Shock question

[Marauder03]

I’m looking at lowering my Vmax a little, just because I have to tippy toe it backwards out of my garage mostly. I’d like to lower it in the back about an inch. I don’t ride the bike anywhere near top speeds so I’m thinking it won’t make to much of a difference in my riding habits. I found some shocks that are actually for my year and are about 200$ my questions are, should I be looking at a certain brand? What if any difference will lowering it 1” actually make. I’m really not looking to lowering the front so if this is necessary I’ll probably stay with the stock set up. I do get into it and although I don’t max it out I’m really not interested in a death wobble as I’m sure all of you can understand. I did a search but I didn’t find the answers to my specific questions so I figured I’d run it by the experts. I’d like to not go over the 200$ am I being reasonable with my price range as well? Thanks.

 

[02GF74]

Is a lower seat a viable option?

Company in Australia does one, another 5mm lower than 1inch lower rear shocks.

 

[Marauder03]

That’s an idea, but probably more than the shocks. Something I’ll have to delve into.

 

[Fire-medic]

An accepted rule of thumb is to lower the front and the back the same amount. Progressive Suspension has a variety of shocks at different price points. The 412 are comparable to OEM. Penske shocks are pricey but are a premium product. Hagon shocks are another brand, and they are popular in the UK. You could check out racetech. YSS Shocks are less-expensive.

 

[02GF74]

^^^^ yeah. How much does the shock spring compress when a pillion passenger is seated? Can't be much dissimilar to 1inch?

Lower seat won't affect geometry nor handling.

If one was brave, one could remove the seat cover, shave down the foam, replace it with higher density if required, or remould the base in fibre glass/steel, trim the cover and staple it down.

 

[Marauder03]

Very good point about the passenger, what have others done. I tried shock search but maybe I should have tried more of a suspension search, idk. I normally do not ride two up, hardly ever so if the shocks are 1” lower I would think everything should be fine. Being vertically challenged at 5’81/2” notice the half inch, I’m just having an issue backing it up. I’ve done it for years and now I’m getting lazy and old. Hopefully it’ll all work out

 

[Fire-medic]

Sean Morley [email protected] offers a seat trim service, and probably an exchange program. He should be a good resource for foam densities and thicknesses. UFO used to offer a trimmed seat too. Watching eBay Motors, you might be able to snag one, or they come-up on here from time-to-time. I have an old Corbin whose cover is shot, I'd sell, if you wanted to send it out for re-foaming and re-covering. Corbins offer a gel insert, which might be a consideration to comfort if you're trying to remove a lot of foam for a lower seat height. I have a Corbin with that option, and it's pretty-comfy. Some VMax owners swear-by Corbins, others swear-at them. I've never had a problem with enjoying a Corbin seat and I've bought/sold several.

CaptainKyle has parted-out bikes where he's had lowered seats, you could try him [email protected]

FYI, an OEM shock is 13" o.c. eye-to-eye. A 1" reduction would be 12" o.c. eye-to-eye. I think if you go anymore than 1-1/2 inches in a shorter shock pair, you're gonna run into cornering clearance issues.

At the front-end: You can drop the fork downtubes so more of the forks are above the top triple tree, but you better check the compressed position of the forks to the radiator clearance. You can use a ratchet strap to pull it down to the stops/travel limit, and check. The OEM position is top of the downtubes flush-with the top of the top triple-tree. FYI, that does-not include the later model 1993-2007 schrader valve caps! Those caps screw onto the individual downtube schrader valves and are dust/rain covers. The 1985-1992 fork downtubes have a manifold between the two downtubes, and a single point of airing-up the forks, so there is no schrader valve sticking out of the threaded plugs which insert-into the tops of the steel fork downtubes.

Progressive Suspension offers front fork springs with 1" and 2" internal lowering.

Sargent Seat Services of Jacksonville FL offers custom seat services: Sargent Cycle Products - Custom Seat Services - Getting Started
They offer a stock seat cover replacement for d-i-y'er's for $60. Sargent Ready Fit Seat Covers - Yamaha (sargentcycle.com) If you go the d-i-y route, use short, stainless steel staples.

Getting slightly-thicker boot soles can also make a difference, so when you start adding-up the differences, you can effectively-lower the bike by several inches, safely.

RF-150

Ready-Fit Seat Cover, Yamaha V-Max, 1986-98.

$59.95

 

[ouchez]

Sean Morley [email protected] offers a seat trim service, and probably an exchange program. He should be a good resource for foam densities and thicknesses. UFO used to offer a trimmed seat too. Watching eBay Motors, you might be able to snag one, or they come-up on here from time-to-time. I have an old Corbin whose cover is shot, I'd sell, if you wanted to send it out for re-foaming and re-covering. Corbins offer a gel insert, which might be a consideration to comfort if you're trying to remove a lot of foam for a lower seat height. I have a Corbin with that option, and it's pretty-comfy. Some VMax owners swear-by Corbins, others swear-at them. I've never had a problem with enjoying a Corbin seat and I've bought/sold several.

CaptainKyle has parted-out bikes where he's had lowered seats, you could try him [email protected]

FYI, an OEM shock is 13" o.c. eye-to-eye. A 1" reduction would be 12" o.c. eye-to-eye. I think if you go anymore than 1-1/2 inches in a shorter shock pair, you're gonna run into cornering clearance issues.

At the front-end: You can drop the fork downtubes so more of the forks are above the top triple tree, but you better check the compressed position of the forks to the radiator clearance. You can use a ratchet strap to pull it down to the stops/travel limit, and check. The OEM position is top of the downtubes flush-with the top of the top triple-tree. FYI, that does-not include the later model 1993-2007 schrader valve caps! Those caps screw onto the individual downtube schrader valves and are dust/rain covers. The 1985-1992 fork downtubes have a manifold between the two downtubes, and a single point of airing-up the forks, so there is no schrader valve sticking out of the threaded plugs which insert-into the tops of the steel fork downtubes.

Progressive Suspension offers front fork springs with 1" and 2" internal lowering.

Sargent Seat Services of Jacksonville FL offers custom seat services: Sargent Cycle Products - Custom Seat Services - Getting Started
They offer a stock seat cover replacement for d-i-y'er's for $60. Sargent Ready Fit Seat Covers - Yamaha (sargentcycle.com) If you go the d-i-y route, use short, stainless steel staples.

Getting slightly-thicker boot soles can also make a difference, so when you start adding-up the differences, you can effectively-lower the bike by several inches, safely.

RF-150

Ready-Fit Seat Cover, Yamaha V-Max, 1986-98.

$59.95

The best route to take the MORLEY MUSCLE seat!!!! Do It!

 

[Traumahawk]

Very good point about the passenger, what have others done. I tried shock search but maybe I should have tried more of a suspension search, idk. I normally do not ride two up, hardly ever so if the shocks are 1” lower I would think everything should be fine. Being vertically challenged at 5’81/2” notice the half inch, I’m just having an issue backing it up. I’ve done it for years and now I’m getting lazy and old. Hopefully it’ll all work out

I did 11.5 Progressive $$$'s in the rear, and raised the front forks about an inch (with racetech springs and ricors in the front), and the ride is superb, thats with me and my wife on at at Eureka springs.