brown@aero.ARPA (Leonard Brown) (01/17/86)
I went to the Great American Motorcycle/ATV Show when it hit Los Angeles
because I wanted to quickly locate/compare possible replacements for my
'82 Suzuki GS650G. The bike is a wonderful touring machine, has enough
power for around town and freeway riding, is smooth and reliable, and way
too tall for someone with short legs like I have. I decided that either
an '84 or '85 Suzuki Madura 700 (to be marketed only in CA in '86 according
to Rider magazine) or a Yamaha Maxim 700 (air cooled) would be a suitable
replacement.
Of course, the bike I decided I really want is the new BMW K75. It's
great, and a real bargain considering what you get. What happened to the
original goal of finding a bike short enough for me? Good question. That's
why I'm posting this. I need some suggestions on how to lower the rider's
seat height without seriously affecting the handling of the bike. I tried
the lowering blocks made for the Suzuki GS550E since it takes the same
stabilizer bar that my current bike takes, but that didn't work. Every time I
installed the blocks I figured out the first bump I hit would demolish my
rear brake line, so I sent them back. I don't even know that anyone makes
lowering blocks for BMW's. A BMW rep at the Show suggested that
I could have the stops on the rear shock adjustment "ground down," whatever
that means. Smaller tires were also mentioned for both the Suzuki and the
BMW, but when I tried to find lower profile tires for the Suzuki it turned
out I had about the lowest profile tires available already.
I would appreciate hearing any warnings, suggestions, or comments on how
to drop the height about 2" to 3". This is of fairly general interest, I
think, because BMW is using the same K100 frame for its K75, and R65, and
some other bikes this year. Please reply to me at the appended address,
and if it bounces (I'm not too sure about that address) post here.
If I get lots of mailed responses that aren't repeated to the net I'll post
a summary.
--
Leonard Brown: brown@aerospace.ARPA
brown@aero.UUCP
{seismo!hao|tektronix}!hplabs!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!trwrb!trwrba!aero!brown