XJ650 Maxim Raise the rear / lower the front?

I'm waiting on parts to be shipped so I can finish up my valves and carbs. I'm waiting for the weekend to redo my brakes. But until I have been thinking.

Is there a mod to either lower the front end of the bike or raise the rear of the frame? I assume aftermarket shocks would accomplish this correct? I'm curious because I'm not a huge fan of the rake in the maxim. Just a thought question for now while I wait to try and get it running again!

 

I'm no expert on the matter, but I believe lowering the front is more difficult than just shorter springs. The springs are preloaded with tension, so dropping them would require different forks, NOT just different springs. I suppose you could loosen the upper and lower triple tree clamps and have the tops of the forks pop up above the upper triple tree, but that doesn't exactly give an ideal look IMHO. I would also imagine that lowering the front would have a significant impact on handling since you would be changing the angle between the steering column and the road surface.

The rear also raises problems because of the universal joint and the fact that the drive shaft runs through the swing arm. If you change the angle too much you can lock up or damage the universal joint if I am correct.

 

Before you make any radical changes to the Geometry of the Bike; research Motorcycle Geometry and get an understanding of what happens when the Geometry is changed.

There are changes in Geometry that are performance related; and will enhance how the bike trails and corners.

There are changes in Geometry that are dangerous, will ruin the design and in some cases cause loss of control that will put you down.

Start here:

http://sportbike.natkd.com/motorcycle_geometry_101.htm

 

Many XJBike modders have lowered their bikes, alot, and nobody complains about blown-out "U" joints. Why??

There's a spring loaded "cush" drive piece in the final "jackshaft" capable of about a quarter turn, and bathed in oil. It won't break, and works silently, absorbing all your mis-shifts and clutch lurches - - a severely mis-oriented "U" joint would just hammer away at it, like in Kevin11's bike, for example. It's indestructable. Mod away, my friends !!

 

Although the rear-end does have built-in protection to protect the Gears, Splines and Shaft from sudden shocks ... like an errant downshift ... or, locking the rear brake before the Clutch is released ... that mechanism is not a license to perform radical modifications to "Geometry".

The Rear-end isn't as critical as modifications done to the front.

Just a few degrees of changes to the designed-in Geometry will make the bike handle in a much different manner.

That's why you should have some knowledge of what will occur if the Geometry is rearranged.
How the Bike Steers, Tracks, Leans, its Turning Radius and Center-of-Gravity will all be affected in some way when the Front-end's Geometry is modified.