Best budget suspension upgrades ?

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

How much do you weigh?

Gawd knows - I dont possess a pair of scales , but I would say somewhere around 13 stone + / - a few pounds !

Thanks Markc .. I did a quick search but didn't find anything - might have been the swiss google at work though ...

[yorkie_chris]

0.85 or 0.9 depending what you're doing with rear.

If you're putting a decent, long shock in then go 0.9. If stock, hagon or some short OE one then 85.

Thanks for your help, Chris - appreciate it !

Victor, Hagon spring/shock and their fork springs,the combination worked for me and transformed the K5 naked I have,prior to the upgrade,it was the worst suspended bike I ever rode.

Hagon are usually progressive and as Chris says linear are better

90-95 VFR 750 forks have 35 coil progressive springs and cartridge dampers as well as thicker fork tubing. They are sprung and damped for a plush but 100# heavier motorcycle. With 7wt(stk)fork oil 10mm off the fork spacers they pass the "Bostrom bounce test" with the stock rear shock on my '99SV.
What made the installation easy and cheap (paid $ 35 for forks on ebay with stuck fork caps)is that I used the SV forks, sliders, wheel, brakes, fender,(etc) with the VFR tubes,dampers and springs. It handles great, much more supple and stable going over rough stuff while banked over ! The ride is 2nd to none.
Lewis Kennedy

OK -- After taking advice on here (thank you all), my ZX10 R (05) rear shock arrived from fleabay last week, and looks in great nick .. K-tech springs arrived today (great service !) so I guess this weekend the bike is going back into the 'workshop' ( my kitchen ..) for some upgrades ... !!

Adjustable suspension is something new to me -- any recomendations for 'base' settings for the shock, preload / compression / rebound ? I'm thinking about 15 mm of thread on the shock body, and mid-setting on the compression and rebound screws ... ? All suggestions welcome Oh -- and will the stock SV bottom shock bolt fit , or do I need to source a longer Kawa bolt ?
Thanks in advance !

Think you made a good choice, certainly the most cost effective solutions. I got a bolt from Pro Bolt to deal with the shock swap. The stock bolt screws into the stock shock where as the ZX shock requires a longer bolt and nut. Just a word of wisdom, always make sure there are no odd gaps anyway after swapping the shock etc out, use washers as spacers otherwise you may snap bits when you get the bolts tightend up properly. I broke the linkage mount on the frame on mine! School boy error but worth a mention!

Good work! I got my 06 zx10 shock in about 10 days ago and the difference is amazing. With regards to base settings I'm not sure how much you weigh (You may have already stated) but I used this as my guide. The guy doing the how-to is almost the same weight as me so I used the same settings.
http://www.svrider.com/forum/showthread.php?t=80387

Also, one thing that I could not find on any forum or video is the order to take the bolts out in.
First one is top of dog bone, second is bottom of shock, third is top of shock. When you undo the nut for the top of the dogbone the bolt is going to be under load from the wheel. Best to have a friend help you gently lift the rear wheel and wiggle the bolt out. Seriously though....an extra pair of hands will help a lot
Have fun.

[Red Herring]

That's a good write up on svrider, but don't be to led by other peoples settings. Use his base settings before you fit the shock but then set the preload by looking at the static sag and adjust accordingly to give you a rough starting point. Remember dialing in more preload doesn't "stiffen" the rear suspension, it just means there has to be more initial force before it starts to work!
What you do at the front will have an impact on how you set up the rear. In an ideal situation you will want the damping front and rear to work in harmony so the bike stays as level/smooth as possible. Start with it as soft as you can so that you don't mask how the springs are working, and then control the movement with the damping settings. Don't just take my advice though, there are loads of opinions on the web about the dark art of suspension set up, but at least after you've done the changes you have the choice to do something! Good luck.