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shocks from other bikes?


Gavin

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is it worth fitting a shock from a different bike to your bike, rather than buying a new performance shock?

specifically im thinking about my tzr500 project, with its tzr125 2rk frame. the only aftermarket options i have are betor (shite) and hagon, bitubo and Nitron (if they still do one offs) all three of those have fixed ratio damping adjustment and are between £275-350.

scanning egay i can get a fully adjustable r6 shock that i can easily make fit for about 50 quid, 85 quid gets me a rebuild & revalve and 60 quid gets me a new spring.

so i can either have a partly adjustable new shock or a rebuilt fully adjustable one for around 100 quid less.

question is, is it gonna work, and is it worth the effort involved in making it work?

ta...

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Plenty of races have been won on stock rather than aftermarket rear shocks.

Most mx guys use standard rear shocks too. I reckon they are more than up to the job, the only problem is the adjusters dont make such a pronounced change as maybe an ohlins could.

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Didn't it say in the mag last month that most standard shocks cost about £25 to make?

Having said that, if you can get one that can be revalved and respung I reckon you'd have to be riding pretty bloody fast to tell the difference.

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yeah i know.......rarely am i going to be going that fast that i need to question whether its two clicks of compression or three.............but that isnt the main issue.

standard shock is about 75 quid from yamaha, but isnt up to much on the stock bike. the cr500 motor puts a lot of strain on the drivetrain, when the throttle is trailing or closed its tugging on the chain with each compression pulse and causing the rear end to pogo....standard shock cant handle it, something needs to be done. ive got a hagon on my ypvs and its very good, just wondering if i can get something better for less....

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Roland Sands used an R6 shock (from the first year the R6 got high and low speed adjustment) on his No Regrets special. He's a bit handy with bikes, and the spanners...

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I have always done this, I have a 954 shock on my 918 blade and a GSXR shock the NC30, works for me.

Go for it I say.

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well fuck it then, i'll do it! worst that can happen is it dont work and i'll flog the shock back on egay for what i paid. cant say i'll be able to do the same if i buy a new one, who else is gonna want a nitron for a 20 year old 125?

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You can always change the spring if it doesn't work out for you, but I don't think using the TZR shock would would that well anyway would it, power and weight will so so different as will be the likely speed you will be going.

On the 400 grey bike forum if you search someone there has the new R6 shock on their NC35, has a lot of info on mounting sizes etc which may help.

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a very good cheap alternative is the newish r6 shock. used widely on the kr1s and been a big improvement over the knackered 20yr old unit. great value for money if you ask me and good enough to run in a race so should be fine for fast road use. may need a stiffer spring though depending on the linkage/leverage ratio.

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well an 03-05 r6 shock looks like the one, none of the other years will fit due to frame clearance issues with the reservoir. only thing i dont know is the eye to eye length, does anyone know? later ones are 305mm which is a bit long.....

spring rate is very likely going to be an issue, no linkage on this bike, its direct mounted. plus the bike weighs about half the wet weight of an '03 r6!

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seems both the 03-05 and the '06 on are 295mm long, thats an inch longer than my tzr shock but i can either loose that with a shorter spring or modify the frame which wont take much. cant see the need for the hi & lo speed damping on the later shock, plus the 03-05 one looks an easier fit, so im gonna go with that.

not many on ebay UK, loads on ebay US, damn sight cheaper too :eusa_think:

anyone here got one for sale?

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If you've got no linkage you'll find that a shock designed for a linkage system will feel quite soft on the linkage-free bike. but you knew you were going to have to respring it anyway, so it's no biggy, right?

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If you've got no linkage you'll find that a shock designed for a linkage system will feel quite soft on the linkage-free bike. but you knew you were going to have to respring it anyway, so it's no biggy, right?

you know i might just get lucky. tzr500 weighs in at about 98kgs wet, as opposed to an 03 r6 which is probably about 180kgs wet, so the spring will be carrying around half the mass, the rate may not be far off......

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I got a question about this too. The shock of my thundercat is shagged beyond redemption. I don't have the money or inclination to buy a nice aftermarket unit. Furthermore, the Tcat shock spring is for a 73KG rider; I weigh 95KG with gear.

After checking these three links:

http://www.customfighters.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12827 (OEM shock length)

http://www.customfighters.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17488 (suggested spring rate)

http://old.racetech.com/evalving/menu/searchstreet.asp (some more OEM shock info)

I was wondering if I could put in a zx6r 2005-2006 showa shock. Spring rate seems about right, and if I furbish a special bracket, it should fit and not alter ride height.

Now my question is if it is a problem that the spring of the kwak shock is an inch shorter than the spring of my tcat shock? And will the kwak shock damp properly with the t-cat linkage?

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you know i might just get lucky. tzr500 weighs in at about 98kgs wet, as opposed to an 03 r6 which is probably about 180kgs wet, so the spring will be carrying around half the mass, the rate may not be far off......

The best thing is going to be suck it and see, when I looked springs wernt that expensive to buy/or have changed. You can do it yourself in you invest in the tools.

Keep us all updated on progress!

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