Shorter Dog Bones - raising the rear

[Luckypants]

Can someone who has fitted shorter dogbones comment on this?

The problem I have is that my side stand grounds out on left handers. This is due to the extra exhaust pipe from my twin rene exhaust that runs under the chain and stops the stand going up as far as it should. I think that I need to raise the ride height to stop the stand grounding. (Do a lot of two up also)

So my question is, how does raising the rear ride height affect the bike. I know that it will 'quicken' the steering, but by how much? Does this make the bike flighty or more prone to tank slappers? How does this affect braking? etc. I have recently read on the ride lowering thread that fitting longer dogbones has a detrimental effect, is the same true for shorter dogbones?

[Razor]

I have the rear raised by about 2".
To me it makes the bike far more flickable and less lazy then it felt stock. Braking seems unaffected but I have emulators in the forks so dive is lessened.

I would have thought, just looking at my own set up, that the chain will touch the link pipe for the Left Rene if you raised the rear?
It's the reason I never went for the can-per-side look

[northwind]

I've got mine pretty high too, and low at the front as well, but I wouldn't run it as it is with stock suspension- the rear's not up to it. Still, you can go up a bit at the rear without real worries.

[Luckypants]

I would have thought, just looking at my own set up, that the chain will touch the link pipe for the Left Rene if you raised the rear?
It's the reason I never went for the can-per-side look

Hmmmm Never thought of that! You could be right, as the chain runs close to link pipe when the bike is unloaded.

Was looking at these link (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=008&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=180072375753&rd=1&rd=1) which will raise the seat by 20mm, so raise the ride height at the stand by similar amount. Gonna have to go measure the chain / link pipe gap!

[Razor]

The only time mine gets it's wiggle on is when I'm sorta 100MPH+
Private roads and all that good stuff.

[Luckypants]

I've got mine pretty high too, and low at the front as well, but I wouldn't run it as it is with stock suspension- the rear's not up to it. Still, you can go up a bit at the rear without real worries.ZX10R shock on way to cope with being over 12st (plus pillion) and will also do new springs / oil in forks. 8)
ZX10R shock is slightly shorter than stock, so will mitigate the dogbones slightly.

[Bear]

How easy is it to fit dog bones? Bear in mind that I'm a numpty of the highest order... Will it make my bike fit me better (I'm 6'5")?

[Razor]

How easy is it to fit dog bones? Bear in mind that I'm a numpty of the highest order... Will it make my bike fit me better (I'm 6'5")?

I used front paddock stand and axle stands under the footrest to get into the linkage. Steel pipe on the gorilla bar to slacken off before putting on the stands. The other way is hoist the rear with some skyhooks.

[Viney]

How easy is it to fit dog bones? Bear in mind that I'm a numpty of the highest order... Will it make my bike fit me better (I'm 6'5")?The answer is no. It does not the move the footpeg/seat any further apart. It will only make the back of the bike higher than standard.

Fitting is easy if you have one of those abba type stands. I done mine using a large step ladder and some rope...not recomended i can tell ya!!

I raised the rear on my bike with std suspension and it made a slight improvement. Jumping from my girlfirends bike to mine, the difference in 90% of all these mods is negligable. It will stop the stand grounding though and the chain shouldn't tap the left hand pipe...well as long as the chain is adjusted properly.

[Grinch]

Tried to sort mine this weekend... bloody nut wouldn't come off... will have to wait till next week now.

[northwind]

The hardest bit is that the dogbone nuts are pretty tight, and they probably won't have been touched since it left the factory, so they can be hard to shift. That, and suspending the bike as's been said- if you can swing it from a roof beam or something that works, or borrow an abba stand...

[Grinch]

The hardest bit is that the dogbone nuts are pretty tight, and they probably won't have been touched since it left the factory, so they can be hard to shift. That, and suspending the bike as's been said- if you can swing it from a roof beam or something that works, or borrow an abba stand...

I had it on the Abba stand, I've WD-40'd it all up. But I'll dig out the plus gas and blow torch next week.

[Luckypants]

It will stop the stand grounding though
Good! :D

and the chain shouldn't tap the left hand pipe...well as long as the chain is adjusted properly. How you know that Viney? You got this set up? I thought you had that double shotgun thing... (from memory of a long time ago.....) Need to be sure I guess.

[lukemillar]

I would also take the rear wheel off. You don't have to, but it is a lot easier as you won't have the weight of it being transferred through to the linkage, and will therefore make the bolts easier to remove. In fact, the last time I did it, I bought replacements nuts and bolts - cost about a £6 from a Suzuki dealer, which saved a lot of cursing as the old bolts were stuck in the dog bones.

[Blue_SV650S]

I've got mine pretty high too, and low at the front as well, but I wouldn't run it as it is with stock suspension- the rear's not up to it. Still, you can go up a bit at the rear without real worries.ZX10R shock on way to cope with being over 12st (plus pillion) and will also do new springs / oil in forks. 8)
ZX10R shock is slightly shorter than stock, so will mitigate the dogbones slightly.

I thought the ZX10 shock was slightly longer ...

{looks up that shock's detail list}

99-02 SV650 337mm 510# <<<====stock 1st gen

04 ZX10R 338mm 540#

03-04 ZX6R(636) 340mm 540#

I went for the ZX636 shock and dogbones to give me max raise. 8)

[Luckypants]

Will probably be done same time as new shock, so wheel out.

[Luckypants]

I thought the ZX10 shock was slightly longer ...

{looks up that shock's detail list}

99-02 SV650 337mm 510# <<<====stock 1st gen

04 ZX10R 338mm 540#

03-04 ZX6R(636) 340mm 540#

I went for the ZX636 shock and dogbones to give me max raise. 8)
Ooops you right, although I doubt a 1mm longer shock will make any difference to the ride height? I must admit, I remebered those the other way round! Thanks for checking / putting me straight

[Blue_SV650S]

Ooops you right, although I doubt a 1mm longer shock will make any difference to the ride height? I must admit, I remebered those the other way round! Thanks for checking / putting me straight

I dunno what the lever ratio is ... that could equate to 20mm at the tail??? ... (or it could be <1mm :D) at least you are not loosing anything as you originally thought though 8)

[Luckypants]

Hmmm

I might just do the shock only. although 1mm longer does not sound like it will make a difference, it might and allied to stiffer spring and some compression damping, might resolve the issue of the side stand.

Generally it only touches down two up if I hit a bump mid-corner.... I know where I can test this out. :D

[svrash]

The hardest bit is that the dogbone nuts are pretty tight, and they probably won't have been touched since it left the factory, so they can be hard to shift. That, and suspending the bike as's been said- if you can swing it from a roof beam or something that works, or borrow an abba stand...

I had it on the Abba stand, I've WD-40'd it all up. But I'll dig out the plus gas and blow torch next week.
Carfull grinch, the needle rollers might have nylon spacer in them, i know a couple of the new ones i put in my linkage did :wink:

[Grinch]

The hardest bit is that the dogbone nuts are pretty tight, and they probably won't have been touched since it left the factory, so they can be hard to shift. That, and suspending the bike as's been said- if you can swing it from a roof beam or something that works, or borrow an abba stand...

I had it on the Abba stand, I've WD-40'd it all up. But I'll dig out the plus gas and blow torch next week.
Carfull grinch, the needle rollers might have nylon spacer in them, i know a couple of the new ones i put in my linkage did :wink:

Right... looks like its just going to have to be brute force and ignorance.

[kcowgergmm]

i might try to but shorter dog bones on does anyone know how much shorter hey are suppose to be?

[Stig]

Right... looks like its just going to have to be brute force and ignorance.

And you have plenty of the latter. :wink:

[Luckypants]

i might try to but shorter dog bones on does anyone know how much shorter hey are suppose to be?
Have a read of this thread (http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=85984) where some figures are quoted. This might help.