Lower The front

Anyone know how to take the air out of the front shocks to lower the bike?

 

Removing the air wont significantly lower the bike. It is there as a preload to aid in handling.

Not sure about your bike, but mine has a tube coming off the left fork tube, and jumpering over to the right.

Jim

 

Jim is right Darth, the air in the forks is strictly for adjusting the pressure for the damping action. It will do nothing for ride height.

 

K thanks for the info

 

what the best way to lower it then, Thanks

 

If you're running stock bars (i.e. Not Clip-On's) you won't be able to get much lowering out of this method - But have you tried pushing the forks up through the trees a bit?

Caution though - lowering your front end can cause some instability. I've been told to lower them very slightly at a time and test-riding to make sure the bike still handles halfway-decent.

 

Sliding the fork tubes on a non-air adjusted unit is not really a problem. But if the forks are like the 650L that I have, you can't do this, the air adjustment collars won't line up correctly, leaving the air ports exposed. My suggestion is the expensive route, Forking By Frank. He'll build them to order.
I hope your air adjustment is the collars on top of the forks, not below the top triple yoke. Good luck on the effort.

 

I can vouch for this. I lowered my forks 3/4 of an inch, and the difference in handling was incredibly noticeable. The handlebars are a lot more rigid now when moving faster than 5 mph. It's actually kinda nice.

 

yeah mines are also push up through the tree a little bit...although I have yet to try it out on handling..

 

Im wanting to lower the whole bike in genral. whats the best way to do that?

 

Well if you've ever ridden a buell firebolt (XB12R) you know what lowered/shortened front ends fell like... Once you get used to it it's lots of fun - but if you mess up it can be pretty bad... May I suggest a steering damper?

You'll probably have to buy new, shorter, rear shocks, and push the forks up through the trees a bit (may require clip-on's or some kind of a riser on your handlebars).

Other way is to get lowering blocks for the rear (they look ugly and I'm not sure if they make them for XJ's... but you can get them for Honda CB's), and as was stated above rebuild your forks (or buy shorter ones off of another bike).

Cheap: Lowering blocks and push forks up.
Expensive: New rear shocks and rebuilt forks.

My Plan: Shocks off of my brother's - fiance's - father's - sporty and pushing the forks through the trees (and putting clip-on's on the exposed fork above the tree).

 

Carefully! The way the suspension is set up affects handling, breaking and high speed stability. Done right it can make a big difference, done wrong, well ouch.

You would need to get shorter rear springs. A couple have replaced the rear shocks with struts to make a lowered "hard-tail"

There are a few bikes on here that have been choppered, hopefully someone with experience in this will be able to help more.

You could also ask round your local bike shops to see if anyone was clued up.

Oh and progressive fork springs seem popular. New seals and fork oil.

Good time to bleed the front breaks with nice fresh fluid too.