Suspension issue - lowering the bike

[Fodder]

I pick up a new BB tomorrow (yes Yes YEs YES! ). Err, anyway, being a short arse (at 5'4"ish) I've had the machine lowered for me by a combination of having the seat chopped down, the front forks lowered (about 5mm) and cranking down the rear suspension preload. I'm still a bit 'tiptoe' on it but I'm pretty much used to this after 30yrs of unbroken riding, 20yrs of which has been spent on bikes to tall for me!

So far as I can tell the handling of the machine has not been compromised, indeed, the handling seems great compared to the GSX1100F I've been running for the last 14yrs. However, I have a nagging doubt about cranking down the rear preload. Perhaps there is a 'nirvana' of handling I'm going to miss by doing this, especially as the word on the street is to fit spacers or crank up preload (I should add at this point that I'm not a scratcher, I developed a sense of my own mortality a few years ago).

Anyway, I've been thinking that it may be an idea to have a new, slightly shorter (or was it longer?!) suspension linkage engineered. I don't know the technical name of the particular linkage but it's the semi-horizontal one coming off the bottom of the two triangular brackets at the base of the suspension. Doing this would lower the bike and allow me to crank the preload back up.

I'm looking for opinions and no bullshit precision engineer recomendations.

Thanks chaps

Fod

 

[Trumpet]

The only problem in cranking down the preload is possible bottoming out of the rear on hard bumps. Also back off the damping, as it gets progressively stiffer the more you comress the spring. Try it and see. If you bottom out, lowering of the rear is the best solution. The most important thing is to do the same to both ends height wise. The fairing will deck out though more easily compared to standard birds. Consider getting the protective strip for the bottom fairing before you hear that expensive graunch ..