New R6 Owner & Some Questions

[Patrick78]

Hello All.
I just purchased a 2004 R6 last night and had the adventure of driving it home this afternoon from the previous owner's house. It was a great ride. I'm not new at riding, this is now my 4th bike and just recently down sized from a 2001 TL1000R. The weight and nimble movement of the R6 compared to that is shocking to say the least. But I have a couple questions about some things I noticed on my bike and wanted to see if you guys/gals could provide some advice.
Just from the look of the rear sprocket I want to say that it looks fairly large. I pulled an imprinted number off of it that was 134-48 but coudlnt' find any info doing a search online. So does that mean anything to anyone. I also took not that while on the highway holding a steady 7K rpm that I'm at 80 mph. Does that sound right for stock or is that high?
The next question is about the headlights. I noticed today after getting it home I was standing it front of it from what I see it looks like out of the 4 lights in the head light the two on the right side were on and none were on on the left side. and when you put the high beam switch on, the light that was farthest left came on. I don't know anything about this bike so I'm not sure what's supposed to be on all the time and which ones when the high beams are on.
And lastly my question deals with lowering the bike. I took a piece of what looks like an adjustable bar underneath the bike and where the forks are sitting in comparison to the triple so you could let me know what your thoughts were on that. So take a look at the picks and let me know what you think about them and the rest of my questions.
Thanks for the help.

[natedogg624]

the -48 is how many teeth there are, and 48 is the stock size for your bike.

as for the 7k = 80mph, sounds about right.

that bike is definitely lowered. that is a lowering link on the rear, and the front forks should be flush, although some like it a few mm lower for a little easier flick but NOT a few inches.

and that preload looks to be a little soft...

what are your plans for the bike, cruising around town or plan to hit a few trackdays?

[hullbrose]

you need to set the forks back to normal your going to hit the bottom tripple when the forks compress and thats bad. i lowered mine in the front about a 1/4 inch and no more my forks come right up to the clamp. as for you lights thats normal same with the rpms and the sproket size. the chain and sprokets are more or less overkill for the bike a 530 chain on a 600 is BIG but lasts a long time. i still got the stockers on mine with 16k on it and still looks great. speeking of your chain it it has a little kink in it, thats not a very good sign. need to loob it see if it smooths out if it dont think about a new chain.

[Patrick78]

Thanks for the responses guys. To answer some of your questions:
My plans for the bike are just basically cruising. I'll ride to and front work at times which is a 15 miles one way right, half street, half highway. Not doing track days and I'm not a wheelier or knee dragger. I do have to say that however this bike is set up, it felt really smooth on the 35 minute ride home yesterday. My last bike was alot softer in the suspention and would bounce alot when on road conditions other then smooth. I didn't have any issues while on this bike.
Judging from what you see of the lowering link in the back, how much lower do you think that setting makes the rear of the bike? do you think the front should be raised up a little to match the rear height? The ride felt comfortable, but the pressure on my wrists tells me that the front end might be tipped a little too low.
As far the chain, thanks for catching that in the picture. I will lube it up and see if I can loosen up that link and any others that might be frozen like that.
And thanks for the confirm of the head lights. Is there any way to mod the lights so that you can have both lights on while on low beam and both on while on high beam as well? I'm guessing that the bulb on the left is dual filliment and the one on the right is high beam only. Is it as simple as stilling a dual into the right side, or do you need to cut off and splice in a light socket that matches the left side and get a bulb to match? I like the look of both lights on at the same time.
Thanks again for the responses.

[HorsePower]

Hey Pat, what's up?
As far as the linkage arm for the rear suspension, that type that you have is consistent (in terms of the holes) with the diamond powersports lowering link I put on my wife's '03. I needed to lower it for her. One setting was to lower it an inch and the other was to lower it either two inches or three. I only went one inch and lowered the fork tubes to nearly an inch to account. Now, I'm not God's gift to motorcycles, but I have been road racing and sport riding long enough to know that lowering these things anymore is not the way to go. OK, if you're going slow in the corners and posing that's fine but in terms of performance I gotta say no. Looking at your link, it looks like you have bearings in the rear, open hole. (Damn, that sounded a little funky)The diamond powersports link does not have bearings so you probably have a different brand. But overall, it looks like you are at the one inch setting. The tubes though look way low. Yeah, raise 'em and see what happens. If you sit on the bike and look at the clip-ons, there are capped bolts on the insides next to the tubes. You probably want the top caps one inch up from that part of the clamps where the bolt caps are.
As far as the lights go, I'm not sure about the wiring or bulbs. May be more trouble than its worth. Let us know, man!


Once you go track, you don't go back!!!!