Last year I put on 3/4" Kouba lowering links and was able to go down 1/2" in the front before the forks hit the handlebars. I now have tapered bars with the adapters(read risers) and can go the whole 3/4" to match the rear drop. I don't jump at tracks, just heavy hard trail riding. I have bottomed the rear, not sure about the front.

I jacked the forks down in my truck as far as they could go and wasn't close to the fender at the point it wouldn't jack down any further but just looking for a SANITY CHECK. If you have done it for you or a short wife, let my know how far you went !

 

I lowered the wifes bike with 1 1/2" links on the rear. The most I would suggest you raise the front is up to the *taper* on the lower clamp. I actually had raised my wifes bike about 1 1/8" after adding those Rocky Mountain Tusk bar risers but didn't realize there was a taper on the fork tubes. Its probably raised around 3/4" after I re-adjusted it so it clamped fully on the flat part of the fork, and there is no problem whatsoever on its handling or otherwise.
db

 

I'll have to check that as I'm right around 3/4". The total distance from the top of the top clamp to the top brassy area of each fork is about an inch. Can you do a quick measure and let me know it that's where her bike is ?

 

I dropped the forks tonight and you were right. It ends up there is actually a taper at the bottom area, too. I used a caliper to verify but basically at the bottom it goes from smooth to ribbed and a short distance under the smooth the caliper will start jiggling (I locked it down). End result is I could go from about .25" to .80" up the clamps. This gives 100% clamp area at the top and about 80% clamp area at the bottom (~5/16s of the 1 10/16s of clamp length). I've been running it for a year and had no problems so for now that's where I'm going to stay. To go up that extra .20" to even it doesn't seem worth the loss in clamp area.

By the way, my measurements with the caliper at the top (.80") was from the top of the upper clamp to the transition from brass colored fork to the silver top cap. The transition is a very convenient spot to jam the pointed end of the caliper into for an accurate measurement.

Hope this helps someone in the future, if you go down .75" in the rear you can make up about .55" in the front safely.