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Wondering how many people have had their suspension "professionally" lowered.

For my 2001 KDX200 I went the standard route (or so it seems) of lowering link, shaved seat and dropping my triples to get my butt 3" closer to the ground. I'm 5'5" and at stock height could tippie-toe a peg and tippie-toe the other foot to the ground. With the change I can tippie-toe both feet to ground which made it, for me, much more rideable for tight and technical stuff.

I've never been super happy with how it turned out. Love the fact that I can get my feet on the ground and the added control but my biggest issue has been with the shaved seat - took out 2" which gives it that 70's banana bicycle seat feeling and makes me feel a little tool close to my foot controls with my butt.

So... what I want to do is replace the seat back to stock, do the KX conversion up front and figure out how low I can get my front and rear lowered "professionally" - 3" would be ideal. The lost of travel is not concerning - I'm a moderate rider at best.

Just wondering if anyone else has gone that route and how low they managed to get their seat height down while maintaining their overall geometry.

Thanks in advance.

At 5'6" i know how you feel, I tried a link and didn't like the handling. I just have my forks up in the trees and had 10mm of shims installed in rear shock.Dropped rear a little over 1". Works ok for me but I still have to stand on something to get on bike. Other people say the KDX 1 link works well and with the shims might be good. Bur still trying to keep front and rear the same drop. I believe the KX forks are longer.

Hey thanks for the reply. Yea from what I can dig up information wise, the KX forks are longer but you can have them reduced in length with a spacer... and I know you can shim the rear in conjunction with a link.

If I recall I think my link dropped me 1.25 so with shims could gain approx 2"? That's the kind of info I'm looking for...

Thanks

I used a KDX 1 link in the rear, a shaved seat and KLX300 forks in the front moved up in the clamps. I love the way it handles. It feels so well balanced, but I do have a spare seat to all ready to recover (for comfort) when I run a 6 hr race later in the season. I'm 5'7" / 155

What is your weight, and can you get the sag set right with the stock rear spring? Likely you need a lighter one, which would get it lower in the process. As zomby metioned most have not needed to cut the forks to keep the geometry right with the standard kouba link.

Hey ya I'm about 150 geared up (little fella :) ) - I'm running a link right now and the geometry is fine with the triple drop - but with the idea of going back to stock seat foam I'm looking for a further drop hence investigating "cutting" it down.

Appreciate the replies guys

make sure your spring is the correct rate and set your sag properly. there is a link somewhere on the site if you don't know how.
At 5'7 i don't have any problem, however i don't care about having both feet flat on the ground (or need to), 1 flat 1 tip toe

I am gonna bring up an old post, and prolly start a fight!!!!! Links are a crutch to an easy shock fix. I lowered two kdx's now. One for the wife, one for a shorter guy. Started with the links kouba 3's. The extra leverage really softens the spring rate. Plus your shock will not bottom with them, it will shove the rear tire through the fender and possibly lock up the rear tire. For about $50 you can shorten your shock internally. It is so easy. Race Tech will sell you the shims for about $30. This will let you go as low as 2". add oil and nitrogen recharge and you have a shock which is shorter, will bottom and retain factory links. Adding the shims is as easy as changing the seal head. As for the forks. The factory kdx forks were made for shortening. All you need is a special tool that consist of a nut welded onto a piece of pipe. Break the fork in two, remove the lower spring, add a pvc spacer the length you would like lowered, reassemble, then cut the amount of your spacer off the the steel spacer on top of your spring. All done. Really some should try this as it is easy and the proper way of lowering a dx. I like to raise the oil height 10mm to add some bottoming resistance in the forks. Give it a whirl, it's not as bad as one would think.