Ground clearance.

[Allen Kelly]

One of the things I have struggled with as far as making adjustments to my bike has been the height of the T7. When I bought it the only things I got done was the centre stand and the chain guard. I wanted to ride it for a while and get the feel of the bike and then make my decisions on what to add and what to remove. To date I have fitted most of the add on bits thanks mainly to the lock down. (I have done more on this bike in a month than I had done in years on all my past bikes.) My being what those over six foot would call vertically challenged I will admit that there have been times that I would have liked a couple more inches on my feet. My height is 171cm or 5’6 ½”in my boots and shrinking with age  and I have come to the conclusion that the bike is just that bit too tall for my comfort. I don’t doubt that there will be some that will disagree with what I am about to say and that is fine. My last bike was a XT660R that I absolutely flogged the guts out of and the only time I bottomed out was when heavy rock hopping. Its ground clearance was 210mm So I bit the bullet and firstly bought the lower seat this dropped it by 18mm this allowed me to completely flat foot one side with the other on the ball of my foot. I rode around like that for a while but still felt I needed a little more so I changed the dog bones and lowered the front forks 10mm and now it feels perfect and its clearance is still 28mm higher than the XT. Most importantly I can get either foot flat when I need to. Technically it is a reasonably simple job if you have the appropriate tools and a separate stand as you will need the centre and side stand out of the way for part of the operation. I didn’t take photos as you need both of your hands to do it but I can mock it up if anyone wants me to. Cheers Allen.  

[shaneygrog]

Hi Allen, hows it going up there? So you got it lowered just recently, is that what you're saying?

 

Lets get one thing straight, this IS a tall bike. I have had challenges myself getting used to the bike at around six feet tall. I find the bike tough to deal with when stopped on rough or steep terrain as it's also a lot heavier that a trail bike, otherwise it's no problem any other time. I was hoping not to lower the bike and now after a couple of months I am used to how it handles and will not lower it I think, though maybe I will slide the forks up a little and try that for handling, though even if I slide them 10 MM that's only 5 MM lower seat aprox.

 

I don't think ground clearance would be an issue for most owners, I doubt it will be for me anyway. Time will tell. I think we have found on this forum that so many people change the bash plate from standard but I think that may be a waste of money in many cases, you would really have to be bashing it pretty hard over rocks to want to do that. Coming from the XT you probably have a pretty good idea of where you are going to ride this new bike and know how confidence in handling the bike is very important, even if an inch or so of clearance is lost.

 

Happy riding!

 

Shane

[manny]

7 hours ago, Allen Kelly said:

One of the things I have struggled with as far as making adjustments to my bike has been the height of the T7. When I bought it the only things I got done was the centre stand and the chain guard. I wanted to ride it for a while and get the feel of the bike and then make my decisions on what to add and what to remove. To date I have fitted most of the add on bits thanks mainly to the lock down. (I have done more on this bike in a month than I had done in years on all my past bikes.) My being what those over six foot would call vertically challenged I will admit that there have been times that I would have liked a couple more inches on my feet. My height is 171cm or 5’6 ½”in my boots and shrinking with age  and I have come to the conclusion that the bike is just that bit too tall for my comfort. I don’t doubt that there will be some that will disagree with what I am about to say and that is fine. My last bike was a XT660R that I absolutely flogged the guts out of and the only time I bottomed out was when heavy rock hopping. Its ground clearance was 210mm So I bit the bullet and firstly bought the lower seat this dropped it by 18mm this allowed me to completely flat foot one side with the other on the ball of my foot. I rode around like that for a while but still felt I needed a little more so I changed the dog bones and lowered the front forks 10mm and now it feels perfect and its clearance is still 28mm higher than the XT. Most importantly I can get either foot flat when I need to. Technically it is a reasonably simple job if you have the appropriate tools and a separate stand as you will need the centre and side stand out of the way for part of the operation. I didn’t take photos as you need both of your hands to do it but I can mock it up if anyone wants me to. Cheers Allen.  

Gday Allan yeah they are a bit tall for us short arses I'm around 173 cm to & have dropped it both sides when I have pulled up & the extra weight has caught me of guard & down she went no damage thou. It takes a bit of getting used to coming of a 139kg ktm 690 but the t7 for me craps all overs that. Every time I pull up after a ride I smile to my self & say what an awesome bike it is

[DWEL700]

HI Allen,

Does your center stand still work with the dog bones in there?

[Allen Kelly]

17 hours ago, shaneygrog said:

Hi Allen, hows it going up there? So you got it lowered just recently, is that what you're saying?

 

Lets get one thing straight, this IS a tall bike. I have had challenges myself getting used to the bike at around six feet tall. I find the bike tough to deal with when stopped on rough or steep terrain as it's also a lot heavier that a trail bike, otherwise it's no problem any other time. I was hoping not to lower the bike and now after a couple of months I am used to how it handles and will not lower it I think, though maybe I will slide the forks up a little and try that for handling, though even if I slide them 10 MM that's only 5 MM lower seat aprox.

 

I don't think ground clearance would be an issue for most owners, I doubt it will be for me anyway. Time will tell. I think we have found on this forum that so many people change the bash plate from standard but I think that may be a waste of money in many cases, you would really have to be bashing it pretty hard over rocks to want to do that. Coming from the XT you probably have a pretty good idea of where you are going to ride this new bike and know how confidence in handling the bike is very important, even if an inch or so of clearance is lost.

 

Happy riding!

 

Shane

Hey Shane you are right if I was only riding on the road mostly it would not be a problem but in the bush it is a different story. Even with the dog bones my ground clearance is still greater than the XT so I haven’t compromised my riding too much but I feel I have better control on dirt. Cheers mate

[Allen Kelly]

12 hours ago, manny said:

Gday Allan yeah they are a bit tall for us short arses I'm around 173 cm to & have dropped it both sides when I have pulled up & the extra weight has caught me of guard & down she went no damage thou. It takes a bit of getting used to coming of a 139kg ktm 690 but the t7 for me craps all overs that. Every time I pull up after a ride I smile to my self & say what an awesome bike it is

Hey Manny, I can’t disagree with that it is defiantly the best bike I have ever owned. I’ve gone from having different bikes for different rides to one that will do the lot. I never step from this bike without a smile on my face. For me dropping it that little bit has improved my ride immensely. Cheers mate.

[Allen Kelly]

5 hours ago, DWEL700 said:

HI Allen,

Does your center stand still work with the dog bones in there?

Hey mate, the stand was one of the issues that I procrastinated over for a while because I couldn’t see how lowering the bike wouldn’t affect both the operation of the centre stand and the thing that worried me the most I thought the side stand would be more upright. When I bit the bullet and carried out the alterations it was with the intension of restoring back to original if it turned out to be a problem. The centre stand works just fine and as for the side stand, this I don’t understand, I had a spirit level taped to the seat before doing the job and left it there until finished. There is no discernible difference in the angle of the bike. My brain said there should be but it still has good angle when on the side stand. It all works fine. Cheers mate. 

[DWEL700]

Thank you for the quick response. 

Cheers.