Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Accessories Rear Shock Height

I recently puchased a low profile seat and it looks great, this has really triggered me into wanting to lower the bike just a touch. I have searched all the forums and read all that's available on changing the rear shocks for lowering the bike stance. Here is what I think:

Using 1" lower shock (11.5") appears to lower the bike 2 inches. This seems to work well and only a few people scraped with them.

Using 2" lower shock (10.5) lowers the bike too much as it scrapes, scrapes, and scrapes some more. It also can cause problems with the fender wiring.

Cutting the springs and using lowering blocks, while it does lower the bike, seems to not work well. Plus the ride is negatively affected.

I would like to lower the bike to a level thay makes it look nicer, but not have it rub or scrape. I generally ride alone, I weigh 230 lbs, I have SS long pipes, and I like to lay it down a bit in the corners, I dont scrape anything today. If my wife does ride with me, she weighs only 100 lbs.

When I look at my pipes, it seems that lowering them 2" closer to the ground will cause them to scrape. I really don't want to ruin my pipes, I like the shine of them too much.

Am I asking for too much ,and I can't have my cake and eat it too?

Is there about a 2:1 ratio in seat height lowering to shock height reduction?

Why doesn't anyone use a 12" shock and be happy with lowering the seat just 1 inch and not scrape at all?

Do the progressive front springs lower the bike 1" in the front, or is it something else?

I would really like to be about 3 inches lower, but I am just too stinken practical

Ok , you weigh 230 , so with leathers , boots , helmet , you're realistically packing 250 pounds on the bike , and with the wife , you're up to 360 pounds . That's a lot of weight for a lowered bike . You might could get away with it if you were to go hard tail and/or really hard springs . IMHO , just keep it stock height , they're great looking bikes just as they are .

I spent a few minutes making measurements on the bike this morning. My measurements were done fairly quickly, not highly accurate (tape measure, semi-calibrated eyeball, and a level). Then I placed the measurements into AutoCad in a sketch format. This was done to determine the ratio of lowered axle bolt height to shock length reduction. The ratio ends up being ABOUT 1.9 (for every a 1 inch reduction in shock length, you get a 1.9 inch reduction in axle height or seat height). These are ballpark numbers, but it is accurate enough to get an idea of the changes. This does not take into account shock set in or sag. It’s as useful as you want it to be:

12.5” shock is stock
12” shock equals .95” seat height reduction
11.5” shock equals 1.9” seat height reduction
11” shock equals 2.85” seat height reduction

So you guy going with 10.5” shocks are really down there…3.8”

I've got 12" Hagons on mine, front lowered an 1", have short reverse cone megas, weight 169lb and still regularly scrape the exhausts