There are tons of companies out there that sell lowering kits for the GS, but has anyone seen a company offer a raising kit? Bike in question is a '06 GS500F.
a piece of steel bar, a hacksaw, and a drill
will make you a set in 15 min
lol thanks. was just curious if there was a market for them and if anyone had run across them at all.
Raising links are quite popular on the EX-500 forum, one of their members named Fog makes them and they are called fogbones. :icon_lol: You can make some or can find some for the length you want, the Burkhart links for example come in any length you might want.
http://burkhartcycle.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=24_28&products_id=73
I got mine from this guy on fleabay. Direct bolt on fit with either stock or kat shock but springarm or lower coil will need to be grounded down a little with a GSXR or R6 shock.
I've seen adjustable onse too. Google it.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Raising-Riser-kit-GS500-GS-500-All-Years-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem41474afddaQQitemZ280368971226QQptZMotorcyclesQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories
I could be interested in raising my bike a bit too for comfort sake but does it affect driving at all? Also, what's a good way to judge how long a link is needed? I'm not even sure how the link is installed and such. I started researching upgrading the rear suspension a while ago but have naturally been sidetracked by other work and such.
bump before it gets to the abyss known as page 3
If you make your own don't gunk that 1 inche shorter than stock will raise your bike one inch. I don't know the geometry but from installing lowering links on gazes at work I'd say about 1/2 and in on the bone ~ 1.5 inch seat height. I bolted on a bone 1 inch longer than stock and dropped the bike 3 inches. It was crazy low. That was on a late model gsxr. I'm sure gs5 is different but probably close so make multiple holes.
from everything i have read the past few days, its a 5:1 deal. You want to drop it 1 1/4 inches? make the hole 1/4" shorter. or if you're anywhere by America, want to lower it 30mm, move hole 6mm.
Whoops, if you want to lower rear of bike make the links longer and if you want to raise the rear make them shorter. It is approx 5:1 ratio, I put on 1/4" longer links to lower mine 1 1/4" approx.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/jcp8832/LinkDims.jpg
RSK70, I never put on raising links but 10-12 years ago I put 130/90 and MT90 rear touring tires on my 97 GS for about 35K miles like I had used on my old Hondas and their larger diameter raised the rear of my GS about 1". A 1" rise in the rear will make the already sporty GS rake about 1 degree steeper. I really liked the quicker steering effect on my GS but my GS still wanted to go around the corners faster than the touring type tires did so I ended up with sport touring radials shortly after the touring type tires. :icon_lol: The quicker steering was the only noticeable change in handling I noticed due to the raised rear.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v443/jcp8832/GS500tirelogs.jpg
Raising the bike really won't do anything for comfort. Comfort is going to be an issue of peg to seat, to handlebar dimensions. Ride height only comes into play at a stop.
Raising the rear end a little bit does have some benefits... Like lowering the forks in the triples, it will tend to steepen the rake of the front end for faster turn in. Going this route has the advantage that it will increase cornering clearance at the pegs, and the disadvantage that it can screw with the linkage geometry.
Also, the stock GS500 swingarm provides limited clearance around the rear shock. If you're running a Kat shock or a R6 shock, you already know how limited space is with the factory links. On my bike, there isn't even room to raise the rear end up half an inch without modifying the shock.