My height challenged wife didn't want to use lowering links, we talked over cutting down the corners of the seat to help her touch more than her tippy toes. Using 1 1/8" bar adapters & bars allow the forks to be raised up in the triple clamps 1.5" + setting rear sag to max allowed the wife to learn on it. Raising it back up since she is learning more & more.

Lowering links only index the swingarm in a different spot which = less travel till your tire rubs the fender. 117 mm links raise the suspension, 119.5 mm = stock 09.

 

Lowering links change the moment (leverage, or linkage ratio), which does two things, increase wheel travel, and soften the wheel rate. Being 155 lbs, the reduced wheel rate is better. I ended up a little lower than stock, with no bottoming on the fender, more travel, and softer suspension.
it's a win win situation for me.

 

The PO of my KLX has got the front springs replaced, I don't know what rate they are but they are plenty stiff for me. With 35mm of static sag I have only ~90mm of race sag with my ~190 lbs sitting on the bike.

But the rear spring is stock and was clearly "out of balance" with the front.
The rear sags more than front when load is added on the bike, ideally front and rear moves by the same amount when bike is loaded (with the rider).

My initial rear numbers were:
Static sag = 40mm
Race sag = 125mm (remember, front RS is only ~ 90mm. very unbalanced)

I first added some preload to reduce the sag, then I had:
Static sag = 28mm
Race sag = 110

That was better but still it was clear that spring rates front vs. rear were quite unbalanced.
Instead of ordering a new rear spring, I decided to first try poor man's way to effectively rise the spring rate by using shorter dog bones.
I bought a set of KDX "bones" from Ebay, got them for $20 shipped. Way less than a new spring.

With the shorter bones I was expecting higher ride height and effectively stiffer spring.
I got that, but seems the shorter bones also change the progressiveness of the spring. It's softer in the beginning but gets progressively stiffer later.

Without touching the preload, my new sag numbers are:
Static = 40mm
Race = 110mm

So when my 190 lbs sits on the bike, with KLX bones it sinks an additional 82mm, but with the KDX bones it sinks 70mm.
But yet the static sag increased from 28mm to 40mm.

Kind of interesting.

And I can really tell the difference in effective rear spring rate.
Before the rear always saged more when bouncing the bike, now both ends sag more or less the same when bike is pressed down at the seat (where rider's weight is).

I'd consider this a very successful way to beef up the rear spring rate for someone who's little too heavy for the stock suspension and won't mind the small increase in seat height.

The fully extended ride height of the rear increased by 20mm.

--
Mikko

 

Hi, anyone know how much to increase the centre's on a stock KLX 650? Want to lower the bike about 1.5 inches. Links are stamped at 124mm centres. Thanks Ad

 

For those who are curious about how links affect wheel travel. I wanted to make an experiment because from unitrak geometry it was not obvious how shorter/longer link would affect wheel travel.
My stock links from '23 klx250s are 119.5mm. Wheel travel according to Kawasaki is 230mm. I removed spring from the shock and measured distance between fully extended shock and fully collapsed shock. Motorcycle on the stand, rear wheel of the ground. Travel is 245mm.
I made shorter links - 113mm from piece of metal. Rear wheel was closer to the ground by 2cm (which means rear of the bike will be 2cm more high from the ground when bike on the ground). But wheel travel decreased to 210mm!
Ideally I want more wheel travel. So takeaway for me - I will try to use longer links and stiffer spring (I have 7.1 kg/mm anyway) with a bit more preload to offset increased links leverage.