lowering kits?

[Veronica]

Has anyone lowered a XB12Ss ?
I'm quite short 5.1" and need some help other than cutting out a seat..
cheers

 

[mrdozer2you]

Get a rear shock from a SCG, should fit no problem. Get the touring seat as well, that will drop you another 1" or so as well. [up]

 

[His_and_Her_Buells]

Instead of spending $200 on the touring seat I just had mine cut down 2" by a local upholstery shop for $40. He started at the passenger strap going nearly straight down, this gave it a nice gunfighter feel. Not sure if it's as comfortable as the touring seat as I've never sat on one. With both feet on the ground I do feel extra pressure from the seat pan on the inside of my thighs but once my feet are on the pegs it's fine. I too would like to get the SCG shock but shouldn't I do something with the forks as well to get the full 1" drop and keep it all balanced nicely?

 

[mrdozer2you]

Yeah, sorry I forgot to mention dropping the front forks. Dont need any extra parts, just lower em' down.

 

[Veronica]

ok , his and her buells , How tall are you? and you say after cutting out the orginal seat, you have both feet on the ground?
The touring seat was alot more than $200au

 

[mrdozer2you]

Its like $300 USD, dont know the conversion. Cutting material out of the stock seat is something i'm reluctant to do. I like having a good cushion under my arse

 

[His_and_Her_Buells]

ok , his and her buells , How tall are you? and you say after cutting out the orginal seat, you have both feet on the ground?
The touring seat was alot more than $200au

I'm 5'7" with a 30" inseam. I can touch both feet but not flat footed, close though. If I dropped the suspension an inch I would pretty much be there. Buell's website shows msrp for the touring seat to be $221.95, but yes I'm sure it will be more down under. I'm never in the saddle for more that 45 minutes or so but I can't really tell the difference in comfort from before it was shaved. I'm sure if I rode for a couple of hours it would be a different story. I picked a shop based on the recommendations of friends who had the same work done so I had no qualms about someone cutting on my seat. Mrdozer, how do I go about lowering the forks? I would spring for the CG rear shock (no pun intended) if the front was a freebie.

 

[MPea3]

Beth is 5-1 and rides a cg. The advice above is good, get a cg shock and lower the front end by sliding them up in the clamps as much as you can. The cg seat is also under $100 I think, and you'll see them occasionally on ebay. We also took all of the preload out of Beth's shocks as we could and may eventually have a new even lower shock made for the rear, and new springs for the front. As it is right now on her cg, she can get the points of both toes down barely, so she one foots it at traffic lights.

Beth on her cg at Deals Gap last week. As you can see, she's very small.

http://www.luthier.net/at_resort.jpg

http://www.luthier.net/dealsgap0607.jpg

http://www.photoreflect.com/PR3/OrderPage.aspx?sf=1&pi=04RK00ES051209&po=1209&c=&a=370248

 

[Veronica]

Hello all, Thanks fr the info, I have the touring seat. And I think I will see about the scg shock.
That should bring me down a bit.... If not than might resort to cutting out the orginal seat...
Having the lower shock and not doing the front forks should be ok?... So when my husband is not riding it , I can change the seat and shock and go...
cheers Veronica.

 

[Veronica]

they dont have the xb12scg here in Australia.[confused]

 

[LeFox]

... So when my husband is not riding it , I can change the seat and shock and go...

changing the shock everytime you're going to ride it[confused]
i think it would be less of a hastle to adjust the height of your boots

 

[MPea3]

Changing the rear shock without bringing the front end down the same corresponding amount will result in some handling problems. Exactly how much I don't know, but thjese bikes are VERY sensitive to setup changes.

 

[His_and_Her_Buells]

Changing the rear shock without bringing the front end down the same corresponding amount will result in some handling problems. Exactly how much I don't know, but thjese bikes are VERY sensitive to setup changes.

+1

Also lowering the front is not as easy as loosening the triple clamps and moving the tubes up. The fork tubes are within 1/16" of hitting the handle bars and the only way around this would be to go to clip-ons.

 

[Veronica]

Has anyone priced a scg shock? Aus$2000
as for changing the shock and seat like i said before, we have a number of bikes so it wouldn't be for one little ride..
It is all starting to sound too much, might be better off with my own. Thanks for letting me ask these question
Cheers Veronica

 

[ctrucky]

I read this a few weeks ago, and decided to have my S seat cut down. I went to get it done, and it was gonna cost me $100. I opted to do it myself, and it was not too bad. I used a electric kitchen knife. The big thing was being careful when removing the staples out of the cover, not to rip the cover. Also, when your done cutting, to staple the cover and pad back on, it will be easier to get a extra set of hands to hold it.

 

[ctrucky]

Since the above posting, Myself and another XBer have traded suspension, and are now just waiting on the parts to arrive. When I took my standard S forks off, I found they have retaining rings, that seat into a machined seat in the body of the shock. So to say lowering the front is as easy as loosening the triple clamp and sliding the fork down is not all true. If you were to leave out the retaing rings you could do that, but I am not totally sold on that idea. I did one time have to replace forks on a Japanese bike, and I just took measurements, and put it back together like that, but there were not retaining rings. You do still have the problem of the handlebars being only centimeters away, but for that you could probably get a ULY set of clamps, or buy another set of clamps, and add the bottom, and longer bolts, that would give you 1-2 inches of clearance to just slide the forks up to allow for more lowering. Good luck!!

 

[BuellPartsGuy]

There is a whole post on this on here about lowering any Lightning or Firebolt to the CG suspension height.

Firebolt Lowering Kit

 

[hollywood12r]

trying to lowering a xb12scg can you guys plz help me my wife is 5'3 and tip toeing just need to drop it about 1/2 inch to 1 inch. found a site do you guys think it will help
http://www.streetfightersinc.com/LoweringKits.htm

 

[brightbuell]

How can I raise the rear end a couple inches on my Firebolt?

 

[Ranchero]

I have a '03 9S and it has a yellow rear spring. Rhe rear end seems a bit low compared to a 9SX that has a purple spring. What does the colour tell?

Can I just swap a taller spring to replace the yellow to raise the rear a bit?