lowering 2004 ec 300

[houndog]

Hey guys, I'm not that smart but I know where to go to ask about my babies!

Is it possible to lower the seat height on my ec300? My wife can handle the "power" and she can start it but it is 2-3 inches too tall for her short legs. She can not balance it because she can not have a toe on the ground with the bike vertical. With her CRF230F (her favorite of all time) she could tip toe the bike when it was dead vertical. I need to lower the GG 3 inches. Is this even possible? She'll only be riding dirt roads and trails and pavement, nothing "technical" She just needs to be able to touch the ground with the bike dead vertical. If it's possible it will save me from buying another 230F Lowering link, dropping forks in clamps.....whatever!
Thanks guys!
Ed
ps.... Jakobi, once again I have listened......bought all seals and parts to do my forks right, will get to it!

[TheLetterJ]

A Kouba link will lower the bike ~1 3/8" and dropping the rear tire size to something like 100/90/18 will lower the bike about another 7/8" (assuming it has the stock size 140/80/18 on it now) If you need more than that you can always cut the seat foam down a little. More still? Time to send out the forks/ shock and have them internally shortened.

[Jakobi]

Good work houndog!

As above, few things you can do. Lowering links change the leverage on the shock so can introduce a few issues, but for general riding on dirt roads probably not an issue. Softening the preload to introduce more sag may work too, but again gives up handling traits that you would want. Internal adjustments to fork and shock will keep the balance/chasis behaviour but will also reduce available travel as a whole. Shaving the seat comes at the expense of comfort.

How does she go for clearance if she slides one leg over the seat and uses the other to touch the ground. With my bum on the seat I can't touch well, but when I stop I just slide over and plant one foot and the other side kind of rests over the seat. Doesn't always work when caught off balance.

[prentice]

Some years ago I had the same situation -- my wife could not touch the ground with the GG 300 vertical. We first tried the lowering links and raised the forks in the triple clamps. That helped about an inch or so. Did not try lower profile tires or shaving the seat, those would help I think, in terms of lowering the bike.

One related "fact" to deal with is rider weight. Ofter shorter riders weigh less than the weight the stock fork and shock springs are set up for. So even if one lowers the bike sufficiently, there is the problem of whether the fork and shock springs are correct for lighter weight riders, so the suspension works right for them.

After a year or two, we took our forks and shock to a suspension tuner (Les at LTRacing, well known to this forum) with instructions to put the correct springs in the forks and shock, and "shorten" them to achieve a 1" seat height drop. This turned out to be a very good decision -- Les did a very good job, well worth the money, we could not be happier with his work. Only downside is the skid plate is lower, but that is a price one has to pay no matter what, so shorter riders can touch the ground. She is very satisfied, the suspension works great. Were I you, I'd send the forks and shock in to be lowered, but that's an individual choice.

Not sure you can shorten the forks and shock by 3". Maybe you can get 2" there (not sure), and another inch out by one of the other methods (tire profile, lowering link, raising forks in triple clamp, etc)? Good luck whatever you decide!

[Moto7man]

Some of the shorter mx pro guys cut the subframe to lower the seat height.

[forgiven]

On a normal seat there is no foam to really pull out which will still make the seat something you can sit on. Kouba link and sliding to fork tubs did it for my wife but I would like another inch off the height as well. Always tweaking the bike for the wife.

[braddenning]

Get a taller wife

[forgiven]

The mistakes of youth...

[houndog]

Thanks guys, I'm listening.

braddenning, while for some that would be a perfectly acceptable and probably not a bad thing, in my case, I've been married to her 35 years and known her since she was 80 in girl pounds and 12 years old. She's barely doubled her weight!

The thought of being re-trained by another strong woman terrifies me. She's kept me happy and I've kept her safe (always) and happy (sometimes) almost as if we married for life! I turned 58 Sun.


Keep in mind you could not wreck the handling of the GG and have it worse than a CRF so any compromises in handling are not an issue except I don't want to completely ruin it for me, I ride this bike well, I just want her to be able to ride it too.

Tire is 110/100 18. It is due for a new one, suggestions as to size?

I'm thinking based on the comments so far.....lowering link, forks up in clamps, setting it to sag as much as possible. She's maybe 165 in girl pounds.

Does this sound reasonable?
Thanks guys, I really appreciate the comments/suggestions!
Ed

[TheLetterJ]

Your 110/100/18 comes out to 26.7" tall. A 100/90/18 would be 25.1 for a difference of 1.6" overall and a loss in seat height of .8"... so still a worthwhile gain especially if you need a new tire anyway. The difference in traction will be negligible. It's not a real common size, but they are out there. 100/100/18 (25.9") is more common but would only lower the rear of the bike .4", 110/90/18 (25.8") would lower it .45"