Lowering a Goldwing

[flintstone754]

Just picked up my first Goldwing, a 87 Interstate, after 10 yrs. desided to ride agian. Need to get her down a inch or 2 due to a leg issue, does anyone know a good proven way to accomplish this? Not real worried about keeping the air ride.

[trike lady]

Hello and welcome to the forum.
Well the most inexpensive way is to remove foam from the seat and to also get a boot or shoe with a thicker sole.
Congrats on getting a Classic Wing.

[flintstone754]

Thanks alot lol: now does anyone have a real answer?

[dnehasert]

You could get 11 1/2" shocks instead of 12 1/2" . That has been done, get the spring type, not air. I always use progressive suspension 412's on mine. That will make it harder to get on the centerstand butyou can run the back tire on a 2x4 and that will solve that one I'm told . Sidestand may have to be modified also. Doug

[thrasherg]

Trike lady's reply was accurate and the best.. Lowering the suspension gives you less ground clearance lessens the steering angle, making the biker slower to turn and generally messes things up (bike will ground out at smaller lean angles!). If you can remove some foam from the seat (Many people have done this) it will allow you to better touch the floor and will not mess with the bikes handling.. I am less sure about the platform shoes, you might get arrested by the style police , but it could help.. See about removing foam from the side of the seat just below where your thighs touch the seat when trying to touch the floor with the bike stationary, its cheap and is the best solution..

Gary

[trike lady]

Thanks alot lol: now does anyone have a real answer?

Cute You're welcome.
Mine is an actual modification that bike owners use to make the bike easier to handle when stopped.
Harley Davidson offers an expensive seat for their bikes to allow shorter riders to ride bikes like Road Kings and Ultras. When I had my 1988 Electra-glide Classic I purchased another seat and had it modified and wore 'Logger' boots with a thicker sole. Those two changes made it easy for a person 5'4" tall to ride a bike designed for a man that is 5'9" or taller.
Goldwing owners spend thousands on custom made seats that not only match the bike but are tailored for them.

[trike lady]

Thank you thrasherg for coming to my defense.

[flintstone754]

Didn't mean to offend , my leg problem makes wearing certant types of shoe and boots impossible, have found a old steel paned goldwing seat that I am looking to modify and try to incorperate the gel pacs out of a seat from my old harley that has been hanging in the shop, was told by Honda dealer progressive offers a 14 inch which is 1/4" shorter, standard spring type, than stock air set up, was hoping to find a 13-131/2" or around that, so it hopefully won't mess with handeling and stands too much and was wondering might have worked for someone else before laying out a bunch of cash on some thing that will mess it all up and me too. thank you all and accept my appology if I offended anyone.

[RoadRogue]

Seat mods are really the way to go, they are cheap to do and they dont require any special tools. If you only need a couple of inches you could do it yourself for the cost of a few staples and a grinding disk. Heres a link to give you some basics if you want to custom build your own seat. Removeing foam is easy, I use a 4inch angle grinder with a 50 grit disc,OUTSIDE .

http://www.diymotorcycleseat.com/index.php

But if you really want to spend lots of money on shorter shocks that will change the way your bike handles, have at it We are just sharing what works best for us.

[Dogsled]

I saw a picture on Steve Saunders site showing, I think it was a Formosa used as arear tire and side by side to and Elite3, it looked to be at least an inch and a half lower. You may have to search alot of posts or just ask what the lowest tire is in a general discussion post, you may get a quik answer. I was amazed at the diffenerce and the big question was speedometer accuracy. May be a simple change for you plus give you some experience (if you don't have any) wrenching and removing the wheel. Good luck though, i'm sure you'll figure it out. There are alot of smart people here that have dealt with this issue and resolved it in their own way. Don't tie cats to your shoes though, they have a tendency of taking off and running red lights in nuetral as soon as they hit the ground.

[robb]

I know how you feel, being short can be a challenge; especially in bad weather. I have broken both knees and can say that heavy shoes will ruin the ride. Few months ago after getting caught in rain with most of the wet coming while waiting for garage door to open the bike fell over on its right side and broke my right foot. Looking for ways to resolve the height issue thought a Corbin seat would help but it no lower than my Travelcade. Have been trying different size car tires which do make it more stable. Had a friend who recently mounted a 195/55-16 on his 90 wing and he allowed me to swap with my seat and try it out. At 5' 7.5" and with 25psi in rear it was easy to flatfoot. I did not want to go to shorter tire because of a nearly 5mph speedo error, and as expected the 90 could only maintain 70mph max with cruise control. Now see a 195/55-16 run flat as my next test tire.

[Dogsled]

I did not want to go to shorter tire because of a nearly 5mph speedo error, and as expected the 90 could only maintain 70mph max with cruise control.

I don't understand the cruise control issue. I always lock mine around 70 when I use it and use the throttle to go faster. Do they only work at a certain max speed?

[robb]

The GL1500 is is factory set at rpm limit equal to 75mph max for cruise. The shorter tire will increase rpm and make speedo 5mph fast so when traveling 70mph the speedo will show 75mph. Three highways within a 10 minute ride have 70 mph speed limits and at posted speed you can get run over. Would prefer to run closer to 80mph with cruise.

[Dogsled]

Well then that would be a very important issue if you were looking to lower the bike and used the tire as a solution. I knew cars and bikes had a low end where it engages but never a high end. Thanks for that information.