Soupy's Performance

[DrifterIII]

Anybody had any dealings with Soupy's Performance
I just fitted a lowering kit to a Kawasaki ER6N, the spring now contacts the subframe.
the response from soupys was "Rotate the shock spring to an area that clears and you'll be all set."
Fine while the bike is on the stand but still makes contact with suspension travel.
Emailed them again but no reply
I think I have wasted my money.

[Robert Taylor]

Anybody had any dealings with Soupy's Performance
I just fitted a lowering kit to a Kawasaki ER6N, the spring now contacts the subframe.
the response from soupys was "Rotate the shock spring to an area that clears and you'll be all set."
Fine while the bike is on the stand but still makes contact with suspension travel.
Emailed them again but no reply
I think I have wasted my money.

CAVEAT EMPTOR!

What you have to realise with a lot of these companies is that they are there to make money, first and foremost. While the ER6 is a linkless bike I have often asked companies that provide lowering links if they can provide the new link curve ratio mapped against original. That will indicate if the suspension is still going to work properly or not. The silence is always deafening.

Its very easy for companies these days to get bolt on parts manufactured out of average ''cheese'' grade alloy, get them anodised in a ''hey look at me'' colour, put them in glossy packaging and have some hyped up advertising to atract the great unwashed to part with their hard earned dollars. This is especially prevalent out of North Mexico ( USA ), a country that hasnt owned up to the fact its technically insolvent.

For many riders the ER6 can be oversprung, how much do you weigh?

[F5 Dave]

The thing that always gets me is that irrespective of the points above, lowering the back end only will choperise your bike.

[Robert Taylor]

The thing that always gets me is that irrespective of the points above, lowering the back end only will choperise your bike.

Of course if you dont lower the front to keep the bike balanced it ''lazes out'' the sterring geometry and takes weight off the front making it feel vague, lacking in grip, causing understeer and also initiating headshake more easily.

[F5 Dave]

ok the head-shake bit confused me. I would have thought the steeper resulting fork angle wouldn't have made a bike more prone to headshake.

It anecdotally seems that if you lower the rear till you feel comfortable with getting foot down it is more likely you will scrape metalwork on the ground than if you lower the front due to the placement of these bits.

[DrifterIII]

I would not recommend Soupys performance as a good company to deal with.
We have had no reply to our questions, beware of Soupys products they may not perform as advertised.

[DrifterIII]

Regarding the Er6n being oversprung,
I am not allowed to tell you Mrs Drifters weight.
But with luggage the total load would be about 75kg,the shock spring has has always been on the lowest setting.
She loved the lowered bike and being able to move it a lot easier bit its back to standard now.
What affect would it have on the handling if I just lowered the forks in the clamps?

[Robert Taylor]

Regarding the Er6n being oversprung,
I am not allowed to tell you Mrs Drifters weight.
But with luggage the total load would be about 75kg,the shock spring has has always been on the lowest setting.
She loved the lowered bike and being able to move it a lot easier bit its back to standard now.
What affect would it have on the handling if I just lowered the forks in the clamps?

Without having the weight and height details of the rider no suspension tuner can do a proper job, a little akin to pinning the tail on the donkey blindfolded.
The front end is actually ( in relative terms ) more oversprung than the rear and short of finding some 140kg plus riders few riders can match the standard front fork springs.
Lowering the front will make the bike turn in sharper but everything you are trying to do is a fudge. The fact remains you just have to own up and spend money on sorting out the main issue first and foremost, overspringing.