Suspension > Suspension

Lowered seat height

(1/3) > >>

trailpioneer:
I finally decided it was time to lower my 2014 because of several reasons. Looking at 70 years old. Short stature 5' 7". Hip replacement this winter. Plus I added a Seat Concepts seat. While it isn't any taller, it is wider which spreads your legs farther apart. I don't have a problem riding once I'm moving, it's getting on and off, plus stopping at stop signs without falling over.

I decided to lower it 50mm or about 2" overall. The forks were relatively easy to do. Completely disassembled them and made a 50mm long delron spacer that slides on the damper rod below the rebound stack. This reduces how far the fork can extend by 50mm. With travel shortened the spring is now 50mm too long. Instead of buying shorter springs which are next to impossible to find for these forks I noted that the spring base on the damper rod is held on by a snap ring groove. Chucked the rod in the lathe and moved down 50mm and cut a new groove. Reassembled the forks and put back on the bike. Cost. $3.00 for the delron.

The shock was harder to do, but still not bad. Most of the time was spent getting the shock off the bike. Could KTM have made it any more inaccessible? You need a good spanner tool to loosen the lock nuts. It's a stiff spring and they are preloaded by 20mm. I took the shock apart and dumped the oil. I made a 15mm long delron spacer to slide on the shaft below the compression and rebound stacks. The length of the spacer was determined by putting the shock back on the bike without the spring and measuring how far the shaft moved while compressing the seat 50mm. I don't have the proper equipment to bleed the air out of the oil or recharge the nitrogen so I took it to my local KTM dealer for this. Put the spring back on and reinstalled on the bike. Cost $50.00

I've ridden the bike about 200 miles since I lowered it and can say I'm really happy with it. I can't get my feet flat on the ground, but I can get the balls of both feet down when stopped. No more rocking from one side to the other on my tiptoes. I don't notice any less quality of suspension action and it doesn't bottom out, but I'm not pounding it over offroad conditions like I do with my 350 race bike.

Proslider777:
Great report Trailpioneer.  Good to see you still riding (I'm 67) and have 29" inseam.  Going the 1.625" Kouba Link route (in transit).  A little worried about tire rub - more later.

SLAP75:

--- Quote from: Proslider777 on April 07, 2016, 11:18:03 am ---Great report Trailpioneer.  Good to see you still riding (I'm 67) and have 29" inseam.  Going the 1.625" Kouba Link route (in transit).  A little worried about tire rub - more later.

--- End quote ---

i've had the kouba link sitting here for months, just haven't had time to put it on.  i did read that they shortened it a bit to prevent bottoming......

from their site:
*Note:  We have available 2 lengths of the KTM690 links which are (pictured below left)  We have also shortened the the "KTM8" link slightly so as not to allow the tire to bottom on the fuel tank as easily. The tire still may touch if bottomed very hard and/or are running the large knobby tires with this "KTM8-2" link.  The link with KTM8-2 engraved on the sides are the new shorter ones and replace the old "KTM8" link which is no longer available from us.

let us know how it works out for you....also, i think the kickstand needs to have 2in. cut off of it. 

Jetgreg:
Curious if anyone has used the Tractive Suspension Adventure shock or the Tractive Suspension Overland shock offered by Rally Raid to get the seat (ride) height down. They claim about an 1' and 1/4 reduction.

ShakeWell:

Some info that might be useful;

My riding buddy is lacking on inseam which initially scared him off from our beloved 690's. However, after riding with me a few dozen times and the increase in lowering options, he has now moved from 'considering' buying a 690/701 to figuring out when he'll be making the purchase. He has a Husky 650 Strata now so I'm thinking he'll go for the blue/yellow/white bike.

However, directly after purchase of the bike, he's going to go with a lower seat from SeatConcepts and also sending his forks and shock to Enduro Engineering. Since I've been following suspension for our bikes the last couple of years, I've noticed EE seems to be sustaining good reviews for their work and now have "lowering" as a very prominent option.

Both mods will total less than $1,000usd and get him a great bike with a seat height that he feels more comfortable with when on pavement.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page