Lowering front forks on gen1 make any difference

[putin]

Someone tell me to lower front forks by 1 inch on gen1. Does it make any difference in handling?

 

[TK3333]

I kinda asked the same question. It has been said you can lower the forks in the triple tree 1 inch to see if you like it before doing a more permanent mod to lower the front. If you do lower the front internally be sure to lower the rear also.

https://www.vmaxforum.net/threads/suspension-upgrade-input.48034/

 

[putin]

I kinda asked the same question. It has been said you can lower the forks in the triple tree 1 inch to see if you like it before doing a more permanent mod to lower the front. If you do lower the front internally be sure to lower the rear also.

https://www.vmaxforum.net/threads/suspension-upgrade-input.48034/

Was changing fork oil and lowered front end 3 cm, don 't feel difference. Anyway handling was poor.

 

[wood1]

I installed Progressive front springs and lowered it the required amount and found an amazing difference in handling. 1 1/4" maybe?? It's been a couple years. I do have the Car. wheels and Avon radials too. No changes in rear suspension other than moving things around to allow for the wider read tire. Went from sketchy old steel frame bike handling to no chicken strips on the tires... really gave me the confidence to lay it over after being cautious for so many years. Maybe the best thing other than the wheels/radials I've done to the bike. My other bike is a Street Glide so I don't run any crotch rockets....

 

[putin]

I installed Progressive front springs and lowered it the required amount and found an amazing difference in handling. 1 1/4" maybe?? It's been a couple years. I do have the Car. wheels and Avon radials too. No changes in rear suspension other than moving things around to allow for the wider read tire. Went from sketchy old steel frame bike handling to no chicken strips on the tires... really gave me the confidence to lay it over after being cautious for so many years. Maybe the best thing other than the wheels/radials I've done to the bike. My other bike is a Street Glide so I don't run any crotch rockets....

So progressive springs made a trick. Just lowering makes no noticeble difference.

 

[wood1]

I can't speak to the lowering vrs the progressive springs as I did them at the same time. Lowered and Progressive (and much needed fork seals). I would think, that lowering would have a significant effect due to the difference in the COG...? I'm no engineer, just an old Air Force engine mech. Either way, end effect is I can push her fast in the corners and feel very comfortable where before there was no way I would. She has tried to buck me off more than once... Now I kind of look to drag something and do so comfortably. Like I said, I am not a former crotch rocket fella. My bike before the Max was a 700 Honda Transalp. I can say that the the Honda wasn't scary as you could trust it to behave in a corner and I have never felt that with the Max before the mod.... I use to lock up the back brake on the Honda at around 30 MPH and swing it around in the other direction easily. Would never have tried that on the Max...

 

[85vmax]

Lowering the front end should always quicken up the steering.
Mines lowered almost 2 in the front with progressive springs, and almost another 1/2 inch with a 100 instead of the stock 110 front tire. Down 1 in the back also with progressive. Bike steersquicker, falls into the corners, and very stable at mach speed. Not much clearance though especially with the old hindles.

 

[mavgrab302]

Someone tell me to lower front forks by 1 inch on gen1. Does it make any difference in handling?

Thats one of the first things you want to do with those flimsey forks. Lol by lowering youre in effect taking the ‘lever action’ out of the play that the forks are capable of, less flex. That, along with stiff spring and doing the triple tree bearing test are all ‘have to do’s..bearings being most important. the bearing test is pretty simple but make sure you dont have bearing valleys. You can feel that when your front is off tge ground and your bearings feel like they catch. That means new bearings if so, these bearing over time being they dont spin in complete circles but only within the turning amount they create low spots. To test tension on bearings get your front wheel up off the ground straighten the wheel then let loose. Your handle bars should fall either left ir right, if they dont dont give them a nudge, pay attention when they bottom out. If when hitting the stop they bounce a few times (too loose) or whether they only bounce once or none at all (perfect +/-).

 

[Fire-medic]

Lowering the front end should always quicken up the steering.
Mines lowered almost 2 in the front with progressive springs, and almost another 1/2 inch with a 100 instead of the stock 110 front tire. Down 1 in the back also with progressive. Bike steersquicker, falls into the corners, and very stable at mach speed. Not much clearance though especially with the old hindles.

If your dressed to-ride weight is > 150 lbs, lowering the bike will cost you cornering clearance. That's not a trade-off I'm willing to-make. Cornering hard on the left side can cause the centerstand to leverage the rear wheel right-off its contact patch, that's something nearly no-one can successfully recover from, unless your name is "Mark Marquez" (look on youtube for a video of his amazing save during a GP race, he's literally dragging his right-side on the pavement, and using his weight across the bike to regain grip in the front tire, one of the most amazing pieces of riding I've ever-seen).

As-mentioned, dropping the front pulls-in the steering head angle incrementally, "shortening" it, and results in 'quicker' steering. Think of a chopper with a 12" extended fork, (yes, I know there are more-extreme examples, this is for purposes of comparison) and then a modern literbike, with its front wheel/tire much-closer to the radiator and frame. The sportbike can change lines in a corner at-will, while where you enter a corner on an extended chopper geometry better-be where you keep it, unless you want to take an unexpected off-road excursion, like Dennis Hopper at the end of Easy Rider. Yes, I know, he was on a straight road when the rednecks shot the two of them ("dammit, don't call me no redneck, I'm a hillbilly!"- Ozark on Netflix).

I've posted on-here before about some of the things you can do to our bikes to reinforce the front end for better handling. If you have a 1985-1992, you can switch from a 40 mm fork to a 43 mm fork. There is a substantial difference between them in-terms of feel, because the larger diameter of the 43 mm downtubes/sliders resists deflection much-better than the smaller diameter front-end. There are all-sorts of replacements for the fork brace/front fender mount, just be sure to follow the correct procedure for tightening the triple trees and the axle, before you tighten the fork brace. That will ensure things are properly aligned, and that you aren't building stiction into your front-end. That would limit your fork's responsiveness and cause binding during operation.

Changing you fork oil is another easy thing to-do, if your bike in your ownership has never had an oil change, get to-it! Leave the fork cap in-place so you can break-loose the damper rod bolts in the bottom of each slider. You need the tension to hold the damper rod stationary while you loosen the allen bolt. It will be much easier to do this with an impact tool of some-sort, even a hand impact tool is better than a ratchet and a correctly-sized allen socket adapter. An electric impact tool, or a pneumatic impact tool is probably the easiest way to loosen the bolt.

Early forks had an oil drain screw on the lower outside of the fork sliders. If all you want to do is to change the oil and you have a 1985-1995 model, you can simply remove the little drain screw, support the front of the frame, and remove the downtube threaded caps. Use a bit of mineral spirits to rinse-out the downtubes/fork sliders, work up and down the sliders to effectively-flush out the remaining crud, you'll probably find this easiest to-do by removing the front wheel, less weight to lift.

Progressive Suspension (PS) and Race Tech (RT) are two spring suppliers for the forks. PS are progressive-wound, Race Tech are straight-wound, you buy them according to your dressed-to-ride weight. If you ride two-up, or are an enthusiastic cornering person, you might consider the RT springs in a one-size heavier spring rate. The PS is a 'one-size fits-all' so other-than taking into account 40 mm vs 43 mm, that's the only-choice.

There are wave-washer adapters you can use to change the damping, and they also allow you to tune the damping in ways the OEM system never-had. RICOR and Gold Valve Cartridge Emulators are two different ones. Look-at this website for Gold Valve, the tech info is very-helpful for sorting-out your bike's handling. Note there is another page for the 1985-1992 forks.
https://www.racetech.com/ProductSearch/12/Yamaha/VMX1200 V-Max/1993-2013

https://www.racetech.com/ProductSearch/12/Yamaha/VMX1200 V-Max/1985-92

Personally, I wouldn't spend the $ to do the Race Tech or Progressive Suspension springs and Gold Valves/RICOR's, on a 1985-1992 front end, I'd search for a 1993+ front end to use, because of the larger-diameter downtubes and sliders. Remember that you need a 43 mm set of triple trees too. Sean Morley (email below) and Captain Kyle ([email protected]) often have complete downtube/sliders and triple trees to accomplish this. Starting from that vantage point (43 mm front end) is a better improvement plan than trying to modify the 40 mm front end. On size-alone, a 43 mm dia. tube is 7-1/2% larger than a 40 mm tube, and the resistance to bending, and load-bearing capacity increases with diameter as-well. It would be safe to-say that a reasonable expectation of increase on stiffness is on the order-of 10% (possibly-more) for the 43 mm downtubes compared to the 40 mm downtubes. An engineer could tell you exactly what the difference is. Also recall that the mounting dimension for the single-opposed pistons on the 1985-1992 brake calipers is I believe 82 mm o.c., where the 1993-2007 four-piston (two opposed pairs) calipers are on a 100 mm o.c. mounting pattern. Along with this, you need to go to the 298 mm brake rotors for the 1993-2007 front end. Sean Morley offers a cool, lightweight (it mounts to just one slider) Suzuki six-piston (three opposed-pairs) caliper and mounting bracket set-up, I'm not-sure which rotor that fits, or if it takes a new rotor entirely; contact [email protected] for more info.

If you want to-spend lots of money, switch to an USD fork. Then you have-to mess with different triple trees (the quills, too), front wheels, speedometer senders, different routings and lengths of brake cables, fenders and mounting, etc. I've bought entire VMax bikes for what it would cost.