When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
When the back of my Train was dropped 2" it had some high speed understeer going into tight corners and felt kinda out of sorts. Rode fine but here with our twisty mountains roads in Colorado a guy need to be spot on.
Dropped the front 2" and it turned way better and held its line in said turn better.
Dropped it even more with a set of shorty fork tubes and now it can be hammered through the twisties like a.....Dyna!!
If you are passionate about riding your bike hard? Get the rake angles back where they should be which means drop the front when you drop the rear.... If you just cruise and dont really ride the bike close to the limit? It dosent matter as much.
i raised the front about 1 inch by getting a larger front tire. then i dropped it 2 inch by getting a smaller tire. the smaller front tire makes turns feel much better like having power steering
In a perfect world, they should be even and your bike should sit level. My front end sits a little higher than the rear, but it's not worth the effort for me to lower the front. I've got no clearance issues as it is and would like to keep it that way.
Most ppl don't realize the handling changes until they ride serious twisty road, do front and the back, you will be impressed. I have seen ppl riding with the rear 2" drop without any problem, they learned and got used to you know.
my '04 train has a 2" drop in the azz end only. low speed it will get floppy on you if you don't know it's coming (trains do some of that anyway). but I love the look and don't plan on punishing the twisties as much as enjoying them (or I'd have sporty or a Buell), so I'm not worried about the understeer too much. and I love the even more raked look of the bike and super low slung seat position... but that's on a Train.
on a Fatty, I'm not sure what you'd get from dropping the back and not the front. I was about 48 hours away from getting a Fatty instead of the train, so I love the way they look sitting level. if you do it, I'd like to see some pic's. I'm having a hard time seeing that in my little brain.
7 Surprising Harley-Davidson Products that Are Not Motorcycles
Slideshow: The bar-and-shield logo shows up on far more than motorcycles, some of the company's most unexpected products have nothing to do with riding.
Slideshow: From the troubled AMF years to modern misfires, these bikes earned reputations for reliability issues, questionable engineering, or disappointing performance.
Crazy Bunderbike Build Looks Amazing, But Is It Impossible to Ride?
Slideshow: The Swiss custom shop has taken a Harley Softail and stretched it into something so long and low that it looks closer to a rolling sculpture than a conventional motorcycle.
Engraved Rebellion: Inside Bundnerbike's Glam Rock II
Slideshow: A standard cruiser becomes an intricate metal canvas in the hands of a Swiss custom house known for pushing Harley-Davidson platforms far beyond their factory brief.
Slideshow: Harley-Davidson's challenges aren't abstract; they show up in dropping shipments, shrinking dealer traffic, and strategic decisions that aren't yet translating into growth.