Lowering 2" 81 xj550

HEY GUYS, ok ive had my 81 xj550r seca for about 2 years now. i think i want to lower it two inches on front and rear. my first question is how will this affect the handeling? second, for those of you who have choped the seat up, how does that affect the riding position? keep in mind that Im 6' 1" and 240lbs. will I need to get heavy duty shocks? i found from other posts that I will need 10 and a half inch rear shocks eyelet to eyelet but i have no idea to lower the front shocks. I need to replace my fork seals, so i guess i can do it then. thankx to the magic of photo shop this is how it will look + or- a few cm's.
thank you in advance.

Before
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h19/j ... 1207013899


after
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h19/j ... 1207013810

 

i have some harley shocks on the rear in mine... lowered it about 1.5 inches in the rear and handles soooooo much better... I'd highly recommend looking into it.

 

Mine's lowered 1.5 inches all around...

I recommend as well. Haven't ridden it with the clip-on's yet though.

Shorten your kickstand, though.
Not cool at all what happened to me.

 

I have mine lowerer in the back about 2" or better and it handle just fine. I shortened my shocks by cutting 1" off the springs and it never bttomed out yet, so I figure I did good. PD

 

I lowered my 650 by 2 inches with a set of sportster shocks, they are heavier duty, but since theres still 4 feet of snow here haven't had a chance to ride them yet. I did however put my girlfriend and I on the bike and we bounced it as hard as we could and never came close to bottoming out

 

er, uh, OK... just won't go there :lol:

Way to put her through it's paces, Ace! :wink:

 

Beat me to it, Aldo...

Wonder if my gf would fall for the ol' "gotta test the new shocks" line... :wink:

 

Hate to sound ignorant, but what's the reason for lowering ther rear shocks?

 

I knew it was coming when I posted it, but I was to lazy to think of a better way to say it

 

well i don't want to sit up as high as it is stock. plus from what ive heard, it will improve handling.

 

It depends on what your definition of "improving handling" is

It will make it slower steering for a start

 

If you really think about it, the angle your going to change the steering angle of the front end, isn't going to be much. Maybe 1 degree and that won't make a big difference in handling.
You will be changing the handling more by using solid struts or making it into a hardtail by having no suspension in the rear in my opinion. PD

 

first i'm not a big guy. so i slammed mine and i mean LOW!!!
chopped the frame under the seat and relocated the electric and battery
i'm putting on a new kickstand, as of now i use the old grab bar to hold it up
hehehe. took all the springs off and added a bobber seat for spring and the only thing on the back is my tool bag.
as far as the handling ...... i have no problems at all.
have some pics in recent photos

 

for those of you who have a 2" drop... what kind of tire are you using so you dont have clearance problems?
i spent sonme time on the chop photos so you can get a beter idea of what it will look like
before

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h19/j ... 1207013768

after

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h19/j ... 1207013810

also how do i lower the front end?

 

You undo the bolts on the triple clamps and slide the forks through, untill you get them where you want, making sure of course you stll have enough room to give some suspension travel

 

I lowered the rear over 8"

(However I'll no longer be taking 6 hr cruises)!!

Good luck with the project.Hard Tail

 

I'm using stock height tire in the back, 130 width.

The harley shocks are stiffer, so no problem whatsoever with rubbing or bottoming out. If you do, just adjust the stiffness (I have mine adjusted to the stiffest level).

I've had passengers on my bike with these new shocks and not only did they not bottom out, but they found it more comfortable, believe it or not...
In fact, I think we bottomed out a couple of times on the stock springs, but one of em was close to shot...

To lower the front end just loosen the clamps and push the bars through. This is kinda difficult by yourself so if you're doing it alone make sure the weight is off the front end (obviously) and only loosen enough to allow for a gentle push through the clamps (with a little twist maybe)...

If you're running with the same bars as in your photo then it looks like you can go to town with the drop... but be careful, you CAN lower it too much. I suggest after dropping it an inch (because I can personally say this won't make a HUGE difference), take her for a ride and see what it feels like...

P.S. Here's a tip.. If you're doing this mostly for looks, then I suggest lowering the headlight too. My headlight is dropped 2 inches along with the suspension being down 1.5"... Add to that the new clip-on's and it really beefs up the front end.



Also, in desperate need of a good spit polish.

 

If I lower the rear shocks by either cutting them or replacing them, could I rake out the neck on the front (using stock forks of course) in order to lower the front? Would that work or is my thinking way off?

 

bump

 

Increasing the angle would lower it, yep... I wouldn't touch that with a 10 ft. pole, though...

 

why wouldn't you do that ease? It seems to me it is no different then keeping stock rear end height and raking out the neck with longer forks. It seems the purpose of longer forks is to maintain the level of the frame parallel with the ground. If the rake on the front end is so bad, why a lot of choppers have the raked out front end? I guess I'm not sure how installing longer forks will improve the trail.

 

The way I understand rake is, the actual angle between the steering head and the forks.
If you just make the forks longer the front will be higher but the rake will stay the same.

 

I just mean I wouldn't want to cut the neck of my bike and re-weld it at a different angle (rake it out).

Way too precise a job for my home garage, IMO.

 

hey y'all i am buying 2 inch lower rear shocks and plan to use clip on handlebars. i want to slide the front forks up about 2 inches and put the clip ons ABOVE the triple tree or whatever its called. (my first bike build ever don't have a proper vocabulary yet) will this work? has anybody put clip ons on top like that before? just thinking it will be an appealing look to me. normally if you slide them up with stock bars they will hit the bottom of the bars.

 

For people who have lowered their bikes, did you chop the kick stand, or has anyone found a replacement one to attach?

 

chop and add a foot or heat and bend.

do not forget about rear tire clearance and travel a good bump and your tire hits the fender.

 

thats when you start changing your handling

 

yeah changed my mind on dropping it after i finished hacking a seat hoop together lol. i ordered shocks from Dime City. went with 12.5
and a sweet set of mufflers. still waiting on my bars.