I recently lowered the rear 1" and am wondering if I can simply loosen the front and lower it also to compensate for handling?

yes you can!
having said that take it nice and slow and make sure it all clears when all compressed..
about an inch should be max I think..
good luck man!

Just do 1 fork at a time,otherwise there will be a loud smack o' fairing to fender.

1" should workout just fine. Thanks guys

Originally Posted by TESLACOIL

I cut the fork tube spacers down about an inch...1 cap at a time

same effect and saved me the bother of trying to realign forks perfectly

you can always pop them back in (with a washer so they seat level) and it leaves the bike looking stock

1 1/4 inch max id say ..its wot i did (i lowered the rear just over an inch too)

Will this not make the front end very soft - you have removed pre-load on the springs.

At least if you drop the forks through the yokes - the spring rate remains the same - you just change ride height.

ah the sound of plastic grinding on tarmac as it shatters when going round a corner.
yeah you can lower the front but dont go too low as the above would happen

Originally Posted by ascar

ah the sound of plastic grinding on tarmac as it shatters when going round a corner.
yeah you can lower the front but dont go too low as the above would happen

I have been grinding mine and it has not been lowered. I can only imagine what they would look like if it sat an inch lower.

Originally Posted by shewie

I have been grinding mine and it has not been lowered. I can only imagine what they would look like if it sat an inch lower.

yes, but try imaging not having your feet nice and firm on the ground and trying to hold the bird every single time you stop...

Originally Posted by CBRDEAN0

Will this not make the front end very soft - you have removed pre-load on the springs.

At least if you drop the forks through the yokes - the spring rate remains the same - you just change ride height.

don't cut the spacers. You will lose travel on compression and have >60mm of sag in the front.

You actually SHOULD lower the front as much as you lower the rear - or a little more.

All makes good logic

Until you add in the damping

Then the spring with less pre-load has too much damping because it has less stored energy.

Normal preload on a bike is within about 10mm.
If you need to go outside this 10mm you should change spring.

At the end of the day - if the OP is happy with the suspension except for the ride height - I would still drop the forks through the yokes

Generally, sport motorcycle suspensions are designed to work properly with about 30mm of sag. You way want a little more but never should it be over 40mm let alone 60mm because you want to adjust the ride height.

Look at any book, magazine article, anything about bike suspensions and the first thing you should set is the sag. This is essentially how much the suspension is compressed by the weight on the bike and rider. Sag can be adjusted within limits by the preload. Once you cannot get the proper sag with preload you need to get new springs.

Yes, sag does effect ride height but you adjust the preload/spring to get the proper sag NOT to adjust ride height. You need to adjust the suspension mounting to get the desired ride height. [Actually 1 or 2 mm of sag ok just to fine tune ride height. Split the difference front and rear so you adjust the sag the minimum required]