Hey, I picked up my new Falco last weekend and done quite a few miles already. Loving it, alot of fun - thirsty but fun…:D. Possibly saw a few of you around Finchingfield on Saturday about 12-1pm. I may come to BMM tonight…
I want to make a few changes to it and need some advice about handling in general and making it more manageable around town. I wouldn’t mind it being a bit lower, maybe 20-25mm. I’m not a full on kneeslider (though of course I like the twisties) and I’m only 5’10" and would like to be able to park/shuffle easier - this is London afterall.
So my questions are:
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If I lower the bike, besides reducing the max lean, what will this generally do to the handling?
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As part of lowering it and making it more manageable in town, i was thinking about moving the bars above the yoke along with juggling spacers. What effect would this have on handling (assuming no clash with the fairing)? I don’t mind the bars where they are so this is less of a priority but sometimes it would be nice, specially if I know I’m not going to make it properly out of town for a few weeks/months (such as mid winter).
Any tips gratefully appreciated - pm or whatever, or if anyone knows someone I could talk to that would be great too. And here’s a pic of her:
To start with I’d think about altering your seat and taking some foam out to lower yourself on the bike. If you’re 5’10" I’m surprised you have these problems.
If you’re going to lower the ride height of the bike by adjusting the preloads this will alter the handling of the bike. Reducing the preload on the front will make the bike steer more quickly but reducing the preload on the rear will slow the steering a wee bit.
If you go too far with these adjustments other problems can occur. Lower the bike too much and it will ground out. Lower the rear too much and it may run wide on exits. Lower the front too much and it can oversteer or become unstable.
Changing your bars should not be a problem as long as they can turn freely without hitting anything. This would move your weight more to the rear of the bike so I would suggest lowering the front end a little to compensate, which helps your initial problem.
Disregard previous post - I took it for a long solo ride to Cornwall on Saturday/Sunday via the coastal A39 to get to know it better. It’s great as it is, just took some adjusting as it’s a big change from what I had. Unfortunately I destroyed my rear tyre on the dual carriageways and motorways coming home the fast way…
I’m riding to Milan and back via Switzerland in a fortnight with a mate. So now I need some good touring tyres.
BT021’s seem ok as touring/sport tyres dual compound and got them on my 'bird which is a heavy old beast so a light bike like yours should get even more mileage from them 
I’ve got BT021’s on my CBR600 and just had 9k mostly commuting miles out of the front with some meat left on the rear.
Never given me any worries in wet or dry, warm or cold, and coped with a track day at Brands and the A272 very well.
It has conti sport attacks on it right now, they seem to have a rep as being pretty soft. Can’t say that they give me too much confidence either so the contrast to new sport-tourer tyres will be good. A few people have recommended the bridgestones over diablo stradas or the michelins, so I ordered them, they go on on Monday with a week to scrub them in before the milan trip. I never buy the same tyre twice it seems…
Oh yeah, does anyone wants to join in to milan and back from the 5th to the 10th/11th?
