Lowering Links and suspension question

[firekeeperjml]

I read through the threads i could find on lower the NC700x with links such as Soupys ...

I have a 29-30 inseam and can get the balls of my feet on the ground when seated on the NC700x. Id like to have more of my feet on the ground.
Does the NC700x suspension relax at all after riding and cause the bike to settle or drop a bit thus allowing me to get my feet on the ground ... or will I have no choice other than to get soupys links and adjust as needed?

And if I buy the links would it be wise to buy the adjustable kickstand from Soupy too? And hang onto the stock links and kickstand *in case I ever wanna sell my NC700x*


Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

 

[Old Can Ride]

I also have a 29" inseam, besides being short, fat and ugly. Yes, the suspension did settle in about 1/2 inch. I can now stand on the bike flat footed, but not when new. Still a job to swing my foot across the seat to get on the bike, but you get better at it with time.

 

[Johnny D]

I read through the threads i could find on lower the NC700x with links such as Soupys ...

I have a 29-30 inseam and can get the balls of my feet on the ground when seated on the NC700x. Id like to have more of my feet on the ground.
Does the NC700x suspension relax at all after riding and cause the bike to settle or drop a bit thus allowing me to get my feet on the ground ... or will I have no choice other than to get soupys links and adjust as needed?

And if I buy the links would it be wise to buy the adjustable kickstand from Soupy too? And hang onto the stock links and kickstand *in case I ever wanna sell my NC700x*


Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

I have not yet installed them, But I ordered the Lust Racing links and have them sitting in the garage waiting for me to install them. I have several things I want to do all at once to the bike and was thinking of waiting for a rainy week.

I decided to go with the Solid and not adjustable because adjusting much more than the solid links would throw the steering geometry out of whack.

Now that I have the Lust Racing links, I can testify they are heavy steel and are powder coated. I was thinking of making my own, but am now glad I spent the money on them as the quality is top notch.

You can order direct here. Or you can also buy them on e-bay. Either way you can use paypal to pay for them. With shipping I paid almost exactly $100. They were shipped air mail and I got them in less than a week, although there was no tracking information once they left the UK.

I am not telling you that these are better than other links that others have used. I think they might be, but I have only seen pictures of the others.

I wish I could give you an ETA when I am finally going to put mine on. I will be trying to take some pictures.

I care less about the side stand because I have a center stand. from what I have read, I may need to go with a shorter center stand. Several on the forum have reported success with the center stand for the NC700S. The side stand I would probably modify myself if it needs it, as I just happen to work in a machine shop.

 

[Johnny D]

I also have a 29" inseam, besides being short, fat and ugly. Yes, the suspension did settle in about 1/2 inch. I can now stand on the bike flat footed, but not when new. Still a job to swing my foot across the seat to get on the bike, but you get better at it with time.

Before you believe yours will also lower by 1/2 inch like OCR's did, have a look at the load he has been carrying on his

And OCR, don't sell yourself short, fat and ugly. On the internet you can tell everyone you are a great looking dude with a 6-pack, and who's gonna know?

 

[Harald]

I just put the Soupy's adjustable links ($101 delivered) on the rear of the wife's new NC700X. Measuring at the frame below the seat to ground, I lowered it 1 inch with the adjustable links. Then I raised the forks 1.25 inches higher in the triple clamps, which resulted in another 5/16 drop as measured below the seat. End result is 1 and 5/16 drop in bike height, a sidestand that no longer works and a very happy wife that can now get much more foot down on the ground.

The sidestand would almost work if you didn't mind leaning the bike to the right while extending the sidestand so that it can clear the ground on it's way to it's stop. But when you get off the bike, it's barely leaned unto the stand and a stiff breeze would blow the bike over.

So I cut the foot off of the bottom of the stand and then cut the stand just below where the post (that you use to extend the stand with your foot) is welded to the stand. I had a friend weld the foot back on and I just put the last coat of gloss black on the shortened stand in preparation for reinstall this evening.

If by chance I need a little more leaning over of the bike when it's on the sidestand, I can always file a little material off the stop that the sidestand hits which will allow the sidestand to go further forward and allow more lean. Obviously there's limits to how much can be done with this method without putting undue stress on the stand.

Up next is the NC700S centerstand that's on the way from Web bike Japan. Hopefully it will work out of the box for the lowered bike so I don't have to do any more cutting and welding.

 

[tooblekain]

I read through the threads i could find on lower the NC700x with links such as Soupys ...

I have a 29-30 inseam and can get the balls of my feet on the ground when seated on the NC700x. Id like to have more of my feet on the ground.
Does the NC700x suspension relax at all after riding and cause the bike to settle or drop a bit thus allowing me to get my feet on the ground ... or will I have no choice other than to get soupys links and adjust as needed?

And if I buy the links would it be wise to buy the adjustable kickstand from Soupy too? And hang onto the stock links and kickstand *in case I ever wanna sell my NC700x*


Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Personally, I would avoid lowering a bike at all costs. It negatively effects the geometry.

I am 5'6" and have a 29" inseam also and do just fine. It's all about reading the slope of the terrain when you need to put your foot down. Try to put a foot down where directly facing the slope. For example, if the ground is slightly banked left, put your right foot down, and vise versa.

 

[Harald]

I read through the threads i could find on lower the NC700x with links such as Soupys ...
And if I buy the links would it be wise to buy the adjustable kickstand from Soupy too? And hang onto the stock links and kickstand *in case I ever wanna sell my NC700x*
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

See my post above. You will need either the adjustable sidestand or modify the stock one like I did. I kept the stock dogbones, but they aren't necessary after installing the adjustable ones from Soupys because you can always adjust them to stock height. And finally, I checked on the price of a stock sidestand and it's only $42 so it would be relatively painless to pull off a shortened sidestand and replace with factory.

 

[Harald]

Personally, I would avoid lowering a bike at all costs. It negatively effects the geometry.

Not if you lower the front and rear the same amount. It does reduce ground clearance though, so if you're an agressive rider you can expect to drag pegs much sooner. And from the looks of my wife's lowered bike, it looks like the rear shock linkage could hit on speed bumps if they're tall enough. But that's the trade-off if you need it lower so you can get more of your foot on the ground.

 

[Old Can Ride]

If you use a skid pan, as I do, lowering bike can pose some problems. I'm at full height, ride mostly street, but some dirt road, and no sand. Yes, I hit the skid pan regularly.

 

[kevicon]

I have a question about lowering the bike. If you lower the bike say an inch; will the bike "bottom out" when you sit on it; or if you ride two up?

 

[Old Can Ride]

Always more of a chance to bottom out the more weight you put on your bike. Also, lowering will mean buying a adjustable kick stand, the stock won't work anymore.

 

[bonnielover]

I did the Soupy's links and adjustable side stand. I am 5-9, 29-30 inseam, like many here seem to be. Yes, I could get by without lowering, but you cannot always control where you stop the bike. Additionally, if the ground is wet or slippery and you are tiptoeing, you have no margin for error. The bottoming out, suspension sag and other issues are all dependent upon your weight as well. At 155, I haven't had any issues with cornering clearance. ALSO, with a flat tire, the bike will be even more upright and pose more risk of tipping over to the right - this happened to me!