Seat hight

You don't need both feet on the ground, when you roll to a stop just let one leg hold the bike at a slight angle. I use my right leg so I can operate the clutch if I put it in neutral for a long light. But if pavement conditions warrant I'll use the other leg.  Have done this with every bike I've owned, no issues.

I'm not a fan of lowering a bike, creates issues with handling.

And another huge impact would be on cornering clearance, especially if you like to ride aggressively. Being somewhat inseam challenged myself too (at 31"), I can touch with both ball of my feet just fine, but can't flatfoot. And still, my knees were starting to bother me a bit on my first and only long ride so far, so went ahead and bought the comfort seat... and I'm happy to report it didn't affect distance to the floor in front, but at the seated position raised me a little bit, giving precious knee relief, so the best of both worlds. What you have to also get used to is PLAN for any eventuality where you might need that reach, like preferably never stoppping on an incline sideways, etc. Having said that, I wouldn't feel comfortable having a passenger with my current ground clearance, but don't plan to ever have any ( he he). In fact, don't have passenger pegs anymore. Could put them back in a whim, but don't plan to... but if I did for a few miles, I wouldn't adjust the rear preload, so bike would be lowered, and maybe give me the solid footing I'd like. Bottom line is unless you absolutely have to, DO NOT mess with ride height .

www.lustracing.co.uk/suspension/yamaha-lowering-kits.html


which ever country you are in will have company's selling lowering kits, all the other posts are good points ..... Would be interesting to hear from any one who has actually lowered  A FZ10 ...... Or you could be the first test pilot.

Then we will have to disagree my friend.

So called anti squat would be a by-product of the gearing change, notice how he says chassis changes may have to be made (suspension).

Have YOU set the preload or rider sag of your bike??? The standard MT10 is like a dog dragging its arse! Check out BJ's long term MT10 videos on youtube and he states that since setting up the suspension the bike doesn't wheelie as much but the handling was bang on once complete. Even Dave Moss puts 2 whole turns into the preload collars and increases the rebound and compression as they are too soft out of the box.

If you decrease the rider sag of your bike (increase the preload) you will find that the bikes propensity to wheelie will be reduced due to the increase in spring tension and consequently the bike will have a taller rear end which will have a more beneficial effect in handling as the bike will want to tip in easier. Dropping the forks through the yokes will further aid that goal. Just ask anyone who has experience in setting a bike up for the track (or for the street) and you will see that this is correct.

Indeed I have. Have to get stiffer springs as im 240 pounds though, so my preload on the front springs is turned as stiff as possible, which barely keeps the forks from bottoming out when riding agressively. Ofcause when getting stiffer springs in the forxs the shocks spring needs to be changed at the same time and while im at it id like to send the forks for a revalving and upgrade my shock to a penske or something (you see the rabbit hole )

The difference is huge indeed. A lot of it has to do with the angle of the swingarm though. Decreasing riders sag by adding preload lifts the swingarm pivot relative to the axle nut to its designed angle, along with all the other benefits of being at 50% of its stroke during corner loads.

Most yamahas are equipped for lightweight riders, so when a heavy rider sits on, the shock compresses too much, making the chassis low and decreasing the angle of the swingarm. Dave Moss recommends the angle of the swingarm, from the axlenut to the nut that connects it to the chassis, to be between 8.5-9.5 degrees (with the axle nut lower down).



If you put a shorter shock, or change dog bones, so the seat height gets lowered, youll get well out of that 1 degree ballpark.

Even if you drop the bike by its front a little, it wont change the seat height by much, as that ~15mm change in for front wont change the seat heigt in the back by much.

As i said, the rideheight adjuster on sportbikes is not there for riders getting off and on comfortably, its there to make the shock assembly longer or shorter (by a few mm) so the swingarm angle can be changed without affecting the settings on the shock. The trail is only ever changed with the front height by lowering ot lifting the forks through the tree or by the chassis rake in development stages.

Though I dont see why we are going to suspension setup when the discussion is about how the bikes geometry would get affected by lowering it.

Having the bike set by its correct ridersag automatically puts the swingarm in about the right angle for street riding. Go to the track and you need to lift the rear more, not by preload (although you do need to add a little to compensate for the more agressive riding) but by changing the rear rideheight seperately. Then the front gets raised accordingly to reduce the added rake back to the riders preference.

Lower the bike and all hell breaks loose. If the swingarm is angeled too low (chassis lowered), you lose anti-squat and the shock will simply collapse on the huge loads of the 460 lbs bike + rider weight at 1G (twice the weight of the bike on the shock) heavy acceleration.

During cornering it can take it as ~40% of the load is put on the forks, but with 100% of the loads on the rear tire, the shock needs that anti-squat to help it out.

Worst case scenario, the rear axle gets lifted above the swingarm axle during acceleration, which makes the swingarm trying to collapse the shock instead of extending it, this is called pro-squat.

To compensate the loss of anti-squat when lowering your bike youd need to put a much stiffer spring, which just ruins any comfort in the bike and puts the suspension out of its ideal range when cornering.

The reason the discussion went down this route is I was trying to describe the fact that by increasing the preload there is a less likelihood of the bike squatting during acceleration. I now understand where you are coming from regarding this anti squat scenario but irrespective of this if the OP sets his rider sag it will no doubt improve matters however it will compound matters by dialling in more rear ride height

Thanks for all the advise and vidio links.