Hub,

I just installed some rear lowering links and am setting them at their lowest setting. I'd also like to loosen up the triple tree and slide the shock tubes up 3/4" to realign the ride (distance suggested by Brocks). My question is two fold:

1. Is the height adjustment as simple as loosening up the heli bar bolts, single upper tree bolt, two lower tree bolts on either side, putting a jack under the bike, and slowly lowering the bike until the tubes have been raised by 3/4"??

2. The bike had Heli bars on the bike when I bought it, and I like them. While I haven't looked at them in detail yet, it looks like the bolts run through the grip assembly, and thru the 3/4" heli spacer into the upper tree. If this is the case, and I raise the tubes up 3/4", then I will create a gap and loose the stable mounting point for the grips. My question is, could I simply get another set of 3/4" heli spacers and longer bolts to address this issue?

Your thoughts?

Thanks,

Good Info Hub - much appreciated.

I called Helibars, and they said the grips and spacers won't move, just slide the fork tube up. The grips attach to the helibar spacers, which lay on the upper crown - so this explains why raising the fork tubes won't create a gap, because the upper crown won't move at all.

I'd like to ask a little more about raising the forks, and doing it one tube at a time. The bike is on a cycle lift, front tire side clamped in place, and also on a rear jack stand (rear tire is currently off). My plan was to use a jack under the front/oil pan to support the bike, loosen up both forks (since the bike is basically locked in place), and use the jack to slowly lower the bike to a pre-marked position on the forks. Honestly I didn't account for the fact the one fork may be tighter than the other, I just assumed that I would loosen up the crowns enough that they would both slide evenly. I could do this because the bike would still be supported even if both forks were loose. With this understanding, are you still saying I should only do one fork at a time?

Hub - cool. One last questions, as I've never doen anything like this before. Because i was goign to be able to prop the bike up on the stands, my plan was to slide both tubes at the same time - with the front wheel in tact, and use the weight of the bike as I lower the jack to drive the forks through the crown - bad plan? I thought that by doing both forks at the same time with the front wheel on, it would help keep the spacing even on both tubes?

Should I still take off the front tire and do each tube seperately?

Thanks again!

Alright, now I'm at a slight loss......

The bike sits too low to the lift to get a jack under the bike, so I went and loosened the single upper bolts on both forks, and one of the two bolts on the lower crowns, and figured I'd slowly loosen up the second lower crown bolt and use that to control the slide of the bike down the forks - using the weight of the bike to help the forks slide through the crowns.

Well - I loosened all bolts, WD40'ed everything, and the bike didn't budge. I did not take off the helibars, but that is my next step. According to Helibar, I should need to take them off, but I'm out of ideas at this point, I woudl have thought for sure that the forks would have slid with the weight of the bike.

Help?!?!?

Hub - let me start by saying that I really appreciate all the help you're giving me. I think the light is coming on, but need to confirm a couple of things to make I understand what you're saying.

I will take off the grip and helibar just to make sure they are not an issue, but helibar says that as the fork slides up, it should simply come up through the hole in the crown and not be affected by the grip or helibar spacer.

Sounds like the trick is to stand the bike upright, compressing the fork in question, then twisting the fork, using it's need to extend back as the way to raise up the fork. I loosened up all three upper and lower pinch bolts per side, but didn't twist the fork tube - I thought the weight of the bike alone would be enough to start the fork sliding through the crown.

How hard is it to twist the fork tube and break things loose? Any tricks of the trade for this, or simply get a grip and man up? Would a strap wrench help?

I won't be able to get to the bike until this weekend, but will be sure to report back on my success or failure - thanks again Hub!!

Ummmmm.....how hard is it to twist one of the tubes in the crown? I WD-40'ed the heck out if this thing, and no amount of twisting or strap wrenching could twist the tube?

Do I need to man up more (not sure how), or am I missing something?

Hub-

Is there a specialty tool which will spread the opening on the crowns where the pinch bolts are, helping to break loose the fork tubes from the crown?

Thanks in advance......