Fork questions..

I’m wanting to lift the front on my R18, I’m dragging the pegs everywhere …and before someone says ‘it’s dangerous, you’ll ruin the handling’ 1. It’s a cruiser and the handling is what it is 2. I’ve done it to a bunch of bikes in the past and it makes very little difference to the handling 3. I’m talking 1-2” extension, it really doesn’t affect handling much.

So.. has anyone dig into the front suspension? How standard are the tubes? What diameter are they? (Tubes are preferable but it could be slugs are an easier option).
 
I’m wanting to lift the front on my R18, I’m dragging the pegs everywhere …and before someone says ‘it’s dangerous, you’ll ruin the handling’ 1. It’s a cruiser and the handling is what it is 2. I’ve done it to a bunch of bikes in the past and it makes very little difference to the handling 3. I’m talking 1-2” extension, it really doesn’t affect handling much.

So.. has anyone dig into the front suspension? How standard are the tubes? What diameter are they? (Tubes are preferable but it could be slugs are an easier option).
Have you adjusted your rear suspension?
 
I think the main question there is have you adjusted the preload?
The R18s are known to have shipped without the preloads adjusted at all, which is what caused a lot of reviewers to scrape their pegs.
When I bought mine, we made sure to have the dealer adjust the preload before we took it out on the demo ride.

Not really much to adjust there aside from preload, but not really the issue I’m chasing!
 
I’m sure with enough money and skill anything is possible but this bike is never going to corner terribly well, and by that I just mean the peg scraping. I think the handling is excellent for what it is, a big very low heavy cruiser. I haven’t yet scraped my pegs and yes I do slow down a lot more for very slow tight turns but that’s ok, it’s no biggie.

Those pistons and expensive fishtails will be mm off the deck at full lean and I bet those press bikes given out to journo’s a couple of years ago were returned in a bit of a state. I read the forks are 49 mm BTW. If you were a friend I would say save your money and no doubt a load of aggro, try to enjoy it as it is or accept you bought the wrong bike. If you start messing you could balls it up and no one will want to buy it, there’s plenty of untouched minters around. Good luck anyway whatever you decide.
 
I know what you’re saying, but.. my last two harleys, a softail and a dyna were both lifted 1-2” front, lowered 1” rear, works great, doesn’t affect handling to any great degree, plus I like the way it looks, to me the r18 visually would look great with just a little more space under the front.

What it does do is give you a lot more ground clearance, I was pretty used to belting my wideglide around bloody hard, biggest problem was the potential for riding off the edge of the tyres.

These bikes aren’t rare, they’re designed to be customised anyway, nothing I’m doing to it so far is irreversible, mass production product!
 
From work with other bikes, you'd need longer fork tubes. I bet if you disassemble and measure them up you will find a product for one of the other brands that matches. A fork tube is a fork tube, just need the diameter and length right.
 
From work with other bikes, you'd need longer fork tubes. I bet if you disassemble and measure them up you will find a product for one of the other brands that matches. A fork tube is a fork tube, just need the diameter and length right.
I agree, you may have to disassemble and measure ... it's easy to find any length you want for a wide-glide (got a 14" over in my Pan-Shovel), but for these you may have a harder time ... not too much of that type of aftermarket stuff out ... yet.
... oh and I just looked .. they are quite a bit more complex than a Harley fork ..
Screen Shot 2022-10-10 at 6.08.55 PM.png
If you know a good machinist, or if you are one yourself ... a 1" slug on the top end might be the easiest, to get what you want.
IMO
 
Can't you loosen up the triple tree clamps and drop/lower the fork tubes down a bit and then tighten up?

I noticed that my Model B fork tubes extend an 1"+ above the upper triple tree clamp.
 
I know what you’re saying, but.. my last two harleys, a softail and a dyna were both lifted 1-2” front, lowered 1” rear, works great, doesn’t affect handling to any great degree, plus I like the way it looks, to me the r18 visually would look great with just a little more space under the front.

What it does do is give you a lot more ground clearance, I was pretty used to belting my wideglide around bloody hard, biggest problem was the potential for riding off the edge of the tyres.

These bikes aren’t rare, they’re designed to be customised anyway, nothing I’m doing to it so far is irreversible, mass production product!
raising the front and lowering rear lengthens trail.fine for straight lines but bad for tight curves.
 
If your other bikes had forward controls, I completely understand how raising the front would help from scrapping pegs. But, on the r18 the front is not the issue it's the rear. With the position of the pegs and how low the rear is, raising the rear will give you the clearance you are looking for to keep from scrapping. This can be done with a new shock with longer spring or the hornig tail rise kit. https://www.motorcycleparts-hornig.com/BMW-R-18/Alu-High-grade-Steel/High-up-Kit.html.
 
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