need to lower bike

Almost any suspension expert can help you out. Try DaleEO on the board. There are lots of wrong ways to lower a bike and a few correct ways as well.

Where in Canada do you live I had mine lowered by STS

stsracing.ca | Shock Therapy Suspension

I have managed to get quite a bit out of mine. I noticed that you read the response to a prior post. If you are in BC and close, feel free to contact and I would be more than pleased to let you try out mine. I have property to ride on and this would give you an idea and feel.

X bushing and then raise the bars, then raise the forks.

regards

Taffy

Taffy said:

X bushing and then raise the bars, then raise the forks.

regards

Taffy

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That's what I did to my GF's KTM. She's 5'4" and pretty much flat foots it now.

Are there any disadvantages to having a lower bike? Im 175cm (thats 5' 8.9 in freedom units), and are tip toing..

Edit: Are there any equivalent mods to do on the older models?

I have lowered all the offroad bikes I've owned. The only drawback I see is losing some suspension travel. Some guys are looking for more. I seem to be ok taking an inch out of my bikes.

Low seats, X-bushing, lowering links for linkage bikes, and dropping the forks are all good ways to lower without losing travel. The drawbacks are less ground and foot peg clearence plus you don't want your tires to bottom out on the fender and lock up, especially the front. Shorter profile tires shorten a bike by themselves in addition to allowing more clearance for lowering.

X-bushings only work on the KTM style post '08 bikes. I've seen guys shorten the rear subframe and or place the top shock mount hole higher in the frame to lower the older models with the pds.

Go up very slowly with the 4cs. I ended up putting my back to stock setting as it really does not change much and I find it handles allot better at stock with the x bushing. I would not go to much as the x bushing does not give the same metrics as using a drop link for some reason. To bad your out east or you could try mine. I shaved the seat probably 2" at lowest point but the secret is to narrow and tapper with the shave as narrowing does way more than just cutting down, It is all about inseam travel. Very important to do this.

You will not notice any problem with travel as the 14 fe350 has tons, I still have more after lowering than the stock Kawasaki, Suzuki and Honda that sit next to it.

FE350 said:

Go up very slowly with the 4cs. I ended up putting my back to stock setting as it really does not change much and I find it handles allot better at stock with the x bushing. I would not go to much as the x bushing does not give the same metrics as using a drop link for some reason. To bad your out east or you could try mine. I shaved the seat probably 2" at lowest point but the secret is to narrow and tapper with the shave as narrowing does way more than just cutting down, It is all about inseam travel. Very important to do this.

You will not notice any problem with travel as the 14 fe350 has tons, I still have more after lowering than the stock Kawasaki, Suzuki and Honda that sit next to it.

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I've read that the 4cs' don't do well when lowered, the BRP rubber mounted sub mount I have won't let me drop the front down much on the TE300, which has kinda kept me from trying an X-bushing. I'm not a fan of the 4cs forks so far. Maybe as you found, lowering the rear might help out, thanks.

I have not been able to tip toe, let alone flat foot since i started riding adult bikes. I have short legs and like ktm's. I am not willing to lose 20 percent of my travel just so i can touch the ground better. A buddy had his wifes suspension lowered. Had to stiffen it considerably to keep it frm bottoming constantly.

Dirtrulz said:

I have not been able to tip toe, let alone flat foot since i started riding adult bikes. I have short legs and like ktm's. I am not willing to lose 20 percent of my travel just so i can touch the ground better. A buddy had his wifes suspension lowered. Had to stiffen it considerably to keep it frm bottoming constantly.

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If you lower and set your sag correctly and still bottom then you have issues big time, no amount of doing anything will correct this other than reworking you suspension correctly.

webfoot said:

need to purchase new tires, what is stock size? and what would you recommend in lower profile tire? give new tire size!

webfoot

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FE 350 EU, FE 350 AUS
Front
90/90-21 M/C 54R TT Michelin ENDURO COMPETITION IV
Rear
140/80-18 M/C 70R TT Michelin ENDURO COMPETITION III

FE 350 USA/CAN
Front
80/100-21 51M TT Dunlop GEOMAX MX51 FA
Rear
110/100-18 64M TT Dunlop GEOMAX MX51

I use Mitas tires with tubliss system with good success, These are tall tires but work for me.

Dirtrulz said:

I have not been able to tip toe, let alone flat foot since i started riding adult bikes. I have short legs and like ktm's. I am not willing to lose 20 percent of my travel just so i can touch the ground better. A buddy had his wifes suspension lowered. Had to stiffen it considerably to keep it frm bottoming constantly.

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The X-bushing and raising the fork tubes don't change your travel, as long as you do it right and don't let the tire hit the fender, the bike will just bottom out with the tire closer to the fender.

Lowering links are supposed to actually give you more travel, but do soften up the spring rate due to more leverage, and can make linkage bikes handle funky. My old KDX came with a 1" Kouba link and it worked pretty well. I tried a 3" out of my GF's KLX and the handling got super slow, plus the tire hit the fender bad which was compounded by it making the spring way too soft.

Most suspension shops use spacers which does decrease travel, but should't affect the spring rate much.

Yet another opinion - custom length springs and a shop that knows how to compensate for them.

Huskyfatman said:

The X-bushing and raising the fork tubes don't change your travel, as long as you do it right and don't let the tire hit the fender, the bike will just bottom out with the tire closer to the fender.

Lowering links are supposed to actually give you more travel, but do soften up the spring rate due to more leverage, and can make linkage bikes handle funky. My old KDX came with a 1" Kouba link and it worked pretty well. I tried a 3" out of my GF's KLX and the handling got super slow, plus the tire hit the fender bad which was compounded by it making the spring way too soft.

Most suspension shops use spacers which does decrease travel, but should't affect the spring rate much.

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I guess you could say that the travel of the leg does not change if the leg is not on the bike, but the travel does change as this is what is required to keep enough distance from wheel to fender and what is set at a engineered safe spot.
So anytime you alter travel distance to an item such as a fender than I would say the travel has changed. Even if we do not alter the shock the travel has still changed. We for sure do not want the wheel to hit the fender as it could be catastrophic.

Kouba link requires you to raise the fork legs into the tree to correct rake and trail, X bushing does not as this is a PDS system and all that is moving is the mount, thus bringing the seat down, I strongly suggest against raising the 4CS into the trees, The bike will flop and pain will come shortly after

If one is light then we do not need to worry about compression issues, if sag is set correctly and we have the correct spring. If one is heavy such as I am , then this can be an issue, but again the 14FE has a ton of clearance. I have been 10 feet in the air and have not compressed tire into fender, however stomach into chin was an issue lmao..

The KlX, If the sag was adjusted after the link was installed the spring rate would not have changed just travel. The only way it would get soft is loss of pressure, settings out of spec, loose spring or wrong spring. The lowering link should not change spring rate just travel. The lowering link give the shock more travel, not the bike, seat still comes down and fender gets closer. I theory this should make the shock stiffer as the link is shorter to give a lower ride.