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COPYRIGHT 2002 Ehlert Publishing Group
For years now, motorcyclists have been scratching their heads over the runaway success of the cruiser market. They most often credit Harley-Davidson as the spark that lit the fire, prompting Japanese and European manufacturers to adopt the trademark long, low look of a Harley But in concentrating on the visual, they forget the practical. Ask most cruiser riders why they like their bikes, and they'li tell you it's because they're low, both in terms of seat height and center of gravity, making them easier to handle at stoplights and at low speed.
These virtues are so appealing, in fact, that many riders whose bikes weren't especially low to start with are going to extremes to make them so. Strategies for lowering a bike range from fitting shorter shocks and forks to cutting the seat padding. But while any of these methods will accomplish the task, each entails drawbacks that you need to be aware of before you start the job.
Lowering the rear end of the bike is by far the most common method, and the most cost-effective. In theory, all you need to do is shorten the rear suspension, and the rear of the bike will sit lower. Sometimes that lowers the seat just enough to make it possible to put your feet securely on the ground at stoplights. For bikes with twin-shock rear suspension, the traditional quick-and-dirty fix is lowering blocks, which are brackets that relocate the shock's bottom mounting...
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