Feature and Spec :Front: (work took about 3 hrs, mainly on adjusting the controls and fiddling with the turning stops)
1. Remove handle-bars. Remove controls from bars.
2. Buy clipons 36mm diameter (don't remember the source at the moment, but I found some steel ones on ebay for about 40$. If you feel this bike may be dropped a few times, steel will hold up better than the fancier & more expensive aluminum ones available from places like Woodcraft)
3. loosen forks in triple clamps (do 1 side at a time so the whole bike doesn't drop to the fender) and raise up the fork leg an inch or two.
4. Install clip-ons on the part of the fork that protrudes above the top triple clamp.
5. Put controls on clip-ons (On Amy's bike, with the clip-ons I bought, this required removing the brake-light switch and replacing with a K&N pressure switch, and removing the clutch safety switch (which means it can be started in-gear with the clutch out now)).
6. Check for turning clearance. The control pods could now hit the tank at full turn before the turning locks were hit. I drilled a hole in each turning lock, tapped it, and put in a screw so that I could adjust the stops so that the tank would not be hit. Note that this does reduce turning radius a fair bit. I have noticed that the control pods are a bit different on newer models, and this may not be an issue. Longer clip-ons would also aleviate this problem.
Front suspension: (optional, took about 1 hr.)
now that the front was lowered the ultra-soft front springs became a significant issue, with the fender hitting the fairing at the slightest bump, even with just Amy's weight as a rider. The solution is to replace a part of the spring with a non-compressible pipe. This effectively increases the overall spring rate in the fork.
1. removed one fork cap (push down on the center with a dowel, and pop out the retaining clip, a friend can help).
2. Pull out the spring, cut about 4"-6" off of it with a hack-saw
3. The end of the spring is now not flat, and will likely bind in the fork tube, so this needs to be fixed. Heat the cut end of the spring red hot with a torch and flatten it against something non flammable (concrete), then quench it in water (just heat the last coil on the spring if possible).
4. Cut a piece of PVC pipe of the length that the spring was shortened (remember to account for the height lost when flattening the last coil). The pipe should be the same outside diameter as the spring.
5. Put spring back in fork, then insert the pipe piece, then put the cap back in and the retaining clip.
6. repeat for other fork leg.
