A quesetion for those of you who have purchased aftermarket rear shocks for the Falco:
Which shocks incorporate ride height adjustments which will allow you to LOWER the rear seat height from the standard 32.2 inches? I'm kinda short of inseam (30") and I love my bike but I'd enjoy it even better if I could get a firmer footing on the ground.
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
My fox twin clicker will not allow for going shorter, I too I'm verticaly challanged
good luck.
IMHO, lowering the rear of the bike is not a good idea as it could/would make the bike even more prone to squat-induced understeer than it already is.
My advice would be to either live with it, or take the seat to an upholsterer and have it shaved down a tad. Any competant upholstery shop can do that, no sweat. If you want to spend the cash, Sargent did a SWEEEET job on my seat, and NOW is the time of year to get the work done.
Scott
At 5' 7" I was excited to lower seat height with my Ohlins shock. After lowering the seat height approx. 5/8"from the stock Falco's height I was able to touch ground much easier but was faced with an unpleasant result that I hadn't expected at all : the ride was much, much stiffer. By lowering I had altered the leverage ratio negatively. I played with preload, compression and rebound damping adjustments to no avail - still a very harsh suspension action . I moved the shock to 322-324mm eye to eye length (the Milles stock length and of course taller than the stock Falcos of approx 315mm) and I had a plush but very controlled ride. (also pretty damn tall !! I've decided to like it)
Most magazine road testers complain about the Falco's harsh suspension action and the "poor quality Sachs shock" is most often blamed-- my feeling is that the real problem is that the stock shock is too short for the linkage set-up (this linkage set up is the exact same set-up as the Mille-why ?cost savings of course). Many listers have installed the Sachs shock from the stock Mille and found very good results --it's assumed that the Mille shock is a "better" shock because it has more 'adjustments'--I doubt it very much, the better ride is actually a result of using the correct shock length for the bike. Oh, I should also report that I use a stock Mille swing-arm which bolts right on a Falco, the frame from all appearances is set up identically to the Milles--from steering head angle to width of the swing arm pivot. (I road raced for six years and am a hard to very hard rider-- when someone makes recommendations or observations it's good to know their riding style.) Good luck lowering, but I doubt you'll be satisfied unless you ride differently than I do --
(And of course, there are a zillion other variables to consider too--from the kind of roads you ride on--smooth to bumpy, to the tires you like --the MEZ4s are very stiff-the Bridgestone 010's I use now are pretty compliant --- to the speeds you travel at --to the shock you choose ) Geez, when I started to type this I thought it would be short,simple and easy--I need a beer. Ho.Ho.Ho. Happy New Year listers !
Check out the bike and the rear shock at caplan77.com Hpoe this helps you.
Erik
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