M696 Owner from Devon UK

[ungeheuer]

I'd say the fork legs are set at stock height - or pretty close to - within the triple clamps.   M696 stock top triple is 'drop shouldered' so clamps lower down the forks, perhaps giving the impression the fork legs have been dropped thu.   I think the vinyl wrap below the top triple on down probably also creates the illusion of 'lowered' thru...

For comparison, here's a pic of my M696 forks at stock height thru the triples...

 

[koko64]

I think Sean's bike's forks protrude more (to my eye at least looking at internet pics). I'm guessing the dealer used about 10mm to lower it without the wheel hitting the head on full fork compression. The dealer probably wound off the rear preload too, but I think Sean has fixed that.
Ung, you got the specs for Sean to measure? If my eyes are playing tricks I owe you both a beer.

[Charlie98]

Yea... those forks look higher than my 796. The inside edge is level with the radius of the triple right there, on my bike.  I would think with the forks higher you might get some headshake at speed, or with hard braking.

The correct measurement is 222mm from the top of the fork, to the top of the bottom yoke.

[ungeheuer]

Yea... those forks look higher than my 796. The inside edge is level with the radius of the triple right there, on my bike.  I would think with the forks higher you might get some headshake at speed, or with hard braking.

The correct measurement is 222mm from the top of the fork, to the top of the bottom yoke.

796 and 696 the same?

[Charlie98]

I would think so... but I'll check...

[Charlie98]

Meh... you might be right.  The fork components don't share common part numbers, although I was not able to pull up a service manual for a 696 to see what the actual measurement is.  I just assumed the 696 and 796 shared the same front end parts... it would make sense... or at least the same geometry.