WTD: rear shock for 91 gsx600F

[cowboyz]

as per title. wanting a good shock that can support around 250kg for after lunch riding.

[James Deuce]

Any use to you?

Rear shock from 2005 Kawasaki Z750S.

Removed after 6500kms and replaced with an Ohlins. It's not broken, it's just that the Ohlins is better.

4 way Rebound adjustment

7 step Preload adjustment.

360mm eye to eye.

If it's anything like what you're after PM to discuss.

[F5 Dave]

Well the GSX is probably about 220kg with a full tank & a set of real scales, so do you weigh 30kg?

Is the spring too soft, you could just get a stiffer one & use the original shock if it is ok, maybe with a reoil/regas. Ideally you get a shock with damping matched for the spring, but the ideal isn't always worth the extra $ on an old bike.

[cowboyz]

I wasnt counting the weight of the bike. I am 90kg. 2up we are looking at just over 200.

The issue now is that Jim has offered this shock that is 360mm. My current one is on the bike at 300mm. How much of a difference is that? Would it even fit and if it did would I be looking at the ground while riding?

[F5 Dave]

With 60mm extra length the ratio is probably somewhere around 1.7 - 2.5 so I imagine the bike would sit 120mm taller at the rear. Comical at best.

The bike was never intended to carry that sort of weight.(no offence, made for Jap riders maybe?) My RF9 struggled with me & missus at 135 combined, plus say another 15 in leathers. The rear end sagged & it steered like a chopper. I assume the intended market was an Italian waif & his Japanese girlfriend.

A stiffer spring is the only remedy & you would have to get one made, which several spring places will do, can't recommend any in Auckers sorry, but wil be there.

If you are competent to find a manufacturer & take the shock out I can tell you how to remove the spring. Would want to find out how long it would take them to make a new one & they would need to know how much clearance (ie: can they use wider spring wire).

[cowboyz]

i been trying to convince the little woman to let me buy a newer/bigger bike but i not allowed. The rear is really soft and on its hardest setting now. Still needs replacing really. Shop said about $3-400 to recon it. Hoping I can replace it second-hand for very little. One wrecker I rung thinks he might have one out of a 88-89. That should be the same wouldn't it? going to ask some Qs on this other forum

[F5 Dave]

So a 2nd hand one will be pretty much the same, old oil, same too weak a spring for your condition. This will get you nowhere,

If the shock is not dribbling oil then the cheapest way is to get a new spring made for it.

My RF9 was erm, 68kg per cm travel (often depicted per mm, so would be a 6.8kg spring) & I ended up with a spring ~ 80 which was 15% more. That worked well for me, but you will need more.

If you give them the old spring & say make me one 30% stiffer that will probably sort you out. They would need the shock so they make it to fit. It would need at least the same amount of preload that you have on it now as its starting point so you can crank in more for pillion on. ie: the spring would need to be say 1cm longer & not coilbind on full stroke (include the bumprubber).

Sorry Ashhurst ain't Auckland, my applogies. PN should have spring manufacturers.

[cowboyz]

can of worms really. I might just have to give up on 2up riding. Just found out my car failed a warrent because ... wait for it... The shocks are buggered. Go figure.

[Brian d marge]

Is that Ashurst springs in the Uk , Used them many times lead time a touch long a couple of days but turnaround v fast
failing that National springs in Aucklands has been used by a reliable member of this group.

Ican have a have a look over here for a shock,

If you are stuck

Stephen

Ps there is one here for a 02 gsxr 600 for 250 NZ * very good cond*

[cowboyz]

no. its ashhurst manawatu new zealand (how come no one knows where ashhurst is??) It is a bustling metropolisis!


Anyway. I have found 2 options.

option 1. $160 for a 1998 bandit 600 shock that is at the bottom of the south island.

Option 2. Guy in town wants to look at rebuilding the current one for $400.

It is worse than I thought. When you press down on the bike you can hear a noise I cant really describe. It sounds like there is air not oil in the shock. Maybe I should have just not noticed it.

[cowboyz]

i missed your ps. is that $250 landed here?

[erik]

bloody hell, I just typed up a reply and it was all lost when I clicked post reply because I'd logged out! Anyway...

I don't know if there are any GSX forums on the net, but at the banditalley forums (http://banditalley.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/index.php) there's a fair bit of info about replacing bandit shocks with gsxr, haybusa and bandit 1200 shocks. Try doing a search there for "shock replacement" or something similar.
From what I've read, the gsf600 shock is supposed to be fairly soft, they are often replaced with gsf1200 shocks or gsxr or hayabusa shocks.

I've recently been looking for a shock for my bandit 400 so have phoned around heaps of wreckers for old gsxr shocks (the older ones have remote reserviors which are needed for the bandit because the newer ones with the reservoir that is part of the shock don't fit without modifying the bike).
City Motorcycle wreckers have a gsxr 1100 shock for $350, Atomic bike wreckers have a gsxr 1100 shock for $300 iirc, except it has an eye at each end rather than an eye at the top and a U-bracket at the bottom. Action Bike wreckers have a GSF1200 shock which is in near new condition for $300, it doesn't have the remote reservoir and it only has a clicker type preload adjustment, but it's got adjustable rebound damping I think (no reservoir).
GP Motorcycles should have several gsxr 1100 shocks for $250.

You might find a newer gsxr shock with the piggyback type reservoir would fit on the gsx? I don't know which wreckers have those as I was just looking for the remote reservoir type. If they would fit, ebay might be a good place to look.

I don't know if any of the above shocks will fit or if they'll be stiff enough, but thought the info might be useful.

[F5 Dave]

Well as it happens I tested a GSX600 spring & it was pretty grunty std (linkage rates can mean some bikes have stiffer springs than seemingly heavier bikes). Like about 8.8kg. In fact I might have even used it on the RF with an adapter, I'll have it written down. I used a slab sider GSXR750 spring on a mate's GSF1200. The 1200 had the same spring as my RF9.

So a new spring will be the only fix. If it seems like too much work then so be it.