Any suspension engineers?

[attworth]

Since there's no "Scooter Mod Talk" section, this'll have to do. 

I'd like to bring the front end of my scoot down a bit. There's obviously not much aftermarket support for these things. Normally, lowering a bike involves shorter, stiffer springs in the spring tubes. I was wondering if this would work. (See pics below.)

First pic - stock shock. Roughly 2mm between the shock mount and top of the shock.


Modified - About 1/4" lower, or 6.5mm (slightly less, but you get the idea.) 8.5mm total.


Obviously there's fear of clearance. I'll have to relocate my horn, but everything else will be far enough away not to worry. The other fear is bottoming out. This scoot is really heavy in the butt, so the front suspension doesn't see much action. Bumps obviously affect it, but that's about it. Never had any problems with it as is.

The biggest fear is un-due stress. Would effectively removing 1/4" of the "lever" that is the front shocks have a bad effect on the longevity of the tubes, potentially causing breakage, and a fall? I'm also not sure how bad this will affect the caster angle. Could be pretty nasty. Real bikes do it all the time, so it can't be that bad on the caster side of things.

I probably won't do this, because it doesn't seem safe. But, I like throwing ideas around.

Thanks!

Edit: sorry the pictures aren't very clear. Not sure why they turned out that way.

[Too Stroked]

I got suspended once before I got my Engineering degree. Does that count? 

[attworth]

I got suspended once before I got my Engineering degree. Does that count? 

 

Very funny.

[Kitzy]

What's the benefit to this?  Just curious.

[attworth]

What's the benefit to this?  Just curious.

None, other than lowering the front end 1/4". Doesn't sound like much, but there's about a 1/4" gap I'd rather not have.

I may play around with the fender placement and see if that helps any.

[Old Dogg™]

You are right, Motorcycle racers do it all the time for looks or to raise or lower the center of gravity .  At the least you will decrease your rake (caster) which would make it steer faster.  If it were lower and you were going up I could see maybe having shock flex problems but other than clearance issues I don't see any negatives in shock performance.