Saga 250 Enduro - lowering?

Hey all, I'm new to the forum and just picked up my Saga 250 enduro after checking out this and another forum for reviews and info on the bike. I'm looking forward to riding my bike, once the snow melts a bit more, and am going to do a go-over of the bike in the meantime. I plan to change the spark plug and oil, and make sure all the bolts are present and tight.

I would like to lower the bike a tad, and am wondering if anyone has done this and how. I was going to start with the spring collar setting on the shock, and lowering the forks in the tripple-tree. Any other ideas? Thanks in advance.

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Welcome flyfishinwoman!

Please post some pix of your new ride. Someone in our forum surely will have specific knowledge about this make and model. Did you buy it new? Come with a manual?

You gonna rig it up with a tube for carrying your flyrods? I've actually seen lots of threads on this over in ADVrider and elsewhere.

Have fun and ride safe!
cheers

Welcome, and please excuse my political in-correctness and social ineptness, I need to know if you are married. A woman that both fishes with fly and has a motorbike has long been a dream of mine!

The saga dealer is a member here, look at this thread and you can PM him and do a keyword search in forum as well to see what turns up. There have been some posts on lowering other bikes.
http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...250-mod-thread

Thanks for the welcome, and you needn't be embarrassed, lol. I appreciate the directness of all the Ozzies that I have met. Yes, I am "hooked", so to speak.

I will post a pic of my new bike tomorrow, as I work on it while the snow melts. This is my first "knock-off" bike, as I have always had one of the "big-4" Japanese bikes, but the price of my bike new was too good to pass up. Now I just have to become more familiar with it.

How much do you need to lower it? Playing with the seat foam itself is best and easiest and will give an inch, as will going from off-road to SM tyres. If you do it the hard way and start playing with lowering forks and shocks you will do things like alter steering/handling and so on which can be problematic, so you need expert advice really - but it can be done, just how depends on the rear shock is set-up. The lower mount to swing-arm and the dogbone itself can be re-worked/replaced and if you know the specs a suspension shop can usually source parts for that.

As I said above, try the saga dealer in the other thread with a PM, he seemed quite helpful and he should know what frame this is based on if anyone does and will have been asked the question before as it is quite a tall bike.

some stuff in here http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...ght=lower+seat

I will PM the SAGA dealer to see if he has any ideas on lowering, and I read the linked thread. I'm not sure if shaving the seat will give me quite enough, I'm also looking at the swing-arm mount plate to see if I can fab another one up with the same geometry but to lower the mounting position. Until I look at the bike more thoroughly I am just speculating right now. I will also lower the forks in the tree, as there is quite a bit of latitude there. I'm aware of the complications of modifying the ride height, and have talked at length to my motorcycle mechanic friend about it. I've also done a lot of wrenching on my own bikes, and rebuilt one (I took aircraft maintenance school), and with over 20+ years riding (and a year of racing) I'm pretty comfortable with experimenting on this bike. It seems as if everything is fairly simple, if not exactly easy to work on because of some clearances. It will be a good project for me while I wait for the snow to melt enough to ride.

I think the best approach would be to find a shock with a shorter eye to eye measurement and look at lowering the fork travel via internal spacers rather than dropping them in the triple.
I've not had my fork apart yet but that is usually the way it is done.

Also if a modified seat does not give you enough, you could look at having the subframe chopped a tad that may give an inch or so.

Last option would be to lace up some 16" or 17" rims to the stock hubs but that is an expensive proposition.
I have no problem flatfooting mine but I’m 5’11 with a 33” inseam.

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Originally Posted by flyfishinwoman

I've also done a lot of wrenching on my own bikes, and rebuilt one (I took aircraft maintenance school), and with over 20+ years riding (and a year of racing) I'm pretty comfortable with experimenting on this bike. It seems as if everything is fairly simple, if not exactly easy to work on because of some clearances. It will be a good project for me while I wait for the snow to melt enough to ride.

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Obviously until people tell us, we have no idea of what they already know or don't so we just try and help. We get all sorts from spotty 17 year olds through to experts. Looks like you will be teaching us then.

Flyfishwoman, you might want to email to Sirkku Kannisto. She is a 150cm tall Finnish enduro rider woman with darn good knowledge of bikes and wrenching. She have her own company doing all kind of things. She has also been forced to mod bikes for her to be able to ride them.

Her wewbsite is http://www.kolumbus.fi/sivutie/index.htm.

You will find her email from there. I have emailed with her and she is very helpful (she was also decisive factor in my decision to purchase my Skyteam. I can only praise her, her knowledge, and her attitude.)

I am sure she will be glad to help you.

I did a few things to the bike yesterday to get the seat height a tad lower. First off, I moved the shock collar nuts as high as they would go, then lowered the tree on the forks a bit. Lastly I shaved the seat foam, and altogether this enables me to touch both feet down, albeit with my tippy toes - as opposed to originally only being able to touch one foot down at a time (the butt cheek shuffle, lol). At only 5'2", the stock seat height was just too much for me, but now it is manageable.

I also changed the spark plug and the oil. The new plug is an NGK one, and seems to help with cold starting. As soon as the snow melts enough to take it for a test ride I'll report on it. Thanks for the suggestions, idea exchange is a huge reason that I come to a forum such as this.

Yes changing the plug helped starting on mine as did upping the size of the pilot jet and dropping the clip on the needle.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by flyfishinwoman

I did a few things to the bike yesterday to get the seat height a tad lower. First off, I moved the shock collar nuts as high as they would go, then lowered the tree on the forks a bit. Lastly I shaved the seat foam, and altogether this enables me to touch both feet down, albeit with my tippy toes - as opposed to originally only being able to touch one foot down at a time (the butt cheek shuffle, lol). At only 5'2", the stock seat height was just too much for me, but now it is manageable.

I also changed the spark plug and the oil. The new plug is an NGK one, and seems to help with cold starting. As soon as the snow melts enough to take it for a test ride I'll report on it. Thanks for the suggestions, idea exchange is a huge reason that I come to a forum such as this.

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Sounds very good. Can't wait to hear more!

Hey all, it's been a while since I've been on the site and on my Saga much. Now that I live in an area that is perfect for a dual-sport, the Saga is getting used again, lol. I think that I will lower the rear of the bike by replacing the rear shock, so was wondering if anyone knows the specs of the rear shock so that I could get a replacement that has a shorter eye-to-eye distance. Thanks in advance.