yamaha lowering link WR450F Thumper Talk 2

Hey guys,

I'm 5-9 (well, almost) and ride an 07 450. The bike is great for me EXCEPT when it's tip over time in the tight technical stuff, or even just trying to make a low speed crawling turn. 99% of my get offs are in first gear turning around on a narrow trail.

A more inseam challenged friend of mine recently turned his KTM 450 into a low rider by having the suspension internals modified to accomodate not only his stature (5-6) but his weight (135 soaking wet). I sat on his bike, planted both feet on the ground, and new I finally had to do something about the seat height on my bike.

I had 3 options: cut the seat, have the suspension professionally lowered, or install a lowering link. A couple guys on the forum steered me away from lowering the seat. I've done this for my son's bike and have seen others do it to their 450 and I just felt it would cramp me up in the cockpit and wouldn't achieve the results I was looking for. Didn't want to spend 600 plus to have my entire suspension redone - the suspension capability on the 450 is within my weight range, it was just the height of the bike.

Dan sent me the Yamalink and it was a snap to install. Ten minutes for someone who knows what they are doing, 20 minutes for me. His instructions were very thorough. I reset the sag, adjusted the rear compression and rebound, and raised the front forks a bit also. Took the bike on a two day ride last weekend and would say it is about 80% there. I need to tweak the suspension a bit more to completely dial it in.

Two comments:

1. I LOVE getting my feet on the ground!

2. The customer service from Dan is top notch. He's sent me emails explaining exactly how all this works and because I don't understand the engineering mumbo jumbo (hey, I'm an accountant) he dumbs it down for me. He's also spent a lot of time on the phone as well. AND he always seems available. Wow!

Okay, #3. Before talking to Dan I didn't have a real sound understanding of the dynamics of the suspension and how it all works together, but he's walked me through it so many times now that I think I finally got it...but if not I'm sure he'll explain it again.

Nice job, Dan! Great product and even better customer service!