After arriving home one of the first things I ordered for Red Girl was a lowering kit. Made in Germany by Metissel and available through the California firm Wild Hair Accessories it came in at $190.00 including shipping from Germany. I found the dealers easy to work with and they were great about staying in touch. Delivery took several weeks due to the slow shipping method but I was in no hurry.
That tidy sum gets you a shortened version of the mono-shock’s mounting link which once installed properly produces a saddle height 35mm lower than stock. That’s about 1 3/8” in American speak, more than enough to make a big difference to vertically challenged riders like myself.
Today I met with Coos Bay Honda World technician Greg and scheduled the installation for next Tuesday. His estimated time for the job is 2 ½ hours and maybe less, depending on what he encounters during the process. That seemed reasonable enough for me and I’m eagerly looking forward to seeing the results.
Also recommended by Metissel is the shortening of the side stand by 20mm or about ¾”. I’ll probably have that done by the local fabrication shop where I have all my welding done. One of the best mods I’ve done to a bike was the addition of a “Fat Foot” device to the side stand on my Ninja.
The Fat Foot increases the area of the kickstand's foot several times over which helps prevent sinking into soft surfaces such as wet grass, sand, and even warm blacktop. Since no one makes a Fat Foot for the NT700v I'll have a facsimile made when I have the side stand shortened.
Metissel further advises "Due to the change in the chassis frame geometry caused by the lowering, the driving characteristics may change slightly and the freedom to tilt could be restricted. Please adjust to the new conditions by driving carefully for the first few kilometers.” I’m not anticipating any problems since I don’t begin to approach the limits of my bikes performance, especially in cornering.
The following photo of Red Girl parked next to writer Jerry Smith’s Gold Wing clearly illustrates another reason for my choosing the NT700v. The wing weighs nearly double that of the NT and believe me, it can be unwieldy at times. The NT700v is closer in weight to my Ninja and once lowered should have very similar ergonomics.
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That’s it for this post; I should have a follow-up with the results next week.
LL
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