Effect

Sea Dawg said:

.. Honda Windscreen, L&M Lowering kit, L&M fork extenders, changing all this geometry what will the effect be on rider ...???...........

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OK, Dawg, here goes:

1. Handlebar-mounted windscreens/shields, by definition, are coupled into the bike's steering and, while having very little adverse effect when the wind is encountered dead-on the nose, they can produce some scary effects when you encounter a gusting crosswind or when passing through the side-loading of the bow-wave of a semi-truck out on the freeway. The magnitude of the effect is proportional to the square area of the screen or shield. Any effect from the little OEM Honda shield would, I would think, be almost hard to perceive. Frame-mounted shields or fairings are relatively impervious to the effect and don't tend to cause any "twitchyness" in the steering.

2. Lowering the rear of the bike will, necessarily, cause an increase in the rake and trail. Increasing rake or trail, or both together, will increase the turning radius (most noticeably at parking lot speeds) and reduce inline steering response, making the bike more willing to track in a straight line. From a stability point of view and not taken to an extreme, this could be considered good thing. It is a question of degree.

3. As with lowering the rear of the machine, raising the front by extending the forks will also cause an increase in the rake and the trail, with the attendant effects cited above, although the small amount being considered here with the L&M extenders (what is it, 1/2 inch?) would be almost unnoticeable as far as any effect on handling. If you have a CAD system, you can lay it out geometrically, and I think you'll discover that the difference is almost inconsequential. Note, though, that the overall effect of lowering the rear and raising the front is additive.

In summary then, if you are thoroughly familiar with the way the stock bike handles, you may notice a slight difference in handling, initially, by adding the L&M lowering kit, but I'd wager that after an hour in the saddle, you'd no longer be aware of it. The 1/2 inch front extension would pass unnoticed, IMO. Having a LITTLE more trail on a touring or cruising road machine is, generally, not considered dilitarious.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Never again

Not to try and dissuade anyone but I'll share my experience with lowering kits and why I won't put them on anymore.

I had a Yamaha Vstar 1100. I'm only 5'9" so I prefer a low as I can get seat height. One of the reasons I really love the Fury by the way, but I digress, I put a lowering kit on the bike. To be fair it made the bike look sweet and excellent boulevard cruising machine.

However, I took it on a 3 day cross country trip from Idaho to the west coast. On the first day out, I was doing about 85 came to a little rise and a sign marking a turn so I slowed to 55. What wasn't mentioned on the sign was that the turn was designed for 35! I came up the hill and into the turn, now the lowering kit caused a major problem here. The rake and trail was not an issue but the lowered base of the bike caused my foot pegs and muffler to be too low to the ground. So just like a race car that loses it's line I shot straight off the road. I couldn't put enough lean into the turn to hold the hard left. I hit the soft dirt and down I went. Sending me rolling across the pavement into the middle of the road. Fortunately it was not a heavily trafficked road and my buddy riding behind me was able to avoid me. It was also only about 55 outside so I was covered head to toe in protection. So I only suffered a small road burn on my arm and a heavily bruised ego.

The bike miraculously survived with minimal damage and I was able to pick it up and finish the trip. Good thing too cause it forced me to get back on the horse right away but my left turns to this day still give me just a slight nerve shiver. I had no more problems after that and when I got back I removed the lowering kit and had no further problems.

So again, I'm not trying to dissuade you, but my advice is to make absolutely sure how it will affect your ride and that your comfortable with those changes.