Howard, let me play with the suspension of your "Big Burgman" and I bet it does better off road. 
When I rode up some of the high gravel passes in Colorado in 2006 I pushed my fork tubes down into the triple tree clamps giving the front a 3/4 inch lift. I also added shock extending blocks to the rear shocks that raised the back end up 1 3/4 inch. The combo raised the bike about 1 full inch.
Doing this on the road took less than 5 full minutes each time and when I hit paved roads i could drop it back down.
I now have a set of forks with Suzuki SV650 fork oil dampening rods that give the front 1 more inch of travel, so over all, dropping the fork tubes down in the triple tree will raise the front about 2 inches.
When I rode up some of the high gravel passes in Colorado in 2006 I pushed my fork tubes down into the triple tree clamps giving the front a 3/4 inch lift. I also added shock extending blocks to the rear shocks that raised the back end up 1 3/4 inch. The combo raised the bike about 1 full inch.
Doing this on the road took less than 5 full minutes each time and when I hit paved roads i could drop it back down.
I now have a set of forks with Suzuki SV650 fork oil dampening rods that give the front 1 more inch of travel, so over all, dropping the fork tubes down in the triple tree will raise the front about 2 inches.
