From the old board
Red01SuziB12S
Hall Monitor
Posts: 4340
(5/5/04 6:46 pm)
Cheap rear shock upgrades for B4
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OK, found some rear shock numbers that might be helpful for you B4 folks.
Gen 1 B12 Shocks are 300MM (11.8") Long with a 64MM (2.5") stroke
Gen 2 B12 Shocks are 320MM (12.6") Long with a 61MM (2.4") stroke
All Hayabusa Shocks are 330MM (13.0") Long with a 72MM (2.8") stroke
The B12 shocks are preload and rebound adjustable, the Hayabusa shock is preload, rebound and compression damping adjustable.
FWIW, the swap from my stock 2G B12 shock to the 'Busa one (a 0.4" taller than stock shock) raised the tail ~1 1/8". Also note that the 'Busa shock has a piggyback reservior, so be sure you have room for it if you decide to go with one of these.
Paul W
WWBOC #684
Camano Is. WA, USA
Edited by: Red01SuziB12S at: 5/6/04 1:16 am
TheKillerB
Registered User
Posts: 46
(5/6/04 1:15 am)
Re: Cheap rear shock upgrades for B4
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Does anyone have the measurements on the B4 shock?
By the way, Paul, my dad just bought a Silver '02 B12 in March. It was a zero miler still in the shipping crate. So now there are two Bandits in our family.
John
Red01SuziB12S
Hall Monitor
Posts: 4343
(5/6/04 2:39 am)
Re: Cheap rear shock upgrades for B4
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That's kewl, John!
Someone ought to have the measurements of the stock shock because someone recently posted on swapping in a B12 shock on their B4 - which is what encourged me to post the numbers.
I do have a 2G B12 rear shock available for sale if one of you USA guys wants it. Would probably be cost prohibitive to ship it out of country though.
Paul W
WWBOC #684
Camano Is. WA, USA
pitter29
400 Forums Crossing Guard
Posts: 253
(5/6/04 6:37 am)
Re: Cheap rear shock upgrades for B4
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That was KrisB4 that said he did the swap this year. Hopefully he has the old one lying around and checks in soon.
Thanks for the info, Paul
Rob
JmuRiz
Registered User
Posts: 41
(5/6/04 9:30 am)
Re: Cheap rear shock upgrades for B4
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When measuring a shock, do you do it from center-hole to centerhole or the entire casing? I have a stock B4 shock at home, I could measure mine, just need to know where to measure from. Thanks. BTW I have an old RF900 shock on mine, it's OK, but not rebuildable like the GSXR rear
Nathan
KrisB4
Registered User
Posts: 60
(5/6/04 11:46 am)
Re: Cheap rear shock upgrades for B4
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Yes, I have 1G B12 shock in mine B4.
I'll verify the length (center-center) of the OEM shock.
But AFAIR it was to 5mm longer that the B12 one I have so it would be 305mm.
Best regards,
Kris
Edited by: KrisB4 at: 5/6/04 11:50 am
Red01SuziB12S
Hall Monitor
Posts: 4349
(5/6/04 1:32 pm)
Re: Cheap rear shock upgrades for B4
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If that's the case, then a 2G B12 shock would be 15mm longer than the stock B4 shock and should lift the tail almost 1".
Paul W
WWBOC #684
Camano Is. WA, USA
KrisB4
Registered User
Posts: 61
(5/6/04 3:30 pm)
Re: Cheap rear shock upgrades for B4
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Yeap,
I checked the OEM, it is 305mm center to center.
My 10 mm shorter dogbones lifted the tail by ca. 40 mm (according to my calculations before and measurements after).
That's not too radical as B4 has soft shock and sits quite low.
But I would recommended stiffening the front forks as they would dive much more in the case.
I have RF600 forks which are preload adjustable and are a bit stiffer the similarly looking B6 forks.
They also have linear springs and smaller 5 mm air gap instead of progressives and 15 mm air gap as B6s do.
So I'd rather use 1G shock in good condition or in case of 2G make some longer dogbones to keep the ride height sensible.
Best regards,
Kris
pitter29
400 Forums Crossing Guard
Posts: 260
(5/6/04 7:26 pm)
Re: Cheap rear shock upgrades for B4
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Paul said:
Quote:
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If that's the case, then a 2G B12 shock would be 15mm longer than the stock B4 shock and should lift the tail almost 1".
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Kris said:
Quote:
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So I'd rather use 1G shock in good condition or in case of 2G make some longer dogbones to keep the ride height sensible.
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Is raising the tail an inch that much or am I missing something?
BTW - this is a great thread. Thanks, guys.
Rob
Red01SuziB12S
Hall Monitor
Posts: 4352
(5/6/04 9:24 pm)
Re: Cheap rear shock upgrades for B4
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It might be if you're short of inseam. The raised tail will quicken handling, so maybe he was happy with what he had...
Paul W
WWBOC #684
Camano Is. WA, USA
KrisB4
Registered User
Posts: 62
(5/7/04 3:40 am)
Re: Cheap rear shock upgrades for B4
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Ok, I should write that in my case it might be too much as I already had lifted the tail by 40mm, or I would need to go back to standard dogbones.
65mm (40mm from dogbones + 25mm from the shock) would be too high - having just those 40 mm more ride height made the centerstand almost unusable as both wheels were on the ground.
Now having slightly less ride height (because of the shorter shock) the rear is just above the ground so you can easily oil the chain or something.
But like I said bear in mind that OEM B4 forks are quite soft so rising the tail will result in more forward weight bias so the forks would dive more and may easier bottom-out.
Without stiffening the front you might loose the balance between front and rear.
Best regards,
Kris
Edited by: KrisB4 at: 5/7/04 3:41 am
pitter29
400 Forums Crossing Guard
Posts: 262
(5/7/04 6:38 am)
Got it!
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Thanks for all the info, fellas.
I see no downside to this - for me anyway. I have noticed how soft the tail feels. I am not inseam-challenged. This will actually give me a little more leg room when riding without sacrificing clearance. I already have upgraded springs up front.
Paul, if you want to sell that shock, let me know how much, pmt method... You can either pm me or email... pitter29*yahoo.com....
Rob
KrisB4
Registered User
Posts: 63
(5/7/04 8:56 am)
Re: Cheap rear shock upgrades for B4
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Paul said:
Quote:
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The raised tail will quicken handling, so maybe he was happy with what he had...
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Actually I tried dropping the forks, initially 5 mm, then 10 mm, and finally went back to 5mm.
It was a bit too flighty on 10mm.
Now it turns like a push-bike - I got my self several times that I ride it like a crosser, leaning the bike more in turns than myself (hmm maybe it's too small for me and I really should get something bigger)
Now it sometimes shakes its head on bumps when ridden hard(er) but nothing to be scared of.
On 10 mm it was a bit nervous.
But my forks are from RF6 so I don't now how they compare to B4 length-wise, I don't have the OEMs to measure them, but I can measure the ones I have if anyone's interested.
Best regards,
Kris
briholt
Posts: 200
(5/23/04 8:53 pm)
ezSupporter
Re: Cheap rear shock upgrades for B4
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do you all think that an sv650 rear shock would be an upgrade from the OEM b4 shock? it looks like they would fit, although the eye to eye lenght is reported to be about 13.25 inches.... I'm not sure about the diameter of the spring, but they don't have integrated reservoirs so perhaps they would work?
Edited by: briholt at: 5/23/04 10:37 pm
Red01SuziB12S
Hall Monitor
Posts: 4604
(5/24/04 12:17 am)
Re: Cheap rear shock upgrades for B4
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The SV's 13.25" would be pretty tall... that's ~1.25" longer than stock.
Expect a radical change in handling and a radical change in tail height with that baby!
On my 1200, a 0.4" taller shock made for ~1.2" tail rise, so if the B4's linkage is the same ratio, and it's probably pretty darn close if it's not the same, you'd be looking at ~3.6" tail lift,
Paul W
WWBOC #684
Camano Is. WA, USA
Edited by: Red01SuziB12S at: 5/24/04 12:22 am
briholt
Posts: 201
(5/24/04 12:02 am)
ezSupporter
Re: Cheap rear shock upgrades for B4
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yeah.. i was thinking the same thing. I don't mind a bit higher bike...I'm 6'2 and the bike is too short anyway; i'm also concerned less with the handling but more with the front shocks bottoming out. perhaps I'd need a new set of dog bones to balance things out some.
I'd still be interested in hearing what people say about the quality of the sv650 shock...
Red01SuziB12S
Hall Monitor
Posts: 4607
(5/24/04 12:33 am)
Re: Cheap rear shock upgrades for B4
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Might ask around on one of the SV forums.
OTOH, you shouldn't have any trouble sourcing a 1G or 2G B12 shock dirt cheap right here.
Paul W
WWBOC #684
Camano Is. WA, USA
gschan
New Member!
Posts: 11
(5/25/04 6:39 pm)
Re: Cheap rear shock upgrades for B4
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Just wanted to share my shock upgrade exprerience that I did yesterday. I finally got that 2001 GSX-R750 rear shock installed in my 1995 RF400RV. The integrated reservoir slipped right into the frame without any problems. Only the lower shock mount needed to be filed/ground down a bit to clear the linkage. I also needed to install washers before the dog bones went back on so they'd clear the larger shock spring. Other than that, everything was pretty simple. The tail sits way too high now though. I've still got to reset all the settings and bring the tail down a bit. From my rough estimate now I'd say the tail is at least a good 2" higher than before!
pitter29
400 Forums Crossing Guard
Posts: 318
(5/25/04 6:56 pm)
SV Shock..
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Most of the SV guys bitch constantly about their suspensions - front and rear. I ride with a bunch of SV guys and it is their #1 complaint. If you want to try it, you should be able to pick one up CHEAP since most of those guys are swapping for GSXR or better shocks. In fact, as soon as my friend gets his Penske, I could prolly hook you up with him. Or, you could post an ad on svrider.com. The bottom line is that it might not be a big upgrade - a soft spring from a bike that weighs about the same.
briholt
Posts: 206
(5/25/04 9:17 pm)
ezSupporter
Re: SV Shock..
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Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing about the SV shock. I see them selling on ebay for about 10$...
The dilema, I think, is that the shocks the fit well have the remote reservoir...which means they are in the early to mid 90's in age. The newer shocks have the integrated reservoir, which put pressure on the air box and the coolant resevoir.
I'm thinking that it might be possible to alter the box and the coolant reservoir to make the fit, but it would sure be nice to have a stock to slip in. the b12 shocks are not too common. at least I can't find any on ebay, or here in the alley. Thankfully, my shock isn't busted.
Red01SuziB12S
Hall Monitor
Posts: 4624
(5/26/04 12:28 am)
Re: B12 Shocks
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I have a feeling most B12 riders don't try to sell their shocks cuz they think no one wants them. If you put something up in the parts wanted section here and Max-Suz, you can probably come up with one without too much trouble. I'd offer up mine, but Rob has already spoken for it.
Paul W
WWBOC #684
Camano Is. WA, USA
Topic: Cheap Rear Shock Upgrades (Read 15901 times)