Cutting forks to lower?

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-JERICHO-

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Everytime I do a google search about this I get a bunch of recipes...

So for anyone with technical know-how, can you tell me what impact would "cut forks" have on the bikes abilities and performance?

Is lowering done to bikes for more than just height? Drag race set up? Is lowering the bike even related to cutting forks? Just curious...
 
IRONLUNG said:
Everytime I do a google search about this I get a bunch of recipes...

So for anyone with technical know-how, can you tell me what impact would "cut forks" have on the bikes abilities and performance?

Is lowering done to bikes for more than just height? Drag race set up? Is lowering the bike even related to cutting forks? Just curious...
Click to expand...

Cheap drag racers just use tie downs on the forks to keep them compressed. Cutting forks is a term I am unfamiliar with and would never consider for myself.
 
IRONLUNG said:
Everytime I do a google search about this I get a bunch of recipes...

So for anyone with technical know-how, can you tell me what impact would "cut forks" have on the bikes abilities and performance?

Is lowering done to bikes for more than just height? Drag race set up? Is lowering the bike even related to cutting forks? Just curious...
Click to expand...

Cut forks? For real?

my face just got smashed by my palm.

seriously. don't cut forks. there are ways to lower your front end. and yes, it is for drag purposes. easiest way is just to use straps.
 
ronnie said:
Cut forks? For real?

my face just got smashed by my palm.
Click to expand...

Why? It's the latest fad! Cut the forks to "slam" sport motorcycles just like kids do to trucks to make them completely useless for their intended purpose. What's wrong with that?
 
I'll do it for 50$, should only take a few mins.
woody.gif
 
RedDogDarren said:
Why? It's the latest fad! Cut the forks to "slam" sport motorcycles just like kids do to trucks to make them completely useless for their intended purpose. What's wrong with that?
Click to expand...

that **** hurts my dick, just to hear it. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, i feel so old.
 
No matter how you slice it, lowering the front end limits the amount of available suspension travel. The clearance between the wheel/fender and the radiator / upper fairing / lower triple clamp (whichever comes first) gives the upper bound on the amount of compression travel available and the fork MUST mechanically reach its travel limit before the wheel or fender reaches any of these obstructions (and yes, a lot of people that slam their bikes to the ground don't pay attention to this, resulting in a potentially damaging or unsafe condition).

If you slam the bike to the ground and you keep the same spring rates, it'll be bottoming out and slamming against the compression travel limits all the time. If you raise spring rates and damping to reduce bottoming then it will have poor compliance for soaking up bumps. In either case, bumps will be transmitted to the chassis rather than soaked up.

Ride height changes have to be balanced front to rear to keep any semblance of correct steering response. Slamming the bike to the ground WILL lower the swingarm pivot height which WILL adversely affect grip when exiting corners.

For drag racing, none of this matters, you hardly need suspension travel on a drag bike. For anything else, it's all bad news.
 
RedDogDarren said:
Cheap drag racers just use tie downs on the forks to keep them compressed. Cutting forks is a term I am unfamiliar with and would never consider for myself.
Click to expand...

Actually, doing this by straps is a pretty good way to limit suspension travel when at the drag strip (good) while still allowing the forks to operate normally under other circumstances on the same bike.
 
Brian P said:
No matter how you slice it, lowering the front end limits the amount of available suspension travel. The clearance between the wheel/fender and the radiator / upper fairing / lower triple clamp (whichever comes first) gives the upper bound on the amount of compression travel available and the fork MUST mechanically reach its travel limit before the wheel or fender reaches any of these obstructions (and yes, a lot of people that slam their bikes to the ground don't pay attention to this, resulting in a potentially damaging or unsafe condition).

If you slam the bike to the ground and you keep the same spring rates, it'll be bottoming out and slamming against the compression travel limits all the time. If you raise spring rates and damping to reduce bottoming then it will have poor compliance for soaking up bumps. In either case, bumps will be transmitted to the chassis rather than soaked up.

Ride height changes have to be balanced front to rear to keep any semblance of correct steering response. Slamming the bike to the ground WILL lower the swingarm pivot height which WILL adversely affect grip when exiting corners.

For drag racing, none of this matters, you hardly need suspension travel on a drag bike. For anything else, it's all bad news.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this. It is precisely the information I was looking for. Logically makes sense, I was wondering because a lot of people are doing this to their bikes, then selling them as is, and I looked at one (looked nice) but was worried about exactly what you just described.
 
IRONLUNG said:
Thank you for this. It is precisely the information I was looking for. Logically makes sense, I was wondering because a lot of people are doing this to their bikes, then selling them as is, and I looked at one (looked nice) but was worried about exactly what you just described.
Click to expand...
you're probably seeing people that have lowered by adjusting the height in the triples....not cutting...well...hopefully.
 
fork travel length can be shortened internally as well.

There are also a number of bikes that mechanically bottom internally long before the external slider comes close to bottoming.
 
reciprocity said:
fork travel length can be shortened internally as well.

There are also a number of bikes that mechanically bottom internally long before the external slider comes close to bottoming.
Click to expand...

Donovan. Pls internally lengthen, slide and bottom your fork in my tube. With lube.
 
ronnie said:
Donovan. Pls internally lengthen, slide and bottom your fork in my tube. With lube.
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LOL
All the closet dwelling wanna be heteros are squirming reading this.
 
RockerGuy said:
I didn't want to hear that
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I don't need it broadcast to me either but to each their own and why not just have a laugh about it? Hell, date farm animals if you like because it doesn't affect me at all (no offense to any posters who like dating farm animals).
 
LOL @ off topic, not touching *that* with a ten foot pole.

reciprocity said:
fork travel length can be shortened internally as well.

There are also a number of bikes that mechanically bottom internally long before the external slider comes close to bottoming.
Click to expand...

This is why, if you want to lower ride height for whatever reason, you have to at least partially disassemble the forks (remove the springs) and check for clearances when the fork is bottomed.

There is normally some clearance between the fender and the radiator and the bottom of the upper fairing to allow the forks to be slid up, but you HAVE to take the fork springs out and check it. It is not unusual to find that the maximum that the forks can be slid up before a collision becomes possible is 10 - 20 mm and no more.

Then, of course, you get the drag racers who just slam the bike down 2 or 3 inches ... and then end up crashing or really really breaking something because the bike did a wheelie off the line, came down hard, and the travel limit of the suspension was the engine oil drain plug. (Or the street squids who do the same thing to their bike and then discover the hard way that the bike will high-center on the oil pan.)

Usually, that's bad.
 
AGAVE said:
I'll do it for 50$, should only take a few mins.
woody.gif
Click to expand...

IRONLUNG said:
Thank you for this. It is precisely the information I was looking for. Logically makes sense, I was wondering because a lot of people are doing this to their bikes, then selling them as is, and I looked at one (looked nice) but was worried about exactly what you just described.
Click to expand...

Tell those guys that I'll do it for 49.95, HST included.. Got my angle-grinder ready :cool:
 
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