beaulauber
Novice Class
Green Blood
Posts: 51
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posted April 23, 2002 04:53 AM
Strapped a Lowered questions?????????????
I haven't been to the drag strip yet with my straps and lowering links(kennedy Threaded). I have a couple questions??
1. How much does lowering the bike help? I mean it seems like you defeat the purpose of using straps. I can see where it will get the center of gravity lower and keep the weight in front of the back tire and not above it. But is it worth it?
2. How much do you guys lower the rear?
3. How much do you lower the front. The forks are raised on my bike about 1/8 of an inch. I got it this way so i don't know what stock is.
4. What happens when i wheelie with the straps on? If it slams down isn't that real hard on the Calipers when it pops back up?
I strapped it down the other day just to see how easy it was. The bottom of the seals were about 2 inches from the bottom.
I really appreciate any help. I have raced before just not with straps and links. I will keep ya posted after i run this thursday. 
thanks,
beau
  
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ZRXDean
Needs a job
Posts: 2225
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posted April 23, 2002 07:27 AM
It's definitely worth it. Get it as low as you can, crank up your preload in the front, and have at it. It should take 2 tenths off your short times.
Dean
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jessz1
Expert Class
Half the wheels, twice the fun
Posts: 373
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posted April 23, 2002 12:12 PM
Yep, the lower the better. Worth it.
____________
I'm never satisfied.
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krexken
Zone Head
Posts: 732
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posted April 23, 2002 07:46 PM
I raise my forks about 1 1/4" and then strap it. I lower the rear until the eyelets look like they are going to unthread! Actually the rear bodywork is a little over an inch off the ground with me on it. Been known to scape a little.
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Cowboy
Pro
Posts: 1061
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posted April 23, 2002 09:30 PM
quote:
I raise my forks about 1 1/4" and then strap it. I lower the rear until the eyelets look like they are going to unthread! Actually the rear bodywork is a little over an inch off the ground with me on it. Been known to scape a little.
How much do you weigh?What settings are on your rear shock?How long of an arm?whats done to your undertail?Just a couple ???lol
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BA
Pro
Posts: 1592
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posted April 24, 2002 06:08 PM
One way to judge the rear link settings is that without you on it, the bottem of the fairing by the back tire will be "about" 2-2.5" off the ground. If you sit on the bike, and bounce up and down on it (while front is strapped), you could have someone get down there and see how close the fairing gets to the ground. Mine is like Ken said,....during a 1st gr launch, the bottem/back of the fairing has been known to scrape a tad. 
On the front, it's hard to tell if there is confusion about lowering (raising the forks) and using the strap. When the strap is used properly, it doesn't matter if you have raised the forks or not. The strap will completely compress your front fork springs/suspension and it will keep it there. Most people have raised the fork tubes through the 'tree's because they have lowered the rear as well,....keeps things appropriately 'raked' for normal riding. Come strip time, the strap goes on and some folks lower the rear that little bit extra.
WARNING: Look **REAL** close at how close the metal tabs of the strap come to the fork tubes. Many of us have little 1" - 1.5" notches in our fork tubes because of the strap ends contacting the tubes.  You can use a dremel of the strap metal, or just try using a washer to space the strap end out a little.
As mentioned above, it's certainly all worth it and will increase your 60' times a lot, easily a tenth, sometimes two. It will also allow you to roll into the throttle quicker/sooner.
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beaulauber
Novice Class
Green Blood
Posts: 51
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posted April 24, 2002 06:39 PM
Thanks BA that is excactly the detailed info i was looking for. I Fooking can't wait to get to the track. Looks like next week will be the first time with the 12. My leathers didn't make in time for this thur. oh well.
thanks again.
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krexken
Zone Head
Posts: 732
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posted April 24, 2002 07:17 PM
With my 4" extensions on it would hit the inner fender. Had to cut it out and use sheetmetal like Entropy did. Not too bad of a job. Lost some valuable trunk space though. I weigh 170 nekkid. I run the compression full soft, rebound full stiff with stock shock. Tightened up the spring preload about 2 rounds. I use the same setup with the bike at stock length also. To get my front end really low without the forks being raised, I had to really cinch down on the strap and it was almost impossible to release it afterwards.
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Cowboy
Pro
Posts: 1061
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posted April 25, 2002 06:02 AM
quote:
Thanks BA that is excactly the detailed info i was looking for. I Fooking can't wait to get to the track. Looks like next week will be the first time with the 12. My leathers didn't make in time for this thur. oh well.
thanks again.
I don't understand why you go full soft on compression and full hard on rebound?It sounds backwards but yours is working and mines not so i'm going to try it tomorrow
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zxlnt
Needs a job
Kawpuke Extraordinare
Posts: 2853
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posted April 25, 2002 08:50 AM
I would say soft on compression to let the bike sag on the launch lowering the center of gravity, and hard on rebound to keep it from bouncing back up on ya. Most drag race type shocks I have seen are set up that way. I am sure someone much more knowledgeable than me will chime in,
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BA
Pro
Posts: 1592
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posted April 25, 2002 07:47 PM
ok, I may not be that "more intelligent" guy you just referred to, but you *ARE* correct ZXLNT.
I'm not running 8.90's like ol' KenKrex there, (lol!) but I do alright and I run my rear shock the same way. I absolutely love it, and have waaay more power wheelie problems than I EVER have traction problems. Traction simply, isn't a problem. (stock arm, stock tire)
Full soft to lower the center of gravity on the launch, slow rebound (aka hard setting) so that the CG stays low as long as possible.
I've seen rebound set to come up too fast for the weight of a rider, and on a 1-2 shift, it makes the rear tire bounce and do funny things.
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