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I recently acquired my VStar Classic 650 and the previous owner has lowered the bike a couple of inches. Im a pretty big guy (6'2" @ 260lbs) and have already scraped the bottom on a couple of awkward speed bumps in my area. I dont *need* to have the bike as low as it is and it seems to be more of an inconvenience than its worth. I'm wondering how much of a chore it is to restore it to factory height. Unfortunatly for me, I dont know what type of modifications were done to get the lowered effect but I was hoping all you smart people might have some ideas and suggestions. Is there more than one way to lower a bike? If so, what can I look for to determine the type of lowering?

Any thoughts and suggestions are welcome.

The 650 is a soft-tail. The original owner may have simply replaced the rear monoshock with a shorter one.

How could I tell by looking at it if that was the case? What would I be looking for and where?

Did a little research and I can see now that the rear monoshock was relocated approx 1.5 inches forward from its stock mount location.
As illustrated here: http://www.650ccnd.com/julio.htm

So in theory, if I move the shock back to the factory mout location, that should bring my rear end back up right?

Are there any other things I should look for in the rear? Can I adjust the shock at all while im moving it? Also what about the front. I saw another webpage that showed how to cut some spacer inthe fork to drop it a bit. Are there any other common methods for lowering that that I should look for?

BrandonJG wrote:So in theory, if I move the shock back to the factory mout location, that should bring my rear end back up right?

Sounds about right.

BrandonJG wrote:Can I adjust the shock at all while im moving it?

Well, after you move it and get it anchored down again you can increase the preload if it isn't already at its highest setting.

Havent undone the drop yet but noticed that my preload is set at 1. Whats the trick to stiffening that up. The manual's instructions seem to be vastly understated. Says to just use the special wrench & pry bar to turn it but not amount of prying seemed to make any difference for me. What am I missing?

BrandonJG wrote:no amount of prying seemed to make any difference for me. What am I missing?

Pry harder! Seriously, though, you really gotta muscle those spanner wrenches.

something must be wrong. If I pry harder, the wrench just pops right off

I've got the scars on my knuckles. Spanner wrenches suck. Don't know what else to tell ya, though, that's how you have to adjust it. Could try a strap wrench or something, but monoshocks usually don't offer much room to work.

well then I guess I'm going to have to pay someone else to deal with this. I was about ready to put my fist through the wall out there trying to get that POS to move.

Thanks anways