Lowering my '05 GS500???

[gs500gurl]

Ok, I've been riding my bike for some time now and I'm on the balls of my feet but so far it's been ok. My only real problem is having to reverse the bike like when I need to park the bike which is a daily gripe. Since I'm on the balls of my feet, I really don't have much strength to push it back when I'm parking but I figured that if I lowered it some, then it'll help me position my feet better on the ground and have the strenght to push my bike back when parking...Right now, I am having to get off the bike and stand next to it to pull it back little by little just to reverse it!

Anyway, so I've heard of different ways of lowering a bike:

a) Shave off the foam on the seat - which I've decided that I really didn't want to mess with my seat cuz it'll get uncomfortable.
b) Lowering links
c) Lowering kits

I don't really know what the difference is between the links and the kits. And I also heard that "if the coil on the bike isn't maxed out, then it can be tightened to lower the bike a bit more". I'm not sure exactly what this means or if it's really true...

Any thoughts and ideas and prices on these things anyone???

[Black Snowman]

I made my own lowering links when I had a GS500E and swapped out the rear shock. I just used mild steel 1.25" bar stock from Home Depot, cut them to length, drilled the holes and ground a little where they contacted the swing arm when it was on the center stand. They worked great.

I dropped my GS a couple times learning to back it up. Even with the lowering links the new shock made the rear ride a little higher. I finally figured out to get off the bike, lean it against my hip, and use my lower body to do a lot of the pushing and stabalizing so I wasn't having to yank with my arms. I haven't dropped a bike since.

Looks like I don't have the pictures of the links I made anymore.