What a difference...

[Biker_Billy]

Well, completed the installation of a gsxr thou shock into my K3 today, and thought I'd go for a ride, was worried that I wouldn't be able to tell the difference, but was I wrong! My old shock must have been well and truly shot, as this one actually had some damping over bumps!

Only thing is I had a bit of a moment on the way back - the roads round here are normally great, but I think the gritter lorries were out in force last night - went to overtake a car, and was crossing the middle bit of the lane in between where the car tyres normally sir, and the rear span up...felt the back end come round (in reality it was probably only about 5mm!, but it gave me a bit of a shock!

Just got me thinking tho, wondering if it was because of the new shocks damping settings, or just slimy roads....

Anyho...very pleased with the results - only problem is, its shown up the need to do the forks now! One fix always leads to another!!

Thanks for all the input from people on here...

Ta,

BB.

[Alpinestarhero]

Brilliant! I want to upgrade my suspension, might be a summer job. Glad it gives a noticable and significant improvment!

Yea, theres salt on the roads. The gritter's have been coming around enfield alot, all the roads are a powdery white. My bike will be dissolved to just its plastic bits by the end of the week

Matt

[Biker_Billy]

Only cost me 30 odd quid from ebay - well worth the money imo...glad I was bored last night and cracked on with it!

[Blue_SV650S]

SV650Racer will tell you that you are wrong - its not meant for the bike it can't possibly work ... you MUST buy an Ohlins if you want to improve your suspension!! :D

... sorry about that, another happy other bike OE shock swap customer ... SV650Racer can't seem to accept its an improvement and it gets my back up at times ... my bad :D ...

Anyway, have you actually checked the current settings and done any sort of 'setup' or just slung it in?!!? ;)

[Biker_Billy]

SV650Racer will tell you that you are wrong - its not meant for the bike it can't possibly work ... you MUST buy an Ohlins if you want to improve your suspension!! :D

... sorry about that, another happy other bike OE shock swap customer ... SV650Racer can't seem to accept its an improvement and it gets my back up at times ... my bad :D ...

Anyway, have you actually checked the current settings and done any sort of 'setup' or just slung it in?!!? ;)

I can see his point - but my thinking is for under 40 quid, surely its got to be worth it - I mean, if a bespoke shock is say 400 quid, I would guess that this is more than 10% better if you catch my drift - I dont expect it to rival a shock designed for my bike, and my weight...

I just slung it in, the rebound and compression are standard - well I presume they are, the little dots are aligned?? - I made a bit of a guess with preload, just so I could get out and try it - I expect that there is some improvement to get yet...

BB.

[sv650k4]

i take it you had 2 cut the battery box etc...aswell 2 fit it?;)

[Biker_Billy]

yes - not as bad as I thought - havent got a dremel, so just used a hacksaw, file and stanley knife to trim - looks pretty good, even if I do say so myself...:p

[Blue_SV650S]

I can see his point - but my thinking is for under 40 quid, surely its got to be worth it - I mean, if a bespoke shock is say 400 quid, I would guess that this is more than 10% better if you catch my drift - I dont expect it to rival a shock designed for my bike, and my weight...

I just slung it in, the rebound and compression are standard - well I presume they are, the little dots are aligned?? - I made a bit of a guess with preload, just so I could get out and try it - I expect that there is some improvement to get yet...

BB.

Her ;)

The point I have always tried to make is that although its not gonna be as good as a race shock, cost benefit analyses it is the best VFM - as it DOES work!!! 8)

Anyway, I find the best way to start of is to get a mate to hold the bike up at the front, then putting your weight on the rear seat, push down as hard as you can, then 'release' the bike. It should return smoothly but sharply, if it reaches the top and then 'pogo's back down, you don't have enough rebound.

Compression I tend to initially set up as a factor of rebound ... i.e. if I have no rebound on, then I'll set with no compression, full compression, full rebound and everything in between. I do this as I want to avoid 'pumpdown', which is where the rebound compared to compression/bumps is such that the suspension will effectively 'ratchet' down.

You then have to get out and ride it and set it for how you like it!! ;)

There are plenty of guides out there, the go-star one (http://www.gostar-racing.com/club/motorcycle_suspension_set-up.htm) is good, but the above is my very basic no-brainer method! :)

[Biker_Billy]

Thanks Blue - oops, yeah sorry, HER! lol.

Thanks for the link to the setup - I'll be giving it a go over the next few weeks and see how it goes.

If I had 400 quid burning a hole in my pocket I would consider a bespoke shock, but I haven't...so I won't...either way, I'm pretty happy!

BB.

[Blue_SV650S]

Thanks Blue - oops, yeah sorry, HER! lol.

Thanks for the link to the setup - I'll be giving it a go over the next few weeks and see how it goes.

If I had 400 quid burning a hole in my pocket I would consider a bespoke shock, but I haven't...so I won't...either way, I'm pretty happy!

BB.

I've done a ZX636 shock conversion on my curvy track bike, it was great. I then splashed out on a Ohlins shock ... how do I put this ... it was a case of 'diminishing returns' after the 636 conversion ;)

The most significant difference was from being able to jack the rear right up with the height adjuster, I'd say that give you more gain than more controlled damping ...

Finally if you pick the correct OE shock, then you will have the right spring for you, so we really are only talking about more precise damping and the ride height ... unless you really are trying to get that last few percent (or really do have ?400 burning a hole (how can that ever be?? :D)), IMHO a race shock simply isn't worth it over a correctly selected and low mileage other bike OE shock ;)

[Biker_Billy]

The spring rate on the 05 thou shock is a little stiffer than the OE shock for the SV I have been told. Seeing as tho I am a northern pie eater, all the help with firming up the back end the better!

I'm sure its not a spot on spring rate for my weight, but hey...for the money, if even I can notice an improvement, its gotta be worth it!!!

BB

[Blue_SV650S]

The spring rate on the 05 thou shock is a little stiffer than the OE shock for the SV I have been told. Seeing as tho I am a northern pie eater, all the help with firming up the back end the better!

I'm sure its not a spot on spring rate for my weight, but hey...for the money, if even I can notice an improvement, its gotta be worth it!!!

BB

Indeed, a highly recommended mod that goes in the right direction 8)

[flymo]

Nice one, its good when a nice cheap change makes a positive difference like this.

As for race shocks, I've done a few conversions over the years in various bikes including CBR6 and FZR400 race bikes and now prepping an SV K3 to race this year. I reckon if you are going to stump up the money for a 'proper' race shock then go for a Maxton rather than off the shelf, unless you can get good setup support from teh manufacturer.

Maxton stuff is expensive, easily as good as Ohlins or HyperPro etc but the difference is that they tailor the shock or fork conversions to suit your specific weight and riding preference. I would recommend them highly.

The K3 I have already had a GSXR1000 K4 shock in it so I'm going to leave it in and see how we go over teh first few races. Just modded the front today with RaceTech emulators and Ohlins springs.

[phil24_7]

Which gixer shock would have the best spring rate for an 11 stone rider?

[Blue_SV650S]

Which gixer shock would have the best spring rate for an 11 stone rider?


You can work it out for yourself ;)

Find the springrate from here (http://www.racetech.com/evalving/menu/searchstreet.asp)and then look up on that shock table (that can be found on many .org threads) to see which one has the correct length and rate 8)

[petevtwin650]

Another interesting conversion by an enthusiastic amateur. And it works. :D

Blimey when we see you guys at the AR08 you'll be just disappearing into the sunset. :riding:8-)

Good Job BB.:thumright:

[Biker_Billy]

Another interesting conversion by an enthusiastic amateur. And it works. :D

Blimey when we see you guys at the AR08 you'll be just disappearing into the sunset. :riding:8-)

Good Job BB.:thumright:

Steady on Pete, wouldn't go that far, the front still dives like an italian footballer in a penalty box! Needs sorting asap - the shock swap has really highlighted that after 20k miles, I think its due for new fork oil and springs...

Mind you, really enjoyed installing it - good to get all the muck off the dogbones and linkages, and grease them up properly...

BB

[Lozzo]

Which gixer shock would have the best spring rate for an 11 stone rider?

GSXR600 K5 shock...just like that one you sold me.

[phil24_7]

Shut up Lozzo, I'm not talking to you!

How much would I need to put on for the K5 thou shock to be a good match?

Cheers for the link Blue.

Pete, even if I had the best suspension in the world and the bike was tuned to with in an inch of it's life, you'd still pee on me from a great height! All those years experience paying dividends you see!

[Biker_Billy]

Shut up Lozzo, I'm not talking to you!

How much would I need to put on for the K5 thou shock to be a good match?

Cheers for the link Blue.

Pete, even if I had the best suspension in the world and the bike was tuned to with in an inch of it's life, you'd still pee on me from a great height! All those years experience paying dividends you see!

Phil - you are in luck here. I have a well used sv650 shock in my garage - it was far too undersprung for a pie eater like me, but I reckon that for a waif like you it would be perfect - call it 200 quid and I'll deliver it too...or I'll take that new front end as part ex?
What do you reckon?:cool: You know its too good an offer to miss!!

[phil24_7]

Billy, don't make me come down to sister shagger land and give you a kick in the stomache!

[Loser]

gotta say it sounds like a worthwhile mod if you pick up the GSXR for v little money. is there much difference in the length of the K5 GSXR600 shock and the standard K5 SV650s shock? is it gonna give it more or less rear ride height?

[rob13]

Billy, could you post a pic up of the mods to the battery box? Could you tell me the process and whether you had to modify anything for it to fit. Really tempted with this and fancy putting one in once ive got the forks sorted

[Biker_Billy]

I'll try to Rob - I'll take the seat of and take a pic in the next few days. Its not as bad as you think, but beware, AFAIK depending on the model of pointy (and type of subframe) you might need to cut more/less than I did - so don't follow it as gospel.
Its just a case of lining the undertray up with the new shock, and trimming off what you don't need. Pretty simple job really.

BB.

[Biker_Billy]

Oh btw, the shock only cost me about 40 quid including postage of ebay...if you look around there are some bargains to be had. Also, it seems there are quite a few new ones being sold by bike shops (people chopping them in for an Ohlins etc), and they come up quite often...

BB.

[Biker_Billy]

Billy, don't make me come down to sister shagger land and give you a kick in the stomache!

I don't know, you try and help people out, and this is the thanks you get:p