Lowering Info

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coasty
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Lowering Info

Post by coasty »

Can anyone tell me how far I can raise the forks in the Triple clamps on our 05 KDX200 before there are issues with the front wheel fouling on the front guard ?. We have them up 30mm at the momesnt and it seem to be ok, is that the limit or cam we go a little further ?
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firsthere
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Post by firsthere »

Mine are about 1/2" below the bars and so far the tire has not left a mark on the fender.
pumpguy
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Lowering Info

Post by pumpguy »

Keep in mind that as you lower the front end you steepen up the rake angle which changes the handling. To restore the steering geometry you need to lower the back end too. This is done by installing longer dog bone links for the rear shock.

Longer links are easy to make if you have any metal working skills. These longer links are also available commercially. KOUBA LINKS are one brand. There may be others too, but I'm not aware of any others.
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Re: Lowering Info

Post by sarrant »

If you pull the caps off the fork legs, you can drop it all the way down in the travel on the front wheel and see how close you are to bumping anywhere.
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two-stroke-brit
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Post by two-stroke-brit »

pumpguy wrote:Keep in mind that as you lower the front end you steepen up the rake angle which changes the handling. To restore the steering geometry you need to lower the back end too. This is done by installing longer dog bone links for the rear shock.

Longer links are easy to make if you have any metal working skills. These longer links are also available commercially. KOUBA LINKS are one brand. There may be others too, but I'm not aware of any others.
Does anyone know the length between centers of the kouba kdx2 links as i would like to experiment with making some ,and that seems like a good place start from.
thanks mark
She might not be pretty but always a fun ride !
coasty
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Post by coasty »

pumpguy wrote:Keep in mind that as you lower the front end you steepen up the rake angle which changes the handling. To restore the steering geometry you need to lower the back end too. This is done by installing longer dog bone links for the rear shock.

Longer links are easy to make if you have any metal working skills. These longer links are also available commercially. KOUBA LINKS are one brand. There may be others too, but I'm not aware of any others.

Hey Pump guy thanks for that, we have a Koubalink 3 on order so hopefully that should restore the steering geometry to something close to standard, if we need any more lowering after that is installed we may have to look at reshaping the seat rather than dropping the tripleclamps any further, thanks.
coasty
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Lowering Info

Post by coasty »

two-stroke-brit wrote:
pumpguy wrote:Keep in mind that as you lower the front end you steepen up the rake angle which changes the handling. To restore the steering geometry you need to lower the back end too. This is done by installing longer dog bone links for the rear shock.

Longer links are easy to make if you have any metal working skills. These longer links are also available commercially. KOUBA LINKS are one brand. There may be others too, but I'm not aware of any others.
Does anyone know the length between centers of the kouba kdx2 links as i would like to experiment with making some ,and that seems like a good place start from.
thanks mark
I can measure the Kouba 3 when it arrives if thats any help ?
pumpguy
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Post by pumpguy »

Stock link centers dimension is 112.5 mm. This number is stamped into each link. I made mine 121 mm center to center.

If I calculated correctly, this should result in lowering about one inch. Only problem is, I can't remember where I got the basis for this dimension.

There is a formula floating around somewhere that tells you what the lowering will be for a given link length. This may be on this site. It may have been a post with results, but I just don't remember right now.

Hope this helps.
coasty
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Post by coasty »

The Kouba Link 3 was 124mm ctre to ctre, the links that came off were standard and had 112.5 stamped on them.
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two-stroke-brit
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Post by two-stroke-brit »

coasty wrote:The Kouba Link 3 was 124mm ctre to ctre, the links that came off were standard and had 112.5 stamped on them.
are the Kouba links steel or aluminium as they look chunky in the pics ?
thanks mark
She might not be pretty but always a fun ride !
coasty
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Post by coasty »

They are Aluminium and although not cheap (especially with postage to this side of the pond) they are well made, if I did it again now I know the measurements it would be cheaper to get them laser or water cut using either steel or alloy.
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Post by bazwalton »

If I get chance I will put some pics of the sets of links I made recently and the lengths, but if you go to my page on Facebook called Classic Mann you can see the article about making them.
The page is about KDXs and vintage Enduro bike restorations. It's not a shop so you don't have to worry about being sold anything. Hahaha.

https://www.facebook.com/Enduromotorcyc ... 2707121333
https://www.facebook.com/Classic-Mann-952895831458690/ Kdx racing and restoration.

Kdx175x5 Kdx200x4 Kdx220x2 Kdx450. Kdx200AF.
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