DubiousDrummer
New Member
So here's the deal. Some of us don't have garages and fancy ropes to suspend our bikes, and some of us are a little slow to be able to look at the bike and know right away what a "triple tree" is or how to lower the front end. Here is the "For Dummies" version of "How to Lower the Front End of Your FZ6R".
To begin: you will need two Allen Wrenches (Hex wrenches). One 7/32" and one 5/16". You may also need a 12mm socket and wrench.
The first bolts you will be messing with are accessed from underneath the front end, using the big gap between the bottom of the headlight and the top of the front fender. They are on the "triple tree"- which is the name for the "clamps" around the metal forks. Looks like this:
(Note that there are two of these. One on the left part of the fork and one on the right.)
PLEASE BE CAREFUL. You only need to loosen the triple tree's bolts about 180 degrees or half of a turn.
Secondly, you must identify the bolts on the handle bars. Looks like this:
(Note that this was taken AFTER I completed the lowering, hence the raised fork ends.)
BE CAREFUL WHEN LOOSENING THESE TWO BOLTS. You only want to "break the seal" from the factory tightening. After that, you should notice the front end slowly sliding down the forks. When it gets to the distance that you would like (I would suggest no more than 2 inches down), quickly tighten the bolt back up. You must use measuring tape or a ruler and make sure that the two sides are lowered EXACTLY EVEN. Even the slightest difference could be unnoticeable when you mount the bike, but will make it not respond correctly when you lean or turn the handlebars.
Once you are finished lowering, and have tightened all of the bolts back up, you may want to look at the horn assembly. Looks like this:
(Sorry if it's too blurry, but I think you can get the idea.)
I was worried that the horn would hit the top of the front fender if I hit a bump too hard or too fast, so I used the 12mm socket to loosen the bolt that was fastening it, and gave it a slight tweak, so the final product looked like this:
So there you have it. If you did it all right, and you were careful with the bolts, ensuring not to loosen them too quickly, you should be quite pleased with how lowering the front end makes your bike look a bit more aggressive, and much easier to handle.
Thanks for reading. Hope this was helpful.
To begin: you will need two Allen Wrenches (Hex wrenches). One 7/32" and one 5/16". You may also need a 12mm socket and wrench.
The first bolts you will be messing with are accessed from underneath the front end, using the big gap between the bottom of the headlight and the top of the front fender. They are on the "triple tree"- which is the name for the "clamps" around the metal forks. Looks like this:
(Note that there are two of these. One on the left part of the fork and one on the right.)
PLEASE BE CAREFUL. You only need to loosen the triple tree's bolts about 180 degrees or half of a turn.
Secondly, you must identify the bolts on the handle bars. Looks like this:
(Note that this was taken AFTER I completed the lowering, hence the raised fork ends.)
BE CAREFUL WHEN LOOSENING THESE TWO BOLTS. You only want to "break the seal" from the factory tightening. After that, you should notice the front end slowly sliding down the forks. When it gets to the distance that you would like (I would suggest no more than 2 inches down), quickly tighten the bolt back up. You must use measuring tape or a ruler and make sure that the two sides are lowered EXACTLY EVEN. Even the slightest difference could be unnoticeable when you mount the bike, but will make it not respond correctly when you lean or turn the handlebars.
Once you are finished lowering, and have tightened all of the bolts back up, you may want to look at the horn assembly. Looks like this:
(Sorry if it's too blurry, but I think you can get the idea.)
I was worried that the horn would hit the top of the front fender if I hit a bump too hard or too fast, so I used the 12mm socket to loosen the bolt that was fastening it, and gave it a slight tweak, so the final product looked like this:
So there you have it. If you did it all right, and you were careful with the bolts, ensuring not to loosen them too quickly, you should be quite pleased with how lowering the front end makes your bike look a bit more aggressive, and much easier to handle.
Thanks for reading. Hope this was helpful.
