ZX10R shock conversion, recommended

Well, I’ve just done a ZX10R conversion on my bike and what a difference!, highly recommended, the bike has never handled this well.

Put a 2006 ZX10R shock in the rear, Ohlins springs up front and 15W oil.

Parts and Costs:

ZX10R shock - £65 ebay
Ohlins 10% stiffer springs – online store, £75
GSXR1000 Shock bolt and mount £5 incl postage, part No’s:

Bolt - 10x55 part # 09103-10143
nut - part # 08319-31107

It’s now transformed the handling to a real point a squirt bike, fantastic to ride but obviously, I feel the bumps now with the suspension being a lot stiffer.

Some tips for doing this on your own:

1) If you use an abba stand (I did), undo the shock mounting and linkage bolts before you put it on the stand.
Don’t undo them and remove of course, just break the seal as they are stuck on like a good’n.
I almost tipped my bike off the front of the stand trying to get them to start moving it required so much force.

2) Re-use the top shock mount bolt and nut but use the GSXR1000’s to mount the bottom of the shock.
If you insert the Gixer bolt from the right hand side this time, putting the nut on the left (if facing the bike from the rear) it fits without rubbing against the dog bones, basically the reverse of how it is mounted at the top.
No need to shave bolt heads etc, got my parts from Fowlers in Bristol over the phone, nice and easy.

3) Don’t do it on a 35 degree hot day, you will pour with sweat and lose your temper quicker as it’s a bit fiddly getting the ZX10R shock in to place.

4) Get some long cable ties – when you insert the shock you need to hold the swingarm up fully to allow the shock to be inserted from the bottom, it’s a nightmare trying to hold this up and insert the shock on your own.
I ended up cable tying my swingarm fully up so I could concentrate on getting the shock into place.

5) Buy some high temperature grease, I bought some spray on stuff from Halfords, grease everything when you put it back together, also get some thread lock, again Halfords do it.

6) Make sure you really tighten up your battery connections, my positive one worked loose after I had removed the battery and the bike went mad, dials went crazy, warning lights flashed and it started to run like a dog whilst riding it.

7) Then set your shock up for Sag, as I'm heavy my shock is pretty much wound up all the way on preload to get the 30-32mm active sag that is recommended.

Go out on it and enjoy throwing it into corner and roundabouts with supreme damping and little movement, fantastic.

Cool I have just fitted a 03 ZX636 shock to my curvy. Interesting what you say about the bolt, I fitted mine the original way round and indeed found the nut end to close for comfort. After a tip from here, I just spaced it out with some 12mm washers. Looks ok now.

As for the swingarm, I just used my knee

ref point 7. How much static sag have you got?

red5 & Blue, how much of the battery holder did you have to cut away? I fancy doing this mod but dont really want to hack bits off the bike. Has anyone got any pics so I can see what it looks like after its cut away?

Thanks

excellent write-up - many thanks

I have an '06 zx10r shock coming in the post from ebay any day. i wasn't looking forward to fitting it - ssomeone else said they were rather a pain & didn't fit very well

how much of the battery box did you have to get rid of?

~andy

Originally Posted by andyb

red5 & Blue, how much of the battery holder did you have to cut away? I fancy doing this mod but dont really want to hack bits off the bike. Has anyone got any pics so I can see what it looks like after its cut away?

Thanks

I’ll try and get around to taking a pic, but the hole for the reservoir needs to be slightly larger than a playing card and comes out the top left of the vertical wall of the battery tray (if you were sitting on the bike). Its not much of a hack.

ah well done, guess that means the 06 shock fits then. i thought it didnt. I have an 05 shock on mine, again a good improvement.

there is a write oup of what to do on the main site that i made, it aint perfect but it aint too bad.

Andy