Ok, first off, Tommy has a point, he says he has two of the same bike with different heights. I suspect that lowering it an inch in the front (and somehow in the back) will not affect handling that much, if at all. There are some here who have been able to notice even the slightest changes in handling due to suspension related changes. I will not question them, but they do say that you have to ride the thing for a lot longer than a few minute test drive to begin to feel a difference. Therefore I believe that it is worth a try; meaning it can't be worse than not wanting to ride it because it is too hard to wrestle around.
I recently bought a Kaw Versys. They are famous for being too tall; almost everyone buys the aftermarket lowering kit which includes ways to handle shortening the side stand. However, it is a mono-shock, so lowering the rear is a lot simpler. The older dual shock bikes ... well maybe even easier, I dunno. I also have an '83 NH 550. This machine always made me feel uncomfortable using the side-stand because it was almost too upright. You would never try using it on an incline facing the wrong direction. It would be too close to falling over. I made sure all the suspension was stock and proper, but in the end I ripped off the side-stand and took about 5/8 inch out of it. That was so nice! I was also encouraged by the fact that there were side stands a-plenty coming up for sale on Ebay, so even if I screwed it up ... Take courage, whatever you do can be undone, and it sooo nice to have a bike that fits you, especially a Nighthawk! <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Yu2UeBTZkqU/VnoEXtpSmKI/AAAAAAAAAQI/Fwi6t1M2V1U/s1600/mod2.jpg> <https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-SwQ9sTVzZHE/VnoEvrhA_LI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/YAlMeLsFkmM/s1600/mod1.jpg> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to nighthawk_lovers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to nighthawk_lovers@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
