Stock height or not?

[Esguelha]

Hi folks,
Got a GS500 about 3 months ago, it's my first bike and I'm loving her. I've done some maintenance work, installed new adjustable levers and new Michelin Pilot Street Radial tires in stock sizes.
She's a 2003 naked model.

Now, what's been bothering me is the rear height. At first i thought it was just the buggered back tire, but even after the tire change she looks too low.
The previous owner was a short guy, so he might have lowered it and forgot to tell me. I have lost his contact unfortunately, so I can't ask him.
Could anyone give me measurements for the stock rear shock linkages (dog bones)? 

The bike has a little over 16k miles, the shock looks brand new as does the rest of the bike, and I've already bumped preload all the way to the max (I'm 6'1" and a little under 190 pounds).

Thank you all and sorry for any bad English.

[ShowBizWolf]

Welcome to the site Esguelha and congrats on your first bike!!!

Here is a thread going on currently that should help you out with the measurements.
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=70217.0

And as I say all the time, we love pics so don't hesitate to share your GS 

[lucas]

I'm about the same height and weight as you, I installed the rear shock from an SV650 and it raised the height of the rear about 1.25 inches.

I also slid the front forks down until the tops were level with the top triple and that raised the front up a tiny bit.

Now the bike is a better fit for me.  I can still stand straight up at lights with both feet flat on the ground.  Which is kind of nice.

[Esguelha]

Thanks for the answers, I found that other thread just after posting mine. My search skills must be rather bad

Moving on, I just came back from the garage. I measured it with the links installed, from bolt center to bolt center, and it came out to 7 1/2". According to the info found on the other thread, that would imply that I have a 2 inch lowering kit installed. I'm going to try and get some original stock height ones, or maybe even a lift kit. Does anyone have experience with them?

I also took some pictures, I'll post them up in a bit.
Thanks for the help.

[Esguelha]

So, here's the pics. I actually was wrong on the year in the first post, it's a 2001 model. She's in pretty good nick.















Now, I was thinking about something that might work, but I couldn't find anyone that did it. Basically, I can get an SV650 shock for a reasonable price, but I really don't like how tall the bike looks with it installed. Would installing the SV650 shock while maintaining the lowering links work? Would it be at about stock ride height?