a great or even (by normal
people standards) adequate touring machine. It can do the job, much the
same way that a '61 Lincoln without power steering or air conditioning can
manage in Downtown traffic, but you would never be able to create a "touring
bike."
For that reason, I would suggest you go with the Honda NX250. It's a very
smooth liquid cooled 4 stroke, lower seat height without spending tons of
money on suspension, and has fire-trail ground clearence.
One other possibility (but one with which I have no experience) is the Honda
Transalp. It's got a nice V-twin, can handle fire-trails, and would
probably be the best on the road.
--
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
Thumper! thu...@netcom.com
Flying Fish Racing FishTek Racing Products
Everywhere in the Southwest Custom machining and fabrication
And sometimes just "out there!" FishTek ...
Where speed is of the essence.
Ayrton Senna / Davey Allison / Stefan Bellof / and others ... rest in peace
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
J. Holland
>Sheryl Katz (slk...@netcom.com) wrote:
>: Here's the thing. I want a DP bike that could be ridden with reasonable
>: comfort for a long distance. I don't want to be a serious dirt biker, I
>: want a bike that when the road turned really bad or turned to dirt would
>: get me across it. But I want a bike that I could ride all day. That
>: makes a 225 or 250 not very attractive. What I really want is a 600 or
>: 650. But they are all way too high.
>
>
>What I'm saying is that NO DP bike is going to be a great or even (by normal
>people standards) adequate touring machine. It can do the job, much the
>same way that a '61 Lincoln without power steering or air conditioning can
>manage in Downtown traffic, but you would never be able to create a "touring
>bike."
>
>For that reason, I would suggest you go with the Honda NX250. It's a very
>smooth liquid cooled 4 stroke, lower seat height without spending tons of
>money on suspension, and has fire-trail ground clearence.
>
>One other possibility (but one with which I have no experience) is the Honda
>Transalp. It's got a nice V-twin, can handle fire-trails, and would
>probably be the best on the road.
>--
>=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
>Thumper! thu...@netcom.com
>=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
For the application that you have in mind, don't rule out some of the
european offers like the BMW GS series or some of the Italian
stallions.
These bikes have adequate ground clearance to negotiate the kind of
obstacles you may find, are infinately more comfortable and stable on
the highway, have greater range and luggage capacity.
Although I would reccomend off-road training on a "real" dirt bike
(small, light and hard to damage) before attempting it on the heavier
bike. Once these skills are developed you will transition easily to
the more touring oriented mount.
I have been riding dirt for over twenty years and street for nearly as
long and find great fun in amazing people with what can be done
off-road on what most folks think of as street bikes. Specifically a
1000cc Harley Sporster (the biggest dirt bike I ever owned) and my BMW
K75C.
Have fun, John
Jeff Dunham
|> While I'm sitting here waiting for the caste to come off my broken ankle
|> I can once again ruminate on getting a DP bike, especially since I've
|> been reading the book "Investment Biker" and fantasizing about touring.
|>
|> Here's the thing. I want a DP bike that could be ridden with reasonable
|> comfort for a long distance. I don't want to be a serious dirt biker, I
|> want a bike that when the road turned really bad or turned to dirt would
|> get me across it. But I want a bike that I could ride all day. That
|> makes a 225 or 250 not very attractive. What I really want is a 600 or
|> 650. But they are all way too high.
|>
|> After reading the various email and so forth, it seems to be the solution
|> might be to get a 650 and get the suspension modified. If I'm not going
|> to be riding in really horrendous dirt, wouldn't the bike work well
|> enough for my purposes if I lowered it until the seat was about 31.5
|> inches, or is this so low that the bike's effectiveness would be
|> destroyed. What if the shocks I put in were stronger than stock. How
|> low could I safely get the bike.
|>
|> I've talked to the Works Performance people here in LA, and they are very
|> accomodating about making custom shocks. Anyone else who might do it?
|> Is this a crazy idea? Thanks to everyone who has already given me a
|> lot of good ideas.
|>
I have had a bad experience with works performance. Scott's Performance
Products has a good reputation. Race-Tech is another company that has
a very good reputation for suspension mods and tuning.
BTW you don't need to replace the shock, they can install shims and
shorten the springs (front) to lower the bike...
Jeff
--
jeff dunham 1994 KX250-K1
jdu...@wv.mentorg.com 1993 XR250R
(503)685-4835
Edward Walsh
: What I really want is a 600 or
: 650. But they are all way too high.
The shortest 600 DP I know of is the Yamaha XT600. I have about a relatively
short inseam and it works for me. The others were too tall. '84~'89 models
were kick start. From '90 on models are electric start but weigh about 50
pounds more.
Oversize fuel tanks are available from two manufacturers.
You might also try an XT350.
Also, Corbin makes saddles for some years of the XT. You could probably
get a lower one, particularly by visiting the shop.
-----------------------Edward Walsh----Hewlett-Packard Company-------------
e...@boi.hp.com Disk Memory Division, MS475---------
(208)396-2174 P.O. Box 15 Boise,Idaho 83707------
Yam:89FJ12,86SRX6,84XT600,82XZ550RJ-Vision;75Guz850T
Sheryl Katz
>Sheryl Katz (slk...@netcom.com) wrote:
>: Here's the thing. I want a DP bike that could be ridden with reasonable
>: comfort for a long distance. I don't want to be a serious dirt biker, I
>
>exclusive things (touring and off-road ability) in one motorcycle.
>
>great comments and looks out of people, especially once we got to
>Washington. :) Mostly expressions of disbelief that there were people THAT
>crazy out there.
>
>What I'm saying is that NO DP bike is going to be a great or even (by normal
>people standards) adequate touring machine. It can do the job, much the
>same way that a '61 Lincoln without power steering or air conditioning can
>manage in Downtown traffic, but you would never be able to create a "touring
>bike."
>
>For that reason, I would suggest you go with the Honda NX250. It's a very
>smooth liquid cooled 4 stroke, lower seat height without spending tons of
>money on suspension, and has fire-trail ground clearence.
>
>One other possibility (but one with which I have no experience) is the Honda
>Transalp. It's got a nice V-twin, can handle fire-trails, and would
>probably be the best on the road.
>--
thing is that I live 2.5 hours from the Mexican border and go to Baja
every chance I get. My fantasy is that I can ride the DP bike from here
to Tijuana and then ride it around down there. I can't imagine doing
that on a 250; I don't even want to ride my Ninja 250 to San Diego. So
if I got a 250 I'd need to trailer it to the places that I want to ride.
There are also some roads within a 150 mile radius of LA that I long to
ride on a DP bike. Again, I don't want to trailer it there. It may be,
in the end that buying a 250 and trailering it to the good stuff is the
right answer. Since I currently can't ride at all, I can just fantasize
right now.
sherry katz
Thumper!
: I have had a bad experience with works performance. Scott's Performance
: Products has a good reputation. Race-Tech is another company that has
: a very good reputation for suspension mods and tuning.
: BTW you don't need to replace the shock, they can install shims and
: shorten the springs (front) to lower the bike...
I also has a bad experience with Works performance. Right before the '91
road trip on the KLR, the shock unit blew out entirely. I went to Works
Performance, and they said they could build me a replacement in 1 week.
Needless to say, it took them 2 1/2 weeks to come up the replacement,
meaning we had to install it the night before we were going to leave. Not
so bad. Until we put it in and discovered that the hole for the linkage pin
was too small. Having no time, we removed the unit and machined the hole
larger ourselves (nice to have the equipment at times like that). The shock
itself worked fine, but I was very dissapointed in Works performance.
Steve
Linas Dauksa
|> In article <slkatzCv...@netcom.com>, slk...@netcom.com (Sheryl Katz) writes:
|> |> While I'm sitting here waiting for the caste to come off my broken ankle
|> |> I can once again ruminate on getting a DP bike, especially since I've
|> |> been reading the book "Investment Biker" and fantasizing about touring.
|> |>
|> |> Here's the thing. I want a DP bike that could be ridden with reasonable
|> |> comfort for a long distance. I don't want to be a serious dirt biker, I
|> |> want a bike that when the road turned really bad or turned to dirt would
|> |> get me across it. But I want a bike that I could ride all day. That
|> |> makes a 225 or 250 not very attractive. What I really want is a 600 or
|> |> 650. But they are all way too high.
|> |>
|> My choice in this category would be a used honda trans-alp.
|>
I would also recommend a Trans-Alp (but I'm biased, I own one).
I just came back from an 1800 km ride through the Adorondacks and
the green mountains of Vermont and was pleased with how well the
bike handled on the road & dirt (I had a lot of lugguge).
The seat height may be a problem - I am comfortable with the bike, but I
am 5'10". My friend is 5'6" and is not comforatble on the bike. A lower
seat would help.
Let me know if you want more info on the TransAlp.
Linas
Mike Chaplin
>Here's the thing. I want a DP bike that could be ridden with reasonable
>comfort for a long distance. I don't want to be a serious dirt biker, I
>want a bike that when the road turned really bad or turned to dirt would
>get me across it. But I want a bike that I could ride all day. That
>makes a 225 or 250 not very attractive. What I really want is a 600 or
>650. But they are all way too high.
If you want a 600/650 then you should look closely at Yamaha's XT600 or
Kawasaki's KLR650. The seat heights are 33.7" (XT) and 34.3" (KLR). I
too have been looking at all of the rice-burner DP models, and I can get
my toes on the ground on both bikes without dropping the rear-shock
preloads to the minimums. WITH this adjustment, you may be able ride
either, or at least the Yamaha. My inseam is 29-30".
_______________________________________________________________________________
Mike Chaplin | cha...@netcom.com | ZX10 "The Endorphin Express"
Concord, CA, | mcha...@llnl.gov | CX650Turbo "The Boost Brothers"
DoD # 1067 | MSMC & S.F. Northstars | TL364 "Rubicon Rock Crawler"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"If you can't run with the big dogs, ya gotta sit on the porch ..." unknown