Lowering the Gay Blade

yelloisfriedegg · Post by **yelloisfriedegg** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 10:27 am

The seat mod is as easy as he says but doesn't tend to do much , you compress the foam as you sit on it anyway.

The fork mod is easy and just as he describes it quickens up the steering , just make sure you don't go too low or the front wheel can hit the vee plate on the fairing (in front of the pipe headers) under heavy braking.

You could lower the rear as he suggests but you could also probably lower it by altering the rear ride height adjusters on the shock , this would be easier but maybe not get it low enough , worth a try first though.

If you don't know how to do any of the stuff he suggests or don't have tools or a garage give me a shout , I'll help if I can.

:I can't believe it's not butter!

yelloisfriedegg · Post by **yelloisfriedegg** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 10:32 am

One thing to remember about all these mods is they will lower the ground clearance and peg height , you know what happens then don't you ? :I can't believe it's not butter!

Most people who lower the front to speed up the turn in tend to raise the rear up to both give more ground clearance and speed up the turn in even more.

If you do lower the bike front and rear and find you are grinding out the pegs you could get jack up plates (NWS) or buy rear sets to raise the peg hight and stop the problem :I can't believe it's not butter!

yelloisfriedegg · Post by **yelloisfriedegg** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 10:50 am

NuttyTart wrote:Or just get platform boots

That's maybe not as daft as it sounds :I can't believe it's not butter! , all the mods described above will affect the handling , Honda made the bikes dimensions to give it certain handling characteristics and changing anything may or may not spoil (or improve) this.

If you only need a little help on the hight front , take your boots to a cobbler (The one further down crown street accross the road from Shirlaws is very good) and ask them to build the soles / heels up by 5-10 mm , that may be all you need to make a difference , just make sure you dont get too much added or it may then give you gear selection problems , buy some cheap stick on soles and try it yourself first :I can't believe it's not butter!

yelloisfriedegg · Post by **yelloisfriedegg** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 11:02 am

Another alternative would be let the tyres down , that should lower the bike enough no problem :I can't believe it's not butter!

Post by al » Thu Mar 04, 2004 11:19 am

Change it for a 400cc FirePlace. From a distance noone will be able to tell the difference and we all know that 400's can whipe the floor with bigger bikes no problem don't we???

Backs 400 · Post by **Backs 400** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 11:22 am

14" wheels..thats what you need

..or Goku's mini Gay Blade!!

Did you give Bum Wraps a call?..its not so much the thickness of the seat, but the width believe it or not. The wider the seat the more your wee legs are forced out at an angle.....take my old GSXF..that was lower than the CBR, but I was on tip toes.

Last option, you can have your legs stretched in the States...they can add around an inch..but its about $20k..

Backs 400 · Post by **Backs 400** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 12:43 pm

If only there was a midi-Gay Blade..

I have a cunning plan..remove the tyres and only ride on railway tracks! You can then say your Gay Blade handles as if its on rails..

Post by **Zathos** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 1:26 pm

NuttyTart wrote:
Backs 400 wrote: If only there was a midi-Gay Blade..
Someone might suggest getting a 600 then, but that diz nae help, had a seat on Bazza's and that was worse than me Gay Blade

The rr def Isn't for the vertically challenged

I'm sure you could get a replacement seat unit which is lower / thinner.

Alternatively I can lend you an angle grinder :I can't believe it's not butter! :I can't believe it's not butter!

Jinx · Post by **Jinx** » Thu Mar 04, 2004 5:48 pm

I agree with Backs! See if you can get a narrower seat as it does make a huge difference.

When I was doing my direct access on the ER5 i could barely touch the ground on my tip toes hence i christened the bike and was the first one to drop it, hee hee!!

Anyway for my next lesson the following week they had put a new seat on it which was narrower and what a difference, i could more or less get my whole foot on the deck!!

Good luck!!

Post by **Gazza** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 2:20 pm

yelloisfriedegg wrote:
If you only need a little help on the hight front , take your boots to a cobbler (The one further down crown street accross the road from Shirlaws is very good) and ask them to build the soles / heels up by 5-10 mm , that may be all you need to make a difference ,

As you're struggling to reach the ground, it'll be the toes that are down and higher heels won't help much. Try going for a slightly longer styled boots, one size up, wear some thick socks and get the soles thickened as Yellow says.....

Or you could get a nice set of winkle pickers

:I can't believe it's not butter! :I can't believe it's not butter!

Dickie · Post by **Dickie** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 3:04 pm

HTH

missile · Post by **missile** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 4:19 pm

Having looked at my seat, I don't think there is much scope for a narrower seat, it is already as narrow as the bodywork. It is much narrower at the front and if you sit right up to the tank that may help? However if you are a midget, I guess you are already there or you would not be able to reach the bars <I can't believe it's not butter!>

There would be scope to reduce ride height by adjusting to minimum preload. A good idea if you are vertically challenged, as opposed to dumpy

Corbin seats are a bit lower than standard and a LOT more comfortable. A tad expensive, so maybe after your next bingo win

PS: If you take the hero blobs off you will gain another 50 mm clearance and you still get a bit of warning as the fairing touches before the exhaust.

If all else fails, Halfords do a tasty line in after market stabilisers

Post by **Gazza** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 5:30 am

Missile wrote:Having looked at my seat, I don't think there is much scope for a narrower seat,

I take it you were using one of those funny shaped mirrors at the fairground then...

missile · Post by **missile** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 5:51 pm

I resemble that thar remark :I can't believe it's not butter!

Post by **Gazza** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 10:00 pm

Missile (Spanish Fly) wrote:I resemble that thar remark :I can't believe it's not butter!

I know

:I can't believe it's not butter! :I can't believe it's not butter!