Question for those with the Baron's lowering kit

[WIKD]

I am thinking about going ahead and ordering the baron's lowering kit. My question is did you notice a change in travel? Did the bike bottom out? Are you dragging hard parts in the curves?

I think I would really like the looks of the bike with this kit and sliding the forks in the trees. Height for me really isn't the issue, it's looks, but I want to know the draw backs before I do it. Thanks.

[gunboat]

hi just to let you know my experiance with the barons lowering kit. i bought a used '99 rsv with 21,000 miles on it two years ago. it had the 1" lowering kit on it. it would bottom out/scrape the shock relay arm on some high crowned roads here in southeast texas that are paved with asphat instead of concret.( that only happened when i had a passenger onboard) on concret roads it was ok, but in some steap turns the tail pipe tips would scrape. also driving off some driveways. i just recently removed the kit and returned everthing to stock. i also had to replaced the rear shock. that may have had something to do with it. i also have a short inseam 26" so this doesn't help. i was on the balls of my feet before but now on my tippy toes.

i have just purchased the barron's 1 1/2 " lowering kit but not installed yet. i understand i can lower the bike 1" by adjusting the fork trip tree. or cut my aftermarket saddle down. i think i will cut my seat down first and go from there. i also canged the front tire to a 130 instead of a 150. that made a big difference in the handling.

hope this helps, looking forward to meeting up with everyone at the '08 international rally in canada. i plan on driving the bike from houston to there and back.

peace to all

don

[WIKD]

Thanks!

[alounsbe]

Yes you will drag more in the corners mostly the mufflers but if you have short legs it is much easier to handle the Bike. I am much happier with mine after being lowered.

[Guest RoyalT]

I've got the Baron's kit on mine and I also slid the shocks up thru the tree's. I do alot of two up riding and I also pull a trailer. I keep 50psi in my rear shock and the only time I bottom out is if I hit a r/r track really hard. You do drag your muff's a little more but you really have to get aggressive to do that. Coming out of steep driveways I will drag but I try to come out straight and then turn and it does'nt drag as much. I like the way it looks myself.

 

Billy

[WIKD]

RoyalT any way you could post a pic from the side?

[Jerry W]

I've got the Baron's kit on mine and I also slid the shocks up thru the tree's. I do alot of two up riding and I also pull a trailer. I keep 50psi in my rear shock and the only time I bottom out is if I hit a r/r track really hard. You do drag your muff's a little more but you really have to get aggressive to do that. Coming out of steep driveways I will drag but I try to come out straight and then turn and it does'nt drag as much. I like the way it looks myself.

 

Billy

 

I am thinking of making this modification to my RSV this winter, did you go to a shorter side stand?

[AZSpyder]

There was talk here before that the exhaust doesn’t drag as easy if you take the front down some too.

Jerry

[Guest brogie]

I installed this on my 2000 and made my own links, instead of the one supplied. Being that I did not want to lower the bike as mush. It has worked very well for me.

[Guest BluesLover]

If you're installing the lowering kit to be able to flat foot the bike, I'll throw the following out for your consideration:

 

I am vertically challenged at 5' 7" (on a good day). I had heard that lowering the bike would affect the ride, so after the first year where I basically had to tippie-toe to keep two feet on the ground, the local stealer recommended a simpler/cheaper solution. Since the RSV has the pillow top seat, and since the seat is quite wide, I simply shaved an inch of the foam off of each side of the driver's seat.

 

Now, I can flat foot the bike with no trouble at all. And, it hasn't negatively affected the ride at all, and the seat remains as comfortable as ever.

 

I just found it to be cheaper and easier to do.

 

Cheers,

[Dragracer]

I have tha Barons kit on the rear, and the front lowered 1" on my 99. I ride 2 up most of the time. You will scrape the exhaust more often. Most noticable coming off a raised driveway, like a gas station, but it will also scrape on occasion if you do an aggressive turn on a twistee. But the comfort of the lowered bike greatly out weighs a little scraping!

[dunvilsteev]

I used Yammies lowering kit on my '05, and brought it down 1 7/8" and felt a huge difference. You have to be careful when 2up, or coming out of driveways, but, it sure does ride nice. Personally felt better when "walking" the beast backwards into tight spots ... more secure. I find adding about 30 - 40 lbs to the rear shock and 5 or 6 lb to the front works nice. But I will say that less than 2" lowered on the rear, and I cut off about 8" off my windshield. It sits you that much lower. Looks good though!!

Takes some getting use to, but I wouldn't go back! Did I mention it looks great!

[eagleeye]

Are you saying that Yamaha offers a lowering kit?

 

Steve

[dunvilsteev]

Yes Yamaha does have one. It cost me $270 though, I am presuming Baron's is cheaper. I had the local gouger install for me too so my final tab was $400. I did forget to mention something, parking it after lowered can be a Royal pain. The slightest rise on the left side and the bike is virtually vertical, I've gone around the block just to get a flat spot!!! I did see above about shorter kickstands though, so I would like some info on that if anyone has any.... for instance, how short can I go, are there universals or do I have to go to the local gouger, and is this an easy install?? (By easy I mean could your mom crawl under and do it!)

[Jerry W]

Does anyone know if the kick stand from a V Star or the older model Royal Star will fit the Venture? They both sit lower than the Venture and there are aftermarket short kick stands for the V Star and Road Star.

[Guest leemcd]

I am 5' 6" with a 30" inseam. I can sit on the bike flat footed, but woul like to get the seat height down another 1". One of the guys I talked to had to notch the rear fender on his 1999 RSV because the brake caliper could hit the fender using the Baron's lowering links. There is a caliper relocating kit available for this setup I was told. He just didn't want to spend the money for it. He did not lower the front. By not lowering the front also, doesn't this throw off the trail and handling somewhat? From what I've seen posted here, there are a number of you that are actually sliding the fork tubes higher up into the trees on the new generation RSTD's ('05 and up) by an inch or so. How does this after the position of the top tree brace and the RSTD speedo? Any tank clearance problems? I like the idea of cutting the sides of the seat to narrow it a bit up front. Also would like to know if anyone had any success lowering the seat pan by cutting down the rubber bumpers on the bottom.

 

Thanks,

leemcd

[bbstacker]

Hi, just thought I'd add my 2cents, I also used the Baron's lowering kit and also the front forks by 1", I actually put the instructions on how to do the front forks. I have to agree with Royalt, I like the way it handles and feels, even more so at slow speeds. No way would ever change it back and if I were to ever get a newer Venture that would be one of the first mods I put on it. My bike is set pretty much the same as RoyalT's, I haven't scrapped any pipes yet, have changed those out to some Harley pipes with a mod that cost me only $11.00, so not only looks great now but sounds even better without being annoying.

[WIKD]

Terry I lowered the front using your directions, thanks for that, and have the Barons kit but have not installed it yet. I was wondering how it would ride with the kit installed. It might be an optical illusion but it seems like with the front lowered I sit perfectly level now. If I install the kit won't that lower the rear 1.5 inches and turn it back to the stock configuration, only lower? And won't that add to the slow speed instability that the stock RSV deals with? Any comments or suggestions would be welcome.

[DKleven]

just lowered my 07...........would like to do something with the kickstand, can't find any info on shorter ones......any ideas......

[eagleeye]

Cut it off and weld it back together, it's just a piece of metal.

 

I have a 2005 RSTD and I might just lower it, front and back.

I'll ride it for a bit and see how it sits first.

 

Steve

[Guest kober]

I'm 5'8". Had the dealer install the Baron lowering kit right on my 06 RSTD soon after I bought it. Started dragging the mufflers a lot and bought the Bag Slash Nasty Boys. No more muffler dragging. You say the front can easily be lowered?

[Rick Butler]

Guys,

 

I don't want to rain on anyones parade, but has anyone read the fine print in Barons installation instructions on this Lowering Kit? Of course they have to warn you against this on the advice of their lawyers for liability purposes. But after all the warning about ground clearance issues they state that "We do not reccomend a lowered motorcycle be ridden with a passenger".

 

However, I have recently lowered the forks on a friend's RSV who is somewhat inseamed challenged. And I really think this change will not have as much of an adverse affect on the dynamics of the bike than that of lowering the rear any more then it already is. In fact from the factory, this bike sits about 1" low in the rear anyway, which affects the steering geometry by increasing the rake. But if all you are going to do is ride in a straights and not any agressive curves, this should be ok. But in lowereing the front forks, you not only lower the bike about 1" but you also level the bike up which certainly improves the steering geometry like raising the rear by the use of DiamondRs Leveling Links.

 

So if it were me and I had to make a choice of lowering the bike, I would 1st lower the forks to level the bike and then rework the seat to get me closer to the ground. However, I too only have an inseam of 30" and I have chosen to raise the rear to make the bike handle better in the curves with the most ground clearance as I can get. I just deal with the height issue by only putting my left foot down at stops while leaving my right foot on the brake pedal. Once I start moving, the feet go up on the boards and I never use them as outriggers while moving slow. I find I have better slow speed balance with my feet on the boards rather than let them hang down and drag. Yeah, I'm sure some of you have realized that "Feet Draggers" are a pet pieve of mine

 

Hope this helps,

 

Rick

 

Oh and I have also attached a pdf copy of the Barons Installation Instructions for this lowering kit. I found it several years ago on their web site when they were stupid enough to put them out there to print off.

[WIKD]

Rick that is a good point but when I lowered my Warrior it said the same thing and 3 years later with plenty of passenger miles on it I suffered no ill effects. Now the Venture is a different story but I would assume everyone warns of the same thing. In saying all this I actually did not lower the rear of my bike. I started by lowering the front by sliding the fork tubes and was planning on lowering the rear the next day off. After riding the bike for two days with the front lowered I liked the difference so much I never lowered the rear. It rides excellent and handles so much better and looks good too. I am very glad I did this.

[Guest black knight]

I would appreciate it if someone could give me directions on how to lower the front forks, I have a Corbin seat on the bike which helped a bit, I don't want to put a lowering kit on my 2006. I think lowering the front end to level the bike might be exactly what I need.

 

thanks.

 

Patrick.

[Jerry W]

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=939

 

There ya go. I lowered the front end of my bike a couple weeks ago and it makes a big difference.

 

I would appreciate it if someone could give me directions on how to lower the front forks, I have a Corbin seat on the bike which helped a bit, I don't want to put a lowering kit on my 2006. I think lowering the front end to level the bike might be exactly what I need.

 

thanks.

 

Patrick.