Posts: 568
Joined: 8/21/2016
Location: Spring, TX USA
My kid has a 2014 KX85. The suspension has been revalved and sprung for his weight. It also has a lowering link on the rear that drops it 1.5". Sag is set to 85mm and it looks like the bike is sitting high in the front end. Currently the forks are raised 15mm from flush, stock is 18mm. I'm going to raise them some, but how far should I go with it? If stock is 18mm, should I raise them to 23mm?
Posts: 3444
Joined: 4/3/2013
Location: Benton, LA USA
Be sure to check that the front tire does not hit the finder when compressed. Other than that you can go up about as far as you want.
When you lower the back you need to also lower the front to keep the geometry as close to OEM spec's as possible or the handling will suffer. When you lower the back it increases the rake of the front end and if not corrected the bike will corner poorly.
Paw Paw
Posts: 568
Joined: 8/21/2016
Location: Spring, TX USA
Paw Paw 271 wrote:
Be sure to check that the front tire does not hit the finder when compressed. Other than that you can go up about as far as you want.
When you lower the back you need to also lower the front to keep the geometry as close to OEM spec's as possible or the handling will suffer. When you lower the back it increases the rake of the front end and if not corrected the bike will corner poorly.
Paw Paw
Yeah, I'm going to raise the forks a bit and let him try it. The front end does look raked out to me. The last thing he needs is the front end pushing in the corner.
Posts: 3444
Joined: 4/3/2013
Location: Benton, LA USA
JMO....But I really don't like the lowering links as they do change up the suspension a lot and cause front end issues.
I know that sometimes they are used to lower the bike to match the rider, but that is a trade off. Anytime I have elected to use one I have first checked the front end rake with a guage and then after the install I change the for leg location in the clamps to attempt to get the rake back to the stock angle, but it is not always possible. In that case I would then reduce the rear sag a bit to help. That can also cause some other issues.
If yours was done for that reason, then work to get him back to riding stock height as soon as possible with the oem linkage.
Paw Paw
Posts: 210
Joined: 8/26/2014
Location: Williamsport, PA USA
Paw Paw 271 wrote:
JMO....But I really don't like the lowering links as they do change up the suspension a lot and cause front end issues.
I know that sometimes they are used to lower the bike to match the rider, but that is a trade off. Anytime I have elected to use one I have first checked the front end rake with a guage and then after the install I change the for leg location in the clamps to attempt to get the rake back to the stock angle, but it is not always possible. In that case I would then reduce the rear sag a bit to help. That can also cause some other issues.
If yours was done for that reason, then work to get him back to riding stock height as soon as possible with the oem linkage.
Paw Paw
Yes I agree with the lowering link screwing up the bike, I did it to my boys, and it was more unstable at higher speeds. It did not corner as well either. It’s drops the back end so much, that the bike did not even look balanced. I took it off, and it was night and day difference. I had it all set up at a suspension shop, and he warned me not to do it. I didn’t listen. my boy did fine without it. We just used starting blocks, if he fell he had to figure out how to get back on and go. Which he did, just had to stretch the legs a little more
