Front End Lowering

curezee

curezee

Street Tracker
Anyone lower the front end of their Scrambler, even just a little? I had my Scrambler wrenched down on a trailer the other day and I must say I really liked the way it looked just a "leeeetle bit" lower. Any easy/quick solutions? Don't want to totally drop it, just lower it a little. I still ride some dirt roads round these parts so don't want to kill performance either.
 
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tdipalma

tdipalma

Scooter
I dropped the back of my 06 1" with Bonnie shocks but when I tried to raise the forks in the trees, they wouldn't budge. I'm looking for advice as well.

Mr. T
 
JimVonBaden

JimVonBaden

Street Tracker
tdipalma said:
I dropped the back of my 06 1" with Bonnie shocks but when I tried to raise the forks in the trees, they wouldn't budge. I'm looking for advice as well.

Mr. T
Click to expand...

Stiction. Your front forks should move, just loosen them one at a time, really loose. Tap the top with a rubber hammer to break them loose, the slide the fork tube up. There is no good reason they wont move.

Jim :cool:
 
tdipalma

tdipalma

Scooter
I backed all 4 bolts all the way out and even sat on the tank pressing down on the handlebars but still couldn't get them to move.
 
A

Aussiebikerdave

Scooter
Maybe you need to stop and take a deep breath before you "whack" it with the mallet and ask yourself what da heck you doin' this for... no really... just course you think it looks better?? Goodnight Irene, are you ravin mad?

In case it hasn't dawned there are some serious drawbacks doing this on a bike like the scrambler which is already behind the comparative eight ball when it comes to ground clearance. How much ground clearance are you going to have left when you are hard on the brakes etc.
 
R

rodburner

Rocker
I haven`t ridden a Scrambler or a dirt bike in ages,but I do seem to recall that if I was on the front brakes [drums at that],hard enough to compress the forks far enough for ground clearance to become an issue,I was usually laying face first in the middle of a gravel or dirt road.On the street,a 1/2" or an inch of fork length isn`t gonna matter at all.But thats just me.:ignore:
 
tdipalma

tdipalma

Scooter
No worries Mate as my Scram is used exclusively on the street so the 1 inch difference isn't a deal breaker (though I do appreciate your concern). It's hammer time!

Mr. T
 
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MattRat

MattRat

TT Racer
strange wacky idea here: why not go 1" longer on the rear shocks instead? (if you haven't upgraded already, it's a perfect excuse)
 
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whyme

TT Racer
I'm dropping my back 1 inch with shocks to get a little more of my feet on the ground. I should drop the front a bit too I'm told
 
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whyme

TT Racer
Will I need to change the kickstand length?? I'm trying to visualize that...someone told me I would have to cut it.
 
tdipalma

tdipalma

Scooter
Yep, just finished.
One little issue I overlooked was lowering the fork gators prior to adjusting the shocks. Actually this make things a little easier as you can predetermine the amount of “drop” you want and simply move the gators down the fork tubes your desired amount. Then loosen the fork screws and simply grab the exposed section of the fork working it back and forth which will cause it to raise. I then measured the amount of change from the top of the tree.

As for the kick stand, it works fine with the 1" drop but I'm not using a center stand so I don't know whether its affected or not.
It's been raining here in the South but I'll let you know how she handles.

If I never post a reply, consider my experiment a poor idea.
Mr. T
 
W

whyme

TT Racer
Well, I hope you reply again!! Thanks for all of the great info. I just picked up some bonnie shocks I'll be swapping out as soon as I get a chance. I saw some ideas here on how to easily change the shocks with out the back end dropping. I do not have a bike jack though. I think I remember a strap to a rafter idea.
 
tdipalma

tdipalma

Scooter
I removed one side at a time and was able to lift the bike into place without assistance. Lowering the front and rear is a one man job oh, and now i can reach the ground flat-footed (I'm 5'9). The Corbin Smuggler seat actually made the bike taller.

Mr. T
 
tdipalma

tdipalma

Scooter
I have a few photos of her under the scrambler header titled "My 2006 Scrambler". I'll post the lowered photos soon.

Check her out

Mr. T
 
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