How-To Lower a Dirtbike With No Additional Parts by CheapCycleParts.com
https://goo.gl/8aAYt
Fact: dirt bikes rule. It’s just science. There’s nothing quite as fun as bopping down a trail or nailing your first double at the moto track. With nearly a foot of suspension travel, modern dirt bikes can really go anywhere.
Problem is, that copious amount of suspension travel means those that are, um, vertically challenged often find the seat height of many dirt bikes to be a bit overwhelming. The aftermarket provides various bolt-on items that can help lower the bike, but for those on a budget, is there any way to bring a super-tall dirt bike down to a height manageable by mere mortals? Why yes, yes there is. Read on.
Our test mule for this job is a Honda CRF230f. We know, we know. It isn’t the tallest bike in the world to begin with. But the owner of this machine tops out around five feet tall, so the principle remains.
To start the job, we’ll remove the seat, tank and side panels to gain access to the rear shock. Once complete, lowering the rear shock is simply a matter of relieving some of the bike’s factory-set preload. This is accomplished by loosening the locking collar. We backed it out roughly half an inch to start. Next up you simply back out spring nut to meet up with the locking nut. (Working with these spring collar nuts is best done using a good spanner wrench. If you don’t have one in your tool arsenal, get one. You’ll need it.) Once at your desired height, tighten up the locking nut and the rear suspension is done. Moving on to the front.
Before lowering the front suspension, we’ll need to unweight the forks. This can be done by placing the bike on a stand or lift. Next up, slightly loosen all of the fork pinch bolts to allow us to move the forks within the clamps. No need to completely back out these bolts. Just loosen them enough to allow some fork tube movement.
Next, lower the bike bike down onto the ground. This will keep the front wheel planted and aligned, and allow us to evenly move the forks up through the triple tree and lower clamp. Once lowered to the desired height, we simply retightened the pinch bolts.
And we’re done. We now have a slightly lowered dirt bike that retains plenty of suspension travel for the rooted and rocky trails CCP calls home. If you have any questions on this project or have another project you’d like us to cover, let us know on our Facebook page or our Youtube channel. See you on the trails!
Post time: Jun-10-2017