OK, so I'm rebuilding my shock...

[t3mp0r4ry nzr]

after testing the bladder I am happy that it will hold pressure.

have just repainted the spring and polished up the swingarm. She will look beautiful again!

My reckoning is that I should be able to do as good a job of the rebuild as the average bike shop. Sure the quality is gonna be less than the standard of discerning suspention professionals (and Im sure I rank high on the cringe factor for them) but I reckon the money I save by doing the labour is worth 4-5 trail ride entry fees. That is a reasonable saving for a student with an expensive sport. As for safety, the shock had half the oil it should have, no gas, no bump stop and heaps of air in the system. Surely a shock rebuilt by myself with sufficient oil quantity, new seals, new bumpstop and a fresh charge of nitro (with an unavoidable minute quanity of trapped air) is gonna be 10 times more "safe" than how it was.

[t3mp0r4ry nzr]

For those interested, I have finished the shock. End cost, $80 in total, for genuine honda part seal head and bump stop and good quality Rock Oil 5w shock oil (all at retail). But note, this isnt counting a nitrogen recharge (still shopping around, thought $20 was a bit steep).

Im not thumbing my nose, but it was REALLY straight forward. The most time consuming and frustrating bit was compressing the spring to get it off and back on, honestly. As for special tools, the spring compressors were used but other than that I got away with not using a vise and I dont even have a work bench!

It took about an hour to swap over seal heads, insert bump stop, reassemble, fill with oil and bleed And I didnt know a thing about shocks before I took it apart.

Savings? between $150-200. learnt heaps and the satisfaction of knowing a job well done, priceless!! the savings will go towards repairing me dented expansion chamber

thanks all for the advice

over and out

[NordieBoy]

The learning and satisfaction bit are great arn't they

[2_SL0]

Excellent news dude.