XVZ1200 Front End

Does anyone know what effect it would have if one would slide the forks up through the steering head clamps about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch on a 1983 XVZ1200 Venture

It worked great on my 06 Venture and several other Ventures that I lowered. It puts your feet that much closer to the ground and you'll appreciate the better low speed handling characteristics as well. Never tried lowering a first gen. though my guess is it should be doable. Anymore I just work on my own bikes and cars been bit too much or punished too regular.

Back in my MX'n and Hare Scramblin years I would,, what I called "tune for track" and kept a detailed log of what track got what tune.. A big part of the tuning process had to do with suspention.. I found on my track bikes, and this is just my opinion, that raising the forks in the clamps would make them steer quicker - really nice in the berms,, and lower them in them clamps made the bike much more stable at speeds over 70ish,, easier to control "in flight" off jump for landings and so on.. IMHO,, doing so is doing something you will probably notice in steering gyometry,, besides the lower of the bike height.. I also would mention that one of the things I always loved about riding Chops was the stability the longer forks also added to the bike for highway play.. Absolutely positively,, again IMHO, a good chop with a soft ride back side and at least 16 over on the forks,, raked properly so the trail is inside traditional standards and BINGO - best riding long distance HIGHWAY bike possible...

As far as possibilty on a MK1 1st Gen (only ones I know anything about and even them,, only a little) I believe you would find the collar manifolds that the air line hooks to to provide air for the forks will be an issue.. Just thinking out loud and going by memory,, I think pulling the tubes,, plugging the air line holes by either tigging em or brazing them shut (I would tig em for heat control), dropping in a set of progressive springs (if you havent gotten rid of Mom Yams Ink Pen springs you should do this anyway) with an inch or so of preload, and getting the fish oil out of the tubes and refilled with good fork oil of your liking and you will not need air any longer and can now maybe adjust till the cows come home..

Puc

It worked great on my 06 Venture and several other Ventures that I lowered. It puts your feet that much closer to the ground and you'll appreciate the better low speed handling characteristics as well. Never tried lowering a first gen. though my guess is it should be doable. Anymore I just work on my own bikes and cars been bit too much or punished too regular.

I have been riding since 1964 and have always done my own work .. I need to take the bike for first time registration ..safety inspection ...They tell that they will fail the bike if the mechanic sees the fork setting changed .. Any settings I want to make , I have to do after the inspection ..This is my first Venture , and I am not up on how this bike should handle or perform ..We are not allowed to change any tire sizes or have the tire psi off from the factory specs are ..Sometimes I think that we live in a free country as long as we do what the government says we are able ...WE live under a iron fist .