Just to be difficult, I have another question I was talking to a local guy the other day who has had his forks modded although he did not take anything off the original factory spacers but just added the extra 2" spacers. He tells me that is what I should do as it preloads the forks and prevents striking the sump on the deck if a wheelie lands too hard. He also mentioned that it is a bit of a mission geting the spacers in due the compression required to fit the additional spacers.
Is there any opinions/experiences on this?
I can see where he did have a hard time getting the springs back in if he didn't cut down the factory spacer.
Adding the lowering spacer does lower the valves assembly into the cartridge. No amount of preload can change that as it is set by the lowering spacer.
By not cutting the factory spacer, you are adding TOO much preload to the factory spring which will cause it to bind and ride REALLY stiff. You might as well tighten down a lowering strap, it's the same thing.
By cutting down the factory spacer, you give the front end back it's suspension. Allowing you to tune it in for your riding style.
Here's a rough illustration I made showing the spring binding.