Lowering a kx125?

[2fitty]

Hey all, Being relatively new to the dirtbike scene my skills with the spanner dont extend to far unfortunately, the misses has a 98kx125 which she loves apart from 1 thing her legs are too short! so wondering whats the easiest/cheapest way to lower it a few centmetres.

[speedpro]

I lowered my boys KX80 by making a bit longer dog-bones for the rear suspension and dropping the triple clamps down the forks. It was easy enough. I suppose you could do the same on the 125. A few things you need to keep an eye on like clearances at full compression - to the ground and also between bike parts.

[scott411]

as said above, on the early KX125's (2002 and below) you can make the dogbone links longer in the linkage to lower the bike, make them approx 4-6 mm longer,

[2fitty]

can you buy longer dogbone links or do they have to be specially made, how much lower will they make it.

[Sidewinder]

let the air out the tyres!

[2fitty]

any idea how much a new set of longer dogbones would be?

[bogan]

wouldnt longer dogbones keep the same travel though, ie the shock wouldnt bottom out, the tyre would chew its way through the rear fender instead?

[2fitty]

just reading online you need to adjust the sag aswell, would that stop it

[Sidewinder]

just reading online you need to adjust the sag aswell, would that stop it

people have been doing it for years just go on google

[theblacksmith]

If the sag is all good for her weight at the moment - dont change it, just fit new longer links and that will drop the bike but keeping her settings. As for how much you can make a simple test. Free one end of the links and get someone to lift/drop the bike and measure the difference in length from centres when you drop the bike to her preferred height. Personally i would go with what Scott said around 4mm on the links will drop the bike considerably. I saw some on trade me not long ago - they had been made by a local engineer.

[theblacksmith]

wouldnt longer dogbones keep the same travel though, ie the shock wouldnt bottom out, the tyre would chew its way through the rear fender instead?

Yes you re right. If you land hard enough all the time. But by the time the rider is doing that sort of jumps - put the original ones back on. You can also fit a smaller profile tyre and a heavy duty tube to increase the gap slightly.

[bogan]

modding the triangle bit the bones connect to would be a better option, could adjust both the height, and maintain the upper stop that way. Yeh, spose it depends how hard the rider is looking to go.

EDIT, i could probly mill up some dog bones if they arent too complicated, some ive seen are just a flat profile, others have an bolt length offset so not as easy to machine

[2fitty]

cheers for the help guys,she may end up just having to tough it out. il have to look into it a bit more,

[camchain]

With longer dogbones, you might be able to add some safety by adding a bottom-out bumpstop on the shock shaft, cut to appropriate size to limit travel.

Seems like big potential for nasty 'G' out prang if the tire can hit guard. My guess is longer linkages would alter leverage ratio making for softer suspension, making bottom-outs even more likely as well? Check with suspension expert.

[Ktmboy]

I made some out of plain 25mm x 6mm strapping, approx 5mm longer on my sons first KX85. Worked a treat.
All you need are rudemantry tools e.g a drill (13mm bit I think) and a hacksaw.They don't really have to be a dog bone shape. Thats done to decrease material and therefore weight.
From memory we got about a 25-30mm reduction in height. Lowering the forks as well.

[Reckless]

I made some out of plain 25mm x 6mm strapping, approx 5mm longer on my sons first KX85. Worked a treat.
All you need are rudemantry tools e.g a drill (13mm bit I think) and a hacksaw.They don't really have to be a dog bone shape. Thats done to decrease material and therefore weight.
From memory we got about a 25-30mm reduction in height. Lowering the forks as well.

The ones on my KX85 where the same as Ktm boy describes made by the previous owner. Worked fine!

[scott411]

we do it the same way KTMboy discribes for KX85's, earlier 125's and KDX200's