Mild to moderate lowering of a 2019 R1250GS Adv.

[pmariana]

Hi all,

returning here after a short absence,

I have been happily riding my stock-height, unmodified 2019 GSA on-road and easier off-road stuff with only the stock seat lowered, I have about a 30-31" inseam and get a bit more than the balls of my feet down on both sides, I'm comfortable with that, it's a taller bike by design,

but after a couple of excellent BMW offroad courses here in BC Canada, finally after 4 years on it, I feel that I would like to have more of my feet down when doing more challenging off-road sections/sequences/trails,

so - to be clear, I haven't modified the bike at all, stock suspension (non-electric) and the front portion of the seat is at it's lower of 2 settings, won't go lower,

can someone outline for me what my next steps are to get down perhaps another 1 to 1.5 inches? I don't need a lot of lowering, but on some offroad sequences I want to get a lot of foot down quickly, and I can't get more than the front half of my feet down, and this is too big a bike for just that much,

can the suspension be lowered at all as it is, with a tool or shop attention (so - ride height, I guess) or is the ONLY lowering option to replace suspension parts, springs for example? and hence spend a lot of cash,

I do note that the seat seems a bit unnecessarily wide between my thighs and I suspect that a narrower seat might allow my thighs to be spread apart less and so allow more foot on the ground, but I don't want to create a seat that's too narrow either,

in any case, looking at the bike setup itself, what options do I have for getting more foot on the ground, aside from a full seat change (and that might be the cheapest option versus suspension)

Is my only option a $2000 - 3000 outlay on suspension lowering? or can the suspension be lowered a little bit itself with tools?

cheers, thanks all, -- I perused the historical discussion on this, I haven't ignored the older discussions,

Peter

BC Canada

 

[tsconver]

Hi all,

returning here after a short absence,

I have been happily riding my stock-height, unmodified 2019 GSA on-road and easier off-road stuff with only the stock seat lowered, I have about a 30-31" inseam and get a bit more than the balls of my feet down on both sides, I'm comfortable with that, it's a taller bike by design,

but after a couple of excellent BMW offroad courses here in BC Canada, finally after 4 years on it, I feel that I would like to have more of my feet down when doing more challenging off-road sections/sequences/trails,

so - to be clear, I haven't modified the bike at all, stock suspension (non-electric) and the front portion of the seat is at it's lower of 2 settings, won't go lower,

can someone outline for me what my next steps are to get down perhaps another 1 to 1.5 inches? I don't need a lot of lowering, but on some offroad sequences I want to get a lot of foot down quickly, and I can't get more than the front half of my feet down, and this is too big a bike for just that much,

can the suspension be lowered at all as it is, with a tool or shop attention (so - ride height, I guess) or is the ONLY lowering option to replace suspension parts, springs for example? and hence spend a lot of cash,

I do note that the seat seems a bit unnecessarily wide between my thighs and I suspect that a narrower seat might allow my thighs to be spread apart less and so allow more foot on the ground, but I don't want to create a seat that's too narrow either,

in any case, looking at the bike setup itself, what options do I have for getting more foot on the ground, aside from a full seat change (and that might be the cheapest option versus suspension)

Is my only option a $2000 - 3000 outlay on suspension lowering? or can the suspension be lowered a little bit itself with tools?

cheers, thanks all, -- I perused the historical discussion on this, I haven't ignored the older discussions,

Peter

BC Canada

If you want to keep the correct sag and geometry then the only way to do it is to replace the front and rear springs and shocks. This also requires a new kickstand and center stand.

If you can get one foot down I am not sure of the problem. Are you sliding your ass off the side as well? If you do that you can easily flat foot one side.

Checkout Jocelyn smow.

 

[etiennelau]

You give up ground clearance which is why you bought the motorcycle for off-roading...IMHO change the seat. I have 30.5" inseam and my 2010 R1200RT with the stock seat meant tippy toes everywhere. I changed the stock seat for Sargent Seat, and that gave me the needed drop to almost flat foot it. Dropping the seat height via lowering suspension is not good as you affect all kinds of issues: side stand, centre stand, sag, suspension travel, ground clearance....

There are also plenty of youtube videos of plenty of short riders that deal with the tall motorcycles.

 

[88bmwjeff]

Checkout Jocelin Snow.

Here's a link to her Youtube videos.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGFT9a51a_ekoeVYO7WnnVg

 

[pmariana]

Mild to moderate lowering of a 2019 R1250 GSA

First, thanks to tsconver, etiennelau and 88bmwjeff for their responses, all helpful with different angles and I will also look into the youtube videos,

the point about not losing suspension travel on the Adv version is well made and taken,

I also want to note that I wrote to Ted Porter (beemershop) and he wrote an absolutely excellent discussion of multiple paragraphs describing the same situation of not losing too much suspension travel for more serious off-road surfaces and the value of a front/rear upgrade in suspension for various reasons, better adjustability for the rear and esp. the front, ability to tailor the ride height, etc.,

the silly thing is that until I read Ted's excellent reply, I hadn't quite put together what I want to achieve (a bit more foot contact for rough terrain) and how that would occur with the single unit coil-over shocks that the GS/GSA use, but now my brain functions better,

what I mean is that I had always dreamed of investing in an Ohlins or other front/rear pair anyway, in part just because they are beautiful (I admit to that frailty), and it's abundantly clear now that of course this will give the same opportunity to make a slight adjustment in height, even if a different stand etc. is needed too, -- probably I won't go quite that far. I don't want too much lowering.

which brings me to ettiennelau's input re: the seat -- while it would cost a Canadian rider around C$4000 for a new front/rear shock setup installed, with possible problems with the stand length etc., I definitely see the value of a seat that puts your c-of-g lower and gives you better ground contact. I don't find the stock/original BMW seat overly comfortable and it also pushes your thighs apart more than I'd like - so I think that the first step that I will make will be to investigate a more appropriate seat (better foam comfort, slightly narrower and definitely a lower seat level) and it's quite possible that this will nail all of my needs. At much less than C$4000 !

Ted noted that the quality of the stock GS Adv shocks, esp. the rear, were not overly high, that it wouldn't stand up very long to serious offroad excursions over and over, and that would be another reason ultimately to invest in a high-end after-market coil-over shock front and rear, better susp oil cooling, reservoirs, etc.,

but I think that I will address the seat approach first, see where that leave me, and go from there,

I think that I've got a good plan going forward now,

so lastly, any especially favourite seat builders?

cheers,

Peter

 

[pglaves]

OK - I'll be the less than perfectly informed contrarian. There are too many variables to be positive about much of this but I will opine anyway.

First there is travel, then there is damping and then there is clearance. The only stuff that I am aware of that requires all of the stock clearance is rock steps or a boulder strewn path. Otherwise, an inch less clearance for the skid plate doesn't mean much.

Total travel for a given bump can be controlled by spring-preload setup and compression damping. Set up correctly an inch less total travel can be setup to prevent banging and bottoming. And of course, rebound damping can be set to account the greater spring preload.

So each rider needs to decide what they need for their riding: steps and boulders vs dirt, gravel, or some loose stuff on the back road to the campground.

So for many riders an inch less travel, with proper setup, can provide the leg reach wished for without actually losing much of anything suspension wise.

 

[pmariana]

Mild to moderate lowering of a 2019 R1250 GSA ongoing . . .

Thank you PGlaves,

given the 1250 GS Adv., is there a means to reduce actual suspension sag height by around an inch? the seat alteration I plan to do for many reasons already,

Peter

 

[tsconver]

So if you have a non ESA you can reduce the preload to give it more sag and lower it. This is not the correct way to lower it and will reduce the effectiveness of the suspension. Set up correctly when you put your weight on the seat it should compress the rear shock about 25% of its full travel length leaving 75% or so for compression and 25% for extension on bumps and such. This is why getting a lowered suspension bike is the right way to do it as you get shocks and springs made for sitting lower not sacrificing ride quality and performance by reducing preload. Again if you lower it the right way you have to get a lowered kickstand and centerstand.

Since the front is not adjustable you will also be impacting rake on the bike and its handling if you just reduce the preload versus matching the front and rear springs and shocks.

 

[Paul_F]

so lastly, any especially favourite seat builders?

cheers,

Peter

If you are attempting to keep costs reasonable, a local seat rebuilder would save on shipping fees. As well for seatbuilder recommendations, knowledge of your location would be helpful. Russell seats are very comfortable but the height tends to be higher than stock, the opposite for your needs.

 

[armycopter]

I have a 2019 GS with the sport suspension. From what I understand the sport suspension is GSA suspension. My inseam is about the same as yours. I just recently bought (not yet installed), front and rear GSA factory low shocks (nearly mint with only 1700 miles on them) along with a center stand and side stand for the factory low version. I plan to install everything this winter. Hoping for same results you are. I have a dedicated dirt bike (CRF300L) for hardcore trails. I have no desire to ride my BMW on hardcore trails, I just want to be more flat footed or a bit more dirt than just a dirt road.