New from California, living in Utah

My name is Taylor and I finally got my leg over my own bike this last week! I was 18 when I owned my last bike. Im good friends with CDA JR and CDA and they really got me into riding. My first bike was a '99 YZ 125 and sold it back in 2009, and finally was able to get another bike, and got my own 2015 KTM 350 XC-F. First thing I am doing with the bike (besides slapping on the CTR sticker) is getting this lowered. Im pretty short, standing at 5'5" so I barely touch ground, and generally can only have one boot on the ground, so hopefully I will be able to lower this enough so I can put both feet on the ground, confortably. Starting with a Kouba link, and will work from there. Rode the 350 for the first time (and first time riding in a very long time) this last Friday and I forgot how much I loved it. Cant wait to lower this and take her out again! IMG_3966.JPG IMG_3971.JPG IMG_4021.JPG IMG_4018.JPG IMG_4017.JPG
 
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Yes welcome. I like to look at this as a place for addicts to come to DEAL with the addiction, not actually do anything like tapering off. Here you can find out what works so you dont waste your precious time and money on things that don't satisfy the cravings (or at least make the voices say positive things).

5'5" and touching with both feet is going to be some more work than the links. If you see what you need to give up in seat and suspension you may decide at just working on the "dab" method a little more.
 
My name is Taylor and I finally got my leg over my own bike this last week! I was 18 when I owned my last bike. Im good friends with CDA JR and CDA and they really got me into riding. My first bike was a '99 YZ 125 and sold it back in 2009, and finally was able to get another bike, and got my own 2015 KTM 350 XC-F. First thing I am doing with the bike (besides slapping on the CTR sticker) is getting this lowered. Im pretty short, standing at 5'5" so I barely touch ground, and generally can only have one boot on the ground, so hopefully I will be able to lower this enough so I can put both feet on the ground, confortably. Starting with a Kouba link, and will work from there. Rode the 350 for the first time (and first time riding in a very long time) this last Friday and I forgot how much I loved it. Cant wait to lower this and take her out again! View attachment 25774 View attachment 25775 View attachment 25776 View attachment 25777 View attachment 25778
sweet ride know get it dirty welcome to this awesome forum
 
Tays, how much did you lower it?
I havent lowered it yet. I did buy the kouba link for it and it says it's supposed to lower it 1.25", but on the new 2015's it loses about 3/8". I havent done it yet, becasue it apparently requires me to file either the swingarm tunnel and/or the spring & bottom spring mount approx. .040" for spring clearance when the swing arm is fully extended. So I am not sure about doing that, so I think I am going to try and set the sag first, see how that works, and ask around about the filing becasue I have no clue how I would do that. The Kouba link site says it will lower it .875"
 
It looks to me like you would be rideable, especially for the desert, but we have made it easier for quite a few by taking some preload out on the back, and raising the fork tubes AFTER testing with the adjustment to the back. Remove the front springs and gently collapse the forks and see how much clearance you have under the fender or do the Floyd trick and use a spacer to simulate 1/4" of clearance. tape it to the tire and then loosed the triple clamp bolts that hold your forks in place. slide the tubes up until you feel the wheel hit and you can see how much you can drop the front without the tire being able to bottom. Most will tell you that bottoming it can lock the wheel if there isn't enough clearance, as you probably heard. Take the height out of the front a little at a time and test your higher speed stability.

From what I am reading if you decide to file anything I would suggest the spring, and the mount, maybe use something to glue them in place so they can't rotate slightly. That high temp silicone works well (better for me as a "glue" than the other silicones).

After you try the cheap and easy, you may be used to it enough by then that it won't be so desireable to lower it any more than that.
 
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