Cutting down seat height on 77D?

XS650D

XS650 Junkie
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I purchased a new ride for myself (2021 W-800) and have given the XS to my son. He's totally pumped and currently learning to ride it. Problem is he's short like me, even shorter and he's on his tippy toes, makes it
hard to get balanced when starting of or stopping. Ive got the rear springs on full soft. There 13" progressive springs.
Still need more.Is it possible to cut the seat foam down and rewrap the (original but mint ) seat cover.
I think if I could lower it 1" and he wore a boot instead off flat runners it may just work out.Any suggestions would be great.Thx
 
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1" shorter shocks ? Seats that are half the thickness of a stock seat are available from a number of sources. Texavina, for instance, will build you a seat (on a pan just like a stock one) any thickness you want. Personally, I would not rework an otherwise nice stock seat, but that's just me.
 
I would drop the forks first. Preferably by installing some long-ish top out springs. Maybe 40 mm long? It possible that for example some old outer valve springs can be used. An alternative is HHB's lowering spacers. A lower section rear tyre (110/80) will also help, but will also lower the gearing. Main thing is to maintain/ improve balanse/ attitude when lowering. Just fitting shorter shocks aleine is not a good way.
 
I've lowered several bikes, 12" shocks are easy to come by and lowering the forks is pretty easy. Dropping the front and the back 1-1.5" can make a huge difference. I just lowered my wife's CJ360T 1.5" front and back with shocks and a home made fork lowering kit, she's 5'3" and can touch just fine on that bike now.
 
Just be aware that going much beyond 3/4" down on the forks with stock springs and the brake union will crash into the fender on full compression.
16" special II rear wheel with a low profile tire would take an 1" off the back. I also saw someone used 11" stock Sportster shocks which should be dime a dozen and quickly reversible.
I (and many here) wouldn't mess up a "good" standard seat. You could find a recovered or needs love seat pretty darned cheap. Might check with @lakeview or @MaxPete
 
I would not cut up a seat that was in good shape.
I acquired this one, which had exactly that done to it, in the driver seating area, and cannot even give it away.
Why not take a try at making one?
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Thx guys, good info. Can’t find a seat local or in Canada for that matter!!
Why is there so much stuff in US and nothin here. Is it ok to change just the rear springs and keep the shocks?
Then lower the front forks into the triple trees a half “ of so with no other changes internally?
 
Thx guys, good info. Can’t find a seat local or in Canada for that matter!!
Why is there so much stuff in US and nothin here. Is it ok to change just the rear springs and keep the shocks?
Then lower the front forks into the triple trees a half “ of so with no other changes internally?

Hi 77D - I’m in Windsor, ON and I have a seat off a Special (quite a bit lower than a Standard seat) that I’d happily trade for your Standard seat. The Special seat is in mint condition BTW.

Where are you located - let’s work something out.
Pete
 
Thx guys, good info. Can’t find a seat local or in Canada for that matter!!
Why is there so much stuff in US and nothin here. Is it ok to change just the rear springs and keep the shocks?
Then lower the front forks into the triple trees a half “ of so with no other changes internally?
I wouldn't change just the springs, shocks are valved to work at a specified length. You're better off installing shorter shocks that are set up to work at that length. Technically you can slide the forks up in the yokes but I wouldn't. It looks crummy and it doesn't preform very well. I've always cut the springs and made/bought take up spacers for the length I wanted to lower the bike. The trick with lowering forks is cut the spring less than the length of the lowering spacer, this adds some additional preload and prevents bottoming out. Keep in mind that any time you decrease suspension travel you will have a rougher ride.
 
Setting shock preload properly is pretty important. You should have the "sag" ( the amount of compression under full static rider weight) set to approx 1/3-1/4 of full suspension travel. So with 4"(101.6mm) of rear suspension travel you should have about 1"(25mm) of suspension compression under full rider weight. So at 2"(50.8mm) of suspension travel you should have only about .5" (12.7mm) of sag. You can see how shorter suspension starts to get pretty stiff. Sag is typically only measured at the rear, front suspension dynamics are whole different ball game.
 
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Yep, like mentioned, once you cut you can't go back and finding one you can cut and cover leaving the original as it is would be ideal.
Lowering shocks and forks will get you there but using the service/center stand becomes a bear. Of course, you can carry a chunk of 2X4 in yer pocket to set under the rear tire to gain what you've lost when you want to use the center stand........
 
BTW @XS650D I love your new W-800! I've been eyeing one of those as well, killer looking bike. That 76 XS650 is a beauty, what a wonderful gift. Your son is very lucky.
 
Setting shock preload properly is pretty important. You should have the "sag" ( the amount of compression under full static rider weight) set to approx 1/3-1/4 of full suspension travel. So with 4"(101.6mm) of rear suspension travel you should have about 1"(25mm) of suspension compression under full rider weight. So at 2"(50.8mm) of suspension travel you should have only about .25" (6.35mm) of sag. You can see how shorter suspension starts to get pretty stiff. Sag is typically only measured at the rear, front suspension dynamics are whole different ball game.
Ahem.. Check your math. 1/3 to 1/4 of 2" is not 1/4", but 1/2" to 2/3" (12.7 to 16.9 mm)
Shocks giving 2"wheel travel is not something I would recommend anyway. Also, wheel travel does not equal shock travel (stroke) on the XS. Most shocks have only 3"stroke. A shorter than stock shock absorber may also result in the tyre hitting the rear fender or other hard parts at full compression. Proceed with caution.
 
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I wouldn't change just the springs, shocks are valved to work at a specified length. You're better off installing shorter shocks that are set up to work at that length. Technically you can slide the forks up in the yokes but I wouldn't. It looks crummy and it doesn't preform very well. I've always cut the springs and made/bought take up spacers for the length I wanted to lower the bike. The trick with lowering forks is cut the spring less than the length of the lowering spacer, this adds some additional preload and prevents bottoming out. Keep in mind that any time you decrease suspension travel you will have a rougher ride.
Cutting the spring will increase the spring rate, not just alter the preload. As the OP's son is not very tall, I'd guess he ain't that heavy either. So the stock spring rate may work just fine. I'd leave the spring alone to begin with, and install either lowering spacers on the damper rods, or top out springs which I think are a better option on the 77, since it never had those to begin with. Later models do, but for lowering, a longer spring may be needed. After all this, then play with different length of preload spacer instead.
 
Ahem.. Check your math. 1/3 to 1/4 of 2" is not 1/4", but 1/2"
Shocks giving 2"wheel travel is not something I would recommend anyway. Also, wheel travel does not equal shock travel (stroke) on the XS. Most shocks have only 3"stroke. A shorter than stock shock absorber may also result in the tyre hitting the rear fender or other hard parts at full compression. Proceed with caution.
Yes sorry .5" post edited. I didn't say wheel travel, I said suspension travel. I was not advocating 2" suspension travel, I was simply illustrating my point that as SUSPENSION travel decreases preload and ride stiffness increases. Speaking in general terms motorcycles suspension travel can range anywhere from 12" on MX bikes to less than 1" on lowered Softails. While not all of this applies to XS's the math does not change. A proper shock valved and sprung for the weight of the bike/rider should not bottom out or cause the tire to rub the fender no matter what the fender/tire clearance is. Proper lowering shocks should not allow the tire to contact the fender due to reduced stroke length and increased preload. For what its worth HD has been building XL's with 2-3" of tire fender clearance for years and they don't seem to rub.
 
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