Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Fork Springs Tech Question

What are the pros and cons of putting in new progressive fork springs and dropping the forks about 1-inch versus doing a progressive fork spring lowering kit? The first mod is way simplier and a little cheaper.

I want to get some shorter progressive 412's and lower the whole set up, but it will have to wait until I save up the money. In the mean time I could do the fork springs now and then lower them in the triple trees when I get the shocks.

I am going to remove the shrouds that are over the forks and put gaiters when I have the whole set up lowered so it may be best to purchase the lowering kit now and do it all at once, but I wanted to get some input on lowering the fork in the triple trees. A buddy of mine who has done a lot of work on Harleys told me he has done this all the time, but he is a shadetree self taught type of mechanic and I believe about half of what he tells me when it comes to technical work on bikes.

If anyone has lowered their ride with a progressive fork springs lowering kit I would greatly apprecaiate your comments.

Thanks.

The lowering kit maintains the pre-load where as the shorter spring or shorter spacer lessens the pre-load.

To me lowering the front by pushing the forks up through the trees is a Mickey Mouse way of doing it and shows a lack of effort and talent. Also detracts from the over all look.On the up side it will maintain your pre-load and is fast to do and fast to undo. You may want to do it before you buy the lowering kit and ride it, if you like it then buy the kit.

Note that pushing your forks through the triple tree will change your rake
I am with the dog on this one.
I pushed my forks through temporarily while waiting for my lower fork kit to arrive as the bike became very flighty with the lowered rear shocks and bigger profile front tyre.
About 17-18mm through the tree's.First big pothole I bottomed out which bent my fork shroud a bit and left a nice mark in the fender bracket.
Now with the lower progressive springs in and forks at correct height there is no comparison.
So just be careful if you push them through you will not have as far to travel before you bottom out. And when you do bottom out it will be on your guard bracket first.