I am considering lowering my bike with Muzzy links in the rear and raising the tubes in front.  Muzzy's recommends raising the front tubes 3/4" which with installing their links will lower the bike overall 1 1/2".

Two questions:

1.  For those of you who have lowered the bike in this manner, does it affect the handling adversely?  I love the way the bike handles and may have to put up with tippy toes when stopped if the handling is worse when lowered.
 
2. For the front, I understand about installing the risers before you can raise the tubes.  I do not know exactly what must be undone to raise the tubes.  Does anyone have photos that would show this and a description of the steps?

www.jerryforthofer.wordpress.com

Lowering bikes lowers turning/cornering performance. Thats an obvious given, no physics degree required.

for your second question:

Assuming that you have riser in place already, you will need to have the bike on the centerstand.  Loosen the top tripple tree pinch bolts then loosen the bottom tree pinch bolts.  There are two bottom pinch bolts per fork.  After that you can move the fork tube up or down in the triple trees quite easily. 

I am considering lowering my bike with Muzzy links in the rear and raising the tubes in front.  Muzzy's recommends raising the front tubes 3/4" which with installing their links will lower the bike overall 1 1/2".

Post count 1!  Welcome to the forum!

What you posted is *NOT* correct.  The links lower the rear 1".  If you raise the front tubes by 3/4", it will drop the front by less than 3/4".

Two questions:

See http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=260.0     (easily found with search... posting on existing threads is preferred to creating new ones)

1.  For those of you who have lowered the bike in this manner, does it affect the handling adversely?

Yes and no.  If you lower "properly", then you will have to lower the front to match the rear, and the handling will be only slightly changed.  You will lose ground clearance, and you will lose some suspension travel... and will need to compensate with adjusting the suspension settings.  Since the pegs will be lowered 1", it will reduce the amount you can lean, which is not a problem unless you are REALLY REALLY leaning far.

2. For the front, I understand about installing the risers before you can raise the tubes.  I do not know exactly what must be undone to raise the tubes.  Does anyone have photos that would show this and a description of the steps?

Yes.  It is easy, you just loosen the clamps.  I don't recall exactly how I did it, but it was easy and mostly intuitive.   Posting above has more info.

Once you lower the bike you will need to modify the side and centerstand. 

Once you lower the bike you will need to modify the side and centerstand.

Again, already covered in other thread.  http://www.zggtr.org/index.php?topic=260.0   

1) Yes, you WILL have to modify the side stand.
2) No, you do NOT have to modify the center stand.  But it will be harder to use if not modified.  If you care to use it, anyway

Thanks for all of the replies.  Yes, I am a newbie.  I bought the bike about two weeks ago. 

I had searched the for info on lowering the bike and found a lot of threads.  However, I did not find one that had photos posted of someone actually doing the mod.  As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words and, in my instance, probably more than that.  If I do a mod on either my cars or bikes and have not found a thread with photos, I will probably post it. 

Thanks for all of the replies.  Yes, I am a newbie.  I bought the bike about two weeks ago.

Enjoy the forums, there is just TONS of useful info here

I had searched the for info on lowering the bike and found a lot of threads.  However, I did not find one that had photos posted of someone actually doing the mod.  As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words and, in my instance, probably more than that.  If I do a mod on either my cars or bikes and have not found a thread with photos, I will probably post it.

I was lucky, my best friend is a master mechanic who also knows bikes, and he helped    Buying the factory manual is also a good investment too.

I found a CD repair manual on EBay for $7.99 and it already has been a great help.  I have my V-Rod for sale now on EBay and was spoiled with the auto cancelling turn signals.  Even though I am an old guy, I don't want to look like one with his turn signal on for miles and miles down the road. 

So I installed a Signal Minder today along with a headlight modulator.  Thanks to the manual, I knew where to look for things and how to take apart what was needed.  And I actually got  it all back together and everything works!!

I found a CD repair manual on EBay for $7.99 and it already has been a great help.

As long as you realize that both you and the person you bought it from broke the law.  Kawasaki manuals are not available legally on CD, meaning a violation of copyright.

Amazing how brazen the sellers are, too!  A quick search shows up numerous illegal offerings:

So I installed a Signal Minder today along with a headlight modulator.  Thanks to the manual, I knew where to look for things and how to take apart what was needed.  And I actually got  it all back together and everything works!!

What, NO PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!

As long as you realize that both you and the person you bought it from broke the law.  Kawasaki manuals are not available legally on CD, meaning a violation of copyright.

I guess you never broke the spered limit on your bike???   A broken law is a broken law!!

What, NO PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, I do have them!!  Haven't taken them off the camera yet.  I will probably post them on a separate thread.

This little gal rode my bike fine, she'd  rather be on tippy toes and not sacrifice cornering by losing ground clearance and mucking  up the bike.



She handled my big behemoth C14  bike extremely well when we did the twisties of VA/WV but she's pure hell on her CBR1000RR HONDA

This little gal rode my bike fine, she'd  rather be on tippy toes and not sacrifice cornering by losing ground clearance and mucking  up the bike.

Yeah, that's the decision I have to make.  I was hoping someone would chime in who had lowered the bike in the same manner as I am considering.  It would be interesting to hear before and after comments from the rider's perspective.

The handling will be affected - due to a lower center of gravity (at least). As stevewfl said, it's simple physics. Whether you find the difference objectionable (or even noticeable) is going to be subjective.

As long as you realize that both you and the person you bought it from broke the law.  Kawasaki manuals are not available legally on CD, meaning a violation of copyright.

Amazing how brazen the sellers are, too!  A quick search shows up numerous illegal offerings:

As a reminder to all, please do not post links to unofficially sanctioned publications from Kawasaki or others.  If you want to do this amongst yourselves that's one thing, out in the open, not so much.

I guess you never broke the speed limit on your bike???   A broken law is a broken law!!

There is a big difference and you know it.

This little gal rode my bike fine, she'd  rather be on tippy toes and not sacrifice cornering by losing ground clearance and mucking  up the bike.

She is impressive indeed.  But it doesn't "muck up the bike" by lowering it an inch.

The handling will be affected - due to a lower center of gravity (at least). As stevewfl said, it's simple physics. Whether you find the difference objectionable (or even noticeable) is going to be subjective.

Agreed.  And generally a lower center of gravity is a GOOD thing.  Losing ground clearance is not.  Losing a bit of extreme cornering/leaning might be or not, depending on how extreme you corner.  In my case, it will never be an issue    There are subtle other changes- like spring rates, etc, that are also unclear as to being "good" or "bad", just different, many probably unnoticeable.