dropping forks through the yokes.

ive heard about doing this, but dont know much about it.

after going from 014's to conti's, i have noticed the steering is less responsive, and it doesnt drop into corners as the bike did kitted out in 014's, but other than that, i am pretty impressed with the tyres.

am i correct in thinking that dropping the forks a few mm's will make the steering faster ?

if so, whats the drawbacks of dropping the forks through ?

please tell me all

Originally Posted by Warren

please tell me all

The fork legs could hit the bottom yoke udner very hard braking (and standard soggy front suspension) and probably duff your dust seals up.

Not sure on what else but my 2nd sv had its forks dropped through the yokes and it was lightening quick to steer, it was great. Having said that, I put them back to standard and they were still great anyway.

As as has been said, it will make the bike steer quicker. You only need to go 5-10mm for a significant change in the steering. I'd suggest dropping them through just a couple of mm each ride and see how it feels.

The side effect of doing this in instability in a straight line. The more you drop the forks the more unstable it will become.

I have mine dropped by 10mm, but then I have after market springs and heavier oil in the front, plus a GSXR rear shock and shorter dog bones.

Any change you make is going to compromise something else. The aim is to change a little, a bit at a time, until you reach the level of compromise that you are happy with.

Originally Posted by Warren

am i correct in thinking that dropping the forks a few mm's will make the steering faster ?

if so, whats the drawbacks of dropping the forks through ?

the advantage is that it'll make the steering quicker, the disadvantage is that it'll make the steering quicker if you take it too far you might find that it makes the bike unstable, but a few mm should do the trick for you

I have mine dropped by ~7mm although I've worked up to that in a few steps (3,5). I have a cable tie on one fork leg to check the travel & it still doesn't come within ~6mm of the bottom yoke

saying that, the bt-14 does drop into corner quite quickly, could be that your new tyres are just a slower-turning profile. if you're not running wide in corners I might be inclined to live with it

the other thing you could do, rather than dropping the front, is raise the back with some shorter dogbones, this might be a better route if you're struggling for clearance

~andy

You have a CBR600F don't you? When I had my CBR I dropped the forks quite a lot and ended up damaging the front mud guard if I went over any potholes and/or manhole covers so I would avoid dropping the forks too much. However, if you drop the front a little bit and then do a test ride and see what you think. It should drop into corners rather well If you lower the front too much you will probably need to lower the back as well to balance it all out.

[northwind]

Absolute best test is to take the springs out and make sure it still clears at full compression- you'll probably not need it all on the road but it's nice to know that no matter what you won't clatter anything, I think.

Assuming that CBR's reasonably stable- and I think they are, though I think the one I rode was maybe a different year- it should be fine. There's other more complicated effects- lowering the front effectively raises the rear, which usually calls for a slightly stiffer spring I'm told, and it slightly changes your wheelbase and fork rake, but it's not going to be massive so you can probably pretty much forget about all that.

well im only thinking of doing a few mm to be honest. just a little tweak.

how is the best way of doing this ? mechanically ? just loosen off the forks with the bike under a jack or something ?

Originally Posted by Warren

well im only thinking of doing a few mm to be honest. just a little tweak.

how is the best way of doing this ? mechanically ? just loosen off the forks with the bike under a jack or something ?

Dropping the forks through the yokes will make the bike turn slower

If you want to raise them in the yokes now, yep justget the bike on a paddock stand, put a car jack with a bit of wood under the pipes and loosen all the yokes bolts. Peice of cake, but take the fairings off the cbr first for the jack.

Incidentally, out of all the sports bikes i've ridden, the 600f is the least stable and most prone to flapping over catseyes. I've always found it to be a quick steerer too. Have you tried increasing the rear preload to stop the rear sagging?

[northwind]

You can do it without a jack or even a paddock stand- dead easy, loosen one clipon and slide it down the fork leg, bolt it back up, then undo the yoke for that fork. Bike slides down fork. Tighten up, repeat.

Going back up's a wee bit harder