March 4th, 2009, 10:55 PM | #1 |
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Name: Kim
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DIY: Lowering the back with Roaring Toyz lowering links
So tonight I decided it was time to finally lower my bike just a little bit. I could get the ball of one foot down securely, and pretty decently on the other, but with my knee problems, it just did not feel safe for me. I decided to get the Roaring Toyz front and rear lowering kit and attacked her this evening. First off, it is COLD here right now!
Tools you will need for this: Floor jacks 19 mm socket torque wrench 7 mm allen wrench flat blade screw driver breaker bar, or someone weighing around 180 lbs This DIY The short version - jack up the bike, take off the old links, put on the new links and torque to 44 ft-lbs. Longer version: Come home and find this wonderful package: Open it up and find: Gather your tools: Take a good look at the old links so you can see what you are removing (the service manual helps here as well) Lift the bike onto a rear stand and carefully position jacks under the bike to hold it steady. Then remove the rear stand so that the bike is supported only by the jacks. I used a pair of floor jacks on the center part of the frame (under the rearsets) and my car jack in the middle underneath the oil pan. On the exhaust side, the header is in the way, so I placed the jack on the little nub that hangs down a bit. I'm not sure if this was a good idea, but we had two other jacks and a pair of hands on the bike at all times, so I felt fairly safe doing it this way. Securing the front brake with something helps as well - I use a hair tie On the brake side, loosen the nuts on the bolts connecting the lowering link with the 19 mm socket. An extender for your wrench might be helpful, as well as the breaker bar or larger person who can stand on it (I used my hubby ) Use another person to help secure the bike while you remove the lowering links and bolts. When you do this, the swing arm will pivot so that the front end moves down. Lifting up on the wheel will help to get it back into position when you replace the new links. I wanted to lower an inch, so I used the center position in the top row of three holes. Place the new links, replace the bolts (you might want to use some blue loctite here), and torque to 44 ft-lbs using the torque wrench. Very carefully lift the bike back onto the rear stand - this is made more difficult by the jacks since the bike is now lowered an inch meaning the swingarm is higher than when you took it off of the rear stand. We had my car jack under the center of the engine block, so we used that to raise the bike just a bit to remove the two jack stands, and then lowered it back down until the spools were sitting on the forks of the rear stand. When you put the bike back on the kick stand, it will not lean as far over, but in my opinion it seems to be ok without replacing it. If you were to lower any more than an inch, you would need to replace the kick stand for stability. As you can see, I can now touch much better than before! Now you can move onto lowering the front end/raising the forks! Zartan and Kkim have combined to make a DIY for that which you can find here: http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=9804 |
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March 4th, 2009, 10:56 PM | #2 |
ninjette.org certified postwhore
Name: Kim
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and with that I am off to bed, as I have to be at work in less than 7 hours If you have any questions, let me know and I'll get back to you tomorrow evening sometime *yawn*
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March 4th, 2009, 11:28 PM | #3 |
I'm lovin' it.
Name: Mike
Location: Melb, Australia
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Whats your height if you don't mind me asking. I'm roughly 176-178cm (5 ft 7 - 5 ft 8) and was wondering if I would need to lower the bike.
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March 4th, 2009, 11:39 PM | #4 |
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Thx, Noche! Looks great. Added to the DIY sticky...
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March 4th, 2009, 11:46 PM | #5 |
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Good job. We needed a DIY that covered this... so many people will thank you for this, I'm sure.
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March 4th, 2009, 11:54 PM | #6 |
The Sexy Filipino
Name: Jordan
Location: Bakersfield, Ca
Join Date: Dec 2008 Motorcycle(s): Ninja 250R 2008 (da black one) Posts: 312
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Nice. Do you have to replace the side stand with this kit? My concern is that my friend lowered his R6 maybe ~1-2" and his bike looks like it is sitting vertical. Long story short, his bike was blown over due to some moderate winds.
So how does it sit with this lowering kit... vertical? |
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March 5th, 2009, 12:01 AM | #7 | |
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Quote:
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March 5th, 2009, 10:56 AM | #8 | |
ninjette.org guru
Name: Tor
Location: TX
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Quote:
Add: Oh and I have the Corbin seat which does lower how far up you sit on the bike about an 1in - ish so that helped. |
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March 5th, 2009, 10:59 AM | #9 |
Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: Too much.
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yep, I'm 5'7" and my inseam is like 28-29". Noche is a bit shorter than 5'7" and I have no idea what her inseam is.
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March 5th, 2009, 07:51 PM | #10 | |
ninjette.org certified postwhore
Name: Kim
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Quote:
Alex- sorry it's so big -feel free to chop it down some IMG00028.jpg |
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March 5th, 2009, 07:52 PM | #11 |
ninjette.org certified postwhore
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March 5th, 2009, 07:58 PM | #12 |
ninjette.org dude
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Hi Noche -
It's not too big at all, it looks great! The board itself converts it down to 1024 pixels wide when you uploaded it. - Alex
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March 5th, 2009, 09:22 PM | #13 |
Her name is Itoshii
Name: Nani
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Thank for the DIY Kim, if you don't mind me asking, how much did you get the kit for?
Dunno if the seat height on my 07' is that much different, but I'm thinking of lowering mine a bit to reach the ground better.
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March 6th, 2009, 08:03 AM | #14 |
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Name: Thomas
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Thanks for posting that!!! I am going to do the same mod due to my tiny little legs.
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April 3rd, 2009, 11:14 PM | #15 |
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Name: snow
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April 6th, 2009, 08:12 PM | #16 |
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Name: Kris
Location: Chicago
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So I used the Roaring Toyz lowering kit to lower the front and rear. I set the rear to the lowest setting dropping the bike 3" according to the kit description. The bike looks great, unfortunately it bottoms out. I ignored the bottoming out until recently I discovered that the tire has scraped a hole in the plastic wheel well located above the rear tire. The electrical wires are now exposed.
Has anyone else run into this problem? Also, has anyone solved this problem without raising the bike? |
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April 6th, 2009, 08:18 PM | #17 |
Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: Too much.
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very common problem with lowering the bike that much max should be 1-2" tops. no way to fix the problem short of having a custom shock made up, which I have never seen.
why do you need to lower the back so much? welcome to the site. |
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April 6th, 2009, 10:05 PM | #18 |
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Name: zartan
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yes I stiffened up the spring. and no passengers pegs!!
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April 6th, 2009, 10:16 PM | #19 |
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Z, by that you mean you set the preload higher?
exactly how much is your bike lowered by??? 2 inches, if I remember correctly? |
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April 6th, 2009, 10:45 PM | #20 |
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Name: zartan
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ah yea..preload higher... if that means shortened the spring to make more tension.
exactly how much??? did not get a chance to measure the back before. whatever the x10 link shortens it on the shorter of the 2 holes. Around 2 " They didn't even have aftermarket links back then last year early April 08 my dealer experimented with the x 10 link. I took it back to set the preload higher because it would bottom out. ( they have the right tool not the silly one in the kit). I would not have lowered it if I did not have had to. Now I only bottom out when I hit something excessive at speed or going down stairs...
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April 6th, 2009, 11:13 PM | #21 |
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April 6th, 2009, 11:31 PM | #22 |
I'm lovin' it.
Name: Mike
Location: Melb, Australia
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You ride your bike down stairs? You're a stunter?!
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April 7th, 2009, 12:38 AM | #23 |
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No I don't ride down the stairs. I was just being goofy...about the stairs. the rest was serious.
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April 12th, 2009, 07:15 PM | #24 | |
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Name: snow
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Quote:
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April 12th, 2009, 07:25 PM | #25 |
Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: Too much.
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April 13th, 2009, 03:30 AM | #26 |
ninjette.org member
Name: snow
Location: Australia
Join Date: Apr 2009 Motorcycle(s): BMW f800gs Posts: 31
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April 13th, 2009, 04:58 AM | #27 |
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Location: Iowa
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November 2nd, 2009, 08:48 PM | #28 | |
noob in training
Name: Ilya
Location: Milwaukee, WI
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Quote:
So here is a pic of where it is rubbing And just so everyone can see what hole my lowering links are on: This pic shows the bikes height at that setting; the kickstand is on a brick so you can see the height without the bike leaned over. So I'm thinking about either putting a small piece of black duct tape over that area and allow it to rub on that instead of the fender. Any thoughts on this? Either that or I will just raise it up half an inch to the next setting. If I raise it up, that makes the Lowering Kit pointless because the Roaring Toyz kickstand will no longer be needed. That was the most expensive part of the kit (over $100)... I don't understand why RT even makes this kit if it can't be used on a setting that would require a new kickstand without the tire rubbing on the fender. |
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November 2nd, 2009, 09:03 PM | #29 |
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Try adjusting the suspension stiffness. If you've never touched it, it's probably on the softest setting. If you stiffen it a notch or two, it'll make it harder to bottom out or rub. It'll end up raising the rearend a little bit too.
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November 2nd, 2009, 09:14 PM | #30 |
noob in training
Name: Ilya
Location: Milwaukee, WI
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I was actually thinking about that, I'll try it tomorrow. I'm pretty sure the previous owner hasn't touched anything on the bike, so the suspension is probably at the stock setting.
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November 10th, 2009, 08:45 PM | #31 |
noob in training
Name: Ilya
Location: Milwaukee, WI
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I set the spring to position 2; it was at 1. The bike is in storage for winter so we'll have to see if it works or not in the spring.
In the mean time though, Zartan, what setting is your spring set to and have you experience any rubbing? |
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November 12th, 2009, 11:47 PM | #32 |
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Name: zartan
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My bike is using a x10 link so not the same as Roaring toyz. I have the shock spring set pretty stiff almost all the way. Still once in a while I feel it bump but not too often.
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November 13th, 2009, 01:46 PM | #33 |
noob in training
Name: Ilya
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Join Date: Aug 2009 Motorcycle(s): '08 Ninja 250R (sold) '05 SV650S Posts: 175
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It looks like your x10 link lowered the bike about the same as my RT link.
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December 23rd, 2009, 07:59 PM | #34 |
ninjette.org member
Name: Mychelle
Location: Texas
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Thanks for the DIY. It helped a lot and now I can touch the ground with both feet!
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December 28th, 2009, 07:20 PM | #35 |
ninjette.org newbie
Name: Jody
Location: Central PA
Join Date: Dec 2009 Motorcycle(s): 2007 Ninja 250 Posts: 1
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2007 Ninja 250
I was given these same links at a local dealer. Will they also work on a 2007? If so, any other thoughts?
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June 24th, 2010, 02:56 PM | #36 |
ninjette.org newbie
Name: J
Location: BC
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Any update if this worked? I recently lowered the 250 for my wife and put it at the 4th hole (same setting as yours) and we are also experiencing the fender rubbing issue. She is quite short so raising it up another notch is not the best option. Did adjusting the pre-load solve the problem?
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June 24th, 2010, 03:07 PM | #37 | |
Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: Too much.
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Quote:
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June 24th, 2010, 05:12 PM | #38 |
ninjette.org newbie
Name: J
Location: BC
Join Date: Jun 2010 Motorcycle(s): '09 Kawasaki Ninja 250R, '09 Suzuki SV650SA Posts: 3
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Yes, front was also lowered with the Roaring Toyz kit. The shop that lowered it for us says he will adjust the rear preload settings, but I'm not sure if that will solve the problem or not. There is currently about a 3-4 finger gap between the rear wheel and the rear fender.
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June 24th, 2010, 07:21 PM | #39 |
Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: Too much.
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adjusting the preload will make the bike ride harsher over bumps if she's light.
exactly how short is she? inseam length? |
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June 24th, 2010, 09:38 PM | #40 |
noob in training
Name: Ilya
Location: Milwaukee, WI
Join Date: Aug 2009 Motorcycle(s): '08 Ninja 250R (sold) '05 SV650S Posts: 175
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After I adjusted the preload the ride got really harsh, especially on bumpy roads. I probably weigh more than your wife so it would be even worse for her. As far as if setting it higher stopped the bike from rubbing, I'm not sure. I didn't keep it at that setting long enough to know. I raised my bike up one notch and set the preload back to 1 since then. Bike is much more comfortable and I like the added height.
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