lowering help..

[zs-cafe]

Ok, so this my problem. My wife is short and her tbird was not. I some how stumbled across a thread in this section about rotating the eccentric cams 180 to lower the bike. No sweat got that done. Put a spacer to clear the chain guard. The chain is grinding the rubber swing arm guard and will soon find the arm it self.
In the thread I found originally found someone mentioned changing sprockets to prevent my "chain sawing" issue. Does anyone know or remember the larger sprocket size?
BTW I tried the search function :brk:

[andybike]

tried sliding the forks up in the yokes(no more than 10mm usually) and maybe cutting the seatfoam down a touch?

[GeoffE]

Hi,

I have a '95 Thunderbird too, and these are taller (in the saddle) bikes than the later Thunderbird & Legend.

The most effective way you can lower the ride height, is by fitting the Legend's (longer) drop links to the early T-Bird. (I suspect the Legend's drop links are also the same as those fitted to your later Thunderbird?).

There are beautifully engineered Adjustable drop links available too, but fitting the standard Legend parts in place of the early Thunderbird's rear suspension "dog"/drop links is much easier on the pocket.
(For your information, the racing T300 Speed Triples use to fit adjustable drop links - to raise the rear height! They do allow you to lower as well)

When fitting the Legend drop links, don't forget you may need to slide the forks up a tad in the yokes, to maintain a good "trail" on the front fork angle, otherwise the handling will become lethargic.

Final comment - the K&Q seat is also slightly lower than the standard seat (and more comfortable).

Final, final comment - the '95 Thunderbird was fitted with the 160/80-16" rear tyre. If still fitted, many people (including Triumph more laterly) fitted the more readily available 150/80-16" rear tyre size, and this again lowered slightly the ride height downward.

Final, final, final comment - Hagon produce a rear monoshocks for our T300 machines which reduces the ride height by around 30mm. See their site - it is their "type L" shock.

Sorry, I have no knowledge on the sprocket swap, but you may want to post on the Hinkley Classics forum as well? The one thing I notice over time with the eccentric chain adjusters is that the rear height changes slightly as you go through the chain wear/replacement cycle - particularly when you replace the chain, and boy do you notice a before/after handling difference.

Good luck
Geoff
:wink:

[ This message was edited by: GeoffE on 2005-09-15 02:20 ]