Securing the Front end off its suspension

[Kovner]

I'm thinking about lowering the top triple to put my apex clip ons on top of it instead of below it.
From what I understand, I need to secure the front end off its suspension.
Whats the best way to do that?

[He Man]

if you bring the forks up, you need to bring the rear down as well, from the kind of fork beef apex needs, youll have a really wild bike. best way to do it is to lock your rear, and jack up your front end with a car jack underneath the front header pipe. (dont worry ,its stainless steel. its plenty strong)

[Kovner]

if you bring the forks up, you need to bring the rear down as well, from the kind of fork beef apex needs, youll have a really wild bike. best way to do it is to lock your rear, and jack up your front end with a car jack underneath the front header pipe. (dont worry ,its stainless steel. its plenty strong)

Wait, if I lower the top triple, I'd be raising the front end?

[Cider]

From what I understand, I need to secure the front end off its suspension.
Whats the best way to do that?

I think the best way is a front stand that lifts from the bottom triple.  An alternative method is to hang your bike from straps attached to the rafters.

[rgramjet]

I think the best way is a front stand that lifts from the bottom triple.  An alternative method is to hang your bike from straps attached to the rafters.

Or do both.  I had mine suspended by the upper triple only and the rear stand.  I guess I focused a little too much on how much torque I was applying to break the upper triple pinch bolt loose when all of a sudden the front turned and my beautiful Cromo was on its way down.  Forks were off!!!  Luckily, by the grace of God, the chain caught on part of the rearstand which slowed the decent to where I could get under the bike and stop the fall.
\
 I got on the cell phone to call my wife who was inside to come out to the garage and help me stabilize the bike......aye aye aye!  Take the extra 5 minutes and prevent a potential catastrophe!

[spinned]

I have done this.  If you have an S2R1000 you can take the top triple off easily without messing with the bearing, or you can put a floor jack under the engine and lif the front of the bike off the ground.  Having done both ways... taking the top triple off is easier.  Just loosen the three pinch bolts, take the weight off the front tire and pull the triple off.  If you wiggle the tire back and forth a little it should come right off.

[rgramjet]

FYI, to be correct, you should have send "attached to a joist", not "the rafters."

jD

I think the best way is a front stand that lifts from the bottom triple.  An alternative method is to hang your bike from straps attached to the rafters.

FYI, to be correct, you should have said "said" instead of "send".   

[scooby]

Here are two ways I have recently used for both front and rear suspension work...

[Monstermash]

I think the best way is a front stand that lifts from the bottom triple.  An alternative method is to hang your bike from straps attached to the rafters.

 I agree. I had to go the hanging it from the rafters route. It worked out pretty well as I did a few simple mods.  r:e)

[dlearl476]

After experiencing a couple of "issues" hanging my other bikes (houses aren't built like they used to be) I bought a 2 ton cherry picker engine hoist from HF on an  internet special for $79.  Comes in handy for all sorts of things.

Steering head and front fork jacks work great, if you DON'T have to take the forks off.  Handy Lifts has a "Two-4-One" special for front and back lifts, and a SH Jack.  I think I got all three for around $149.

[NAKID]

I jacked mine up from the front head, adjacent to the header. Worked well for me.

Just did the Apex install myself. See Apex Install

[dlearl476]

I'm thinking about lowering the top triple to put my apex clip ons on top of it instead of below it.
From what I understand, I need to secure the front end off its suspension.
Whats the best way to do that?

Wait, if I lower the top triple, I'd be raising the front end?

I just re-read your post and if I read it correctly, I don't think what you're proposing is possible.  You can't "lower the top triple" independent of the bottom.  That distance is fixed by the steering stem.  You can only raise or lower the forks IN the triple tree.  fwiw, a change of a few millimeters will RADICALLY affect the handling of the bike.  Monster steering head angle is already pretty steep and if you raised the forks in the trees (lowered the front end) enough to mount clip-ons I think your bike would be nigh on to impossible to ride.  That's why He Man suggested you'd need to lower the rear as well.  I'm thinking the handling/ground clearance issues would preclude it.

[NAKID]

Wait, if I lower the top triple, I'd be raising the front end?

No, he meant that by putting the forks higher in the triple, the front end is lowered by that much. To compensate for that, you need to lower the rear as well or else the front end will be "twitchy". Just meaning that the front end will turn in much faster...

[rgramjet]

I just installed SBK forks on my M900.  I used to have Motowheels clip-ons flush with the top of the non adjustable forks.  MW clip ons are about 5/8" thick  Now Ive got Ferracci clipons, which are about 1-1/4" thick, mounted flush with the top of the SBK forks, triple underneath. 

Not sure if its the 180 rear tire I just had mounted, or the SBK forks or the new steering angle, but the thing handles better than I thought a Monster could.  Rear shock is next on the list and Im expecting greatness.  Had major "twitchiness" before, now its gone.  Bike feels very stable and planted in turns.

[Kovner]

Well, yeah, one of the reasons I wanted to put the clip-ons above the triple is to raise the forks and make it more twitchy, but yeah I've read a 10mm change makes a significant difference in handling, so raising the forks that much would be too much, huh?
I thought a lot of people put their clip-ons above their top triple.
Also, is there some way to know how much I'd have to lower the back to compensate for a specific lowering of the front?