Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

What are people's thoughts on putting spacers on the sub-frame and spacing the seat latches to raise the seat on an '02 ZX9? The new tracky has the rear-sets set as low and far back as they will go and is still a little cramped for my fat old worn out legs, so I was thinking I need to either make up custom brackets for the rear sets which may cause clearance issues or raise the seat 10 to 20mm. I know it might cause issues with my knee fitting under the bump on the tank but has this been done before?

Jesus mate, you're not THAT big!! Just do more track days and get used to it. You'll prolly find that by raising the seat, it makes you sit too high and compromises steering leverage. I'd be sucking it up for a few more track days before raising it up!! I know that when I get back on my ZX6F1 racer, which has high and rearset pegs and a very cramped riding possy, it takes me a couple of sessions to get comfortable again. The first 20 laps feel like i'm on a torture rack....but after I've taken a couple of cans of HTFU, it settles and proves to be a much more controlling position to be in!

Does the tracky have rear ride height adjustment??

that won't change the seat-pegs distance pinchy

I've been thinking about this during the day and I really don't think it's a great idea to try to raise the seat - I think to do it properly you'd need to raise both the front and rear mounts, which would mean spacing up the subframe rails so they continue to support the seat correctly. Ideally you should also space up the tank by the same amount so that the seat still sits correctly against the tank (although this is probably a bit of an overkill). I think after you raised the rear seat mount you'd also need to raise the ducktail to make it fit back on too.

If you really can't fit on it, perhaps consider using stock rearsets with fold-up pegs - you'll compromise ground clearance but at least the fold-up pegs are less likely to dig in when you deck them.

All in all though, I'm with Marty - HTFU and just ride it

if you need some plates made up i can help u out

Marty, it's not so much my size but more the knees just physically struggle to bend enough to fit. The left isn't so bad once I get it on the peg but the right one is the one that was recently operated on for the third time and just doesn't flex far enough. The articular surface is chewed out too much and they only bend so far before they lock so it's not really a matter of just getting used to it if it's going to cripple me in the process.

I will leave it for this Saturday and punish myself again to see if I can just get used to it but I was looking at different options and what people thought of them just in case the necessity came about.

i am probably going to put stock pegs back on the micro barge due to this issue. They are too high and cant allow me to comfortably get into corners properly. I will ba faster with stockers no doubt..

kawasaki250 wrote:if you need some plates made up i can help u out

Might be one option I look at doing Tim. Thanks mate.

hoffy wrote:i am probably going to put stock pegs back on the micro barge due to this issue. They are too high and cant allow me to comfortably get into corners properly. I will ba faster with stockers no doubt..

see you tomorrow

Nelso wrote:What are people's thoughts on putting spacers on the sub-frame and spacing the seat latches to raise the seat on an '02 ZX9? The new tracky has the rear-sets set as low and far back as they will go and is still a little cramped for my fat old worn out legs, so I was thinking I need to either make up custom brackets for the rear sets which may cause clearance issues or raise the seat 10 to 20mm. I know it might cause issues with my knee fitting under the bump on the tank but has this been done before?

you know you can raise the height of your seat by havin the padding raised ?? its just a thourt

there ya go nelso

We actually discussed having the seat redone yesterday at the track. After sitting on Cath's six and noticing the difference in how hard the cushioning is compared to mine I was wondering how much more I could get out of a harder foam and maybe even set a little thicker. I sat on Phil's Rex today and didn't mind it so I might have to wonder up and have a chat about what my options are with these seats some time after the GP trip.

I will definitely be raising the seat height 10mm regardless as I need to get a bit more room and I think I will get away with that much without it being noticeable.

easy done nelso i will help you sort it all out and get you comfortable on your bike mate.yeah phl seemed happy with the work on the seat and it looks dam good

I had a play with it today and spaced the seat up 20mm. It feels quite comfortable now and doesn't look that bad. It was getting dark by the time I finished as I also had a few things I fixed up on the tail section so I didn't get any pics but I will take some tomorrow and put them up.