Lowering...

Sounds good. I'm usually riding all over Indy... My bike is my main transportation, especially when it's nice out.

I know where 31 and frye is, but I don't recall ever going to that particular shell -- is there something special about it I'm missing out?

 

A lot of bikers meet there on nice days. Friday and saturday evening is usually packed, and there are a lot of custom bikes there. It's a great place to find new people to cruise with.

 

I got my CDL at the c-1 driver school on the south end. Theres a little rib shack right there that's excellent. We stayed at a hotel with a Damons attached and proceeded to get real drunk everyday after class. Happyhour everything was 1/2 off.

 

Hey, Aldo. Here's a pic of the Savage shocks. The stock ones (12.5") are in the middle, Savage ones (10.5) are on the right and on the left are some nice Konis (11-ish") I picked up on eBay.



And here's the rolling chassis with the Savage shockes installed. They give it a really nice stance.

 

I found a set of used Savage shocks on e-bay last week for 9 bucks buy-it-now. Couldn't pass. Worked great. They had some surface rust, but I was repainting them anyway so I didn't care. I did have to press the bushings out and replace a couple of them though because they were different sizes. No big deal though.

 

what about lowering the fornt end?
how is this possible?

 

I've seen Progressive lowering springs, but the easiest and cheapest way is to just slide the forks up in the clamps a bit.

 

is that hard?
takes two people?

 

Alright...without having to buy a separate pair of shocks....how can I lower my existing shocks? How do you cut the springs? Is that what I would have to do? I want to lower it 2 inches. Thanks guys!

 

It sure is a lot harder to find short shocks than I expected. Went to two junk yards measured every one they had; all over 11". Called six Harley dealers and asked for take-offs and they told me that none are 11" or shorter. Called three Suzuki parts department and asked for Savage shocks and they said all were longer than 11.5". When to a Yamaha dealer and asked about short shocks; no luck. The shocks that I have are held together by the spring load. If I were to cut the spring the shock may come apart on a bump.

MaximumX shows pictures of short shocks and everyone on this website talks about the ones they found.

For me is is 6 months and counting.

Is this a inside joke that I am too naive to catch on too :wink:

 

thats not good... thats on my 'to-do' list when i get my bike running... ;-(

 

It actually took more time to make the shock compressor than it did to cut the springs and put'm back together.
If you decide to cut the springs, just take off about 1". That will drop the bike down close to 2" when there's weight on it.

 

pics of your shock compressor?? ;-)

Anything special to consider when cutting? or just take out the ole air cutter and hack off 1"?

 

This is the shock compressor I made using a large threaded pipe fitting and a large washer on the other end and threaded rod to do the compressing. One end has to be big enough to fit over the clip on the top of the shock so it can removed after it's compressed.




You want to make sure you cut the same amount off each shock. Set the springs side by side when your done cutting and you may have to trim some off one to make sure they are the same. I used a 4" die-grinder with a steel cutting wheel on it to cut my springs.
>PD<
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I have an 85 Maxim X. The rear springs on it are like coilover shocks, can I just cut these springs to lower the rear? Also, the Savage shocks people are using, is there any particular year to get? Thanks

 

Pretty much any year of Savage shock will do the trick. Just make sure they measure approx. 10.5", eye-to-eye.

There're pics of my X with the Savage shocks installed in this thread if you're interested:

http://www.xjbikes.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=11332.html

**EDIT** Just noticed an auction that lists the 11" (overall, I think) Savage shock as fitting '86-'87 and '95-'04 bikes. Auction link is in the following post... Unless those were the only years that the Savage was made?

 

Here's one, just so you know they do exist.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_Motorcy ... .m14.l1318

One isn't gonna do you much good unless you happen to run across another single somewhere along the line.

 

After riding the Savage shocks for a few weeks, I've noticed they're not a very stiff shock. I'm not a huge guy, but not tiny either (about 175lb) and a good bump or a set of railroad tracks bottoms them out. I do have the pre-load as loose as it'll go though, so I'm going to bump that up some and see if that makes things a little nicer. With two people on the bike, it's essentially a hardtail right now.

 

Ok, once I get the shocks compressed, how do I remove them?!! Do I pry off the 'clip' at the top? Little help here???......Thanks!

 

You compress the shock (making sure the top keeper-ring clears the compressor) and pull the clip out. Then take the compressor off the shock and everything will come apart. Cut the spring off 1" and put'r back together. Easy, simple, but effective!!