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So, I just posted to Craigs list, all the suspension bits I have from my motorcycle shop buyout last year. Time to clean house! But, I want to keep a few of the rear shock units, for possible use on a couple of projects I have going. A brief description:
1980 Honda CB650 bobber projects. Both have been converted to hard-tail frames (before I got them) and I am building them up, slowly, as hard tails. But, I have two Kat rear swing arms- they may end up on bobber I and./or II, as sportbike/softtail rear suspensions.
1988 Kat 1100. Stock shock unit in it.
1993 Yamaha SECA II. Stock shock.
If one of these units is an upgrade, I'd probably put it under one of those two bikes.
2001 Triumph Sprint ST, 1999 GSXR600. There is a GSXR 1000 shock unit and another GSXR shock unit around here, somewhere, they might be an upgrade to either of these bikes?
Now, I can measure length of the shock units, size and type of upper and lower mounts, etc. easily enough. What I can not do, is determine spring rates, or shock damping. Most of the rear shock units are only identified as to manuf. (with a warning sticker telling you to not open them up) but that's really all I can tell. I have ID'd two as Katana shock units.
What can I tell about these shocks, based on spring wire diameter, number of coils, overall length, etc? I know it will be an estimate at best, but that's better than nothing.
Just looked up the weight of a Kat 750 (209 kg) and a CB650 (220 kg) I figure that is close enough that a Kat shock should work fine under the CB650.
Also, is there any way to test them? Every one is too strong a spring for me to push them down even a little.
1980 Honda CB650 bobber projects. Both have been converted to hard-tail frames (before I got them) and I am building them up, slowly, as hard tails. But, I have two Kat rear swing arms- they may end up on bobber I and./or II, as sportbike/softtail rear suspensions.
1988 Kat 1100. Stock shock unit in it.
1993 Yamaha SECA II. Stock shock.
If one of these units is an upgrade, I'd probably put it under one of those two bikes.
2001 Triumph Sprint ST, 1999 GSXR600. There is a GSXR 1000 shock unit and another GSXR shock unit around here, somewhere, they might be an upgrade to either of these bikes?
Now, I can measure length of the shock units, size and type of upper and lower mounts, etc. easily enough. What I can not do, is determine spring rates, or shock damping. Most of the rear shock units are only identified as to manuf. (with a warning sticker telling you to not open them up) but that's really all I can tell. I have ID'd two as Katana shock units.
What can I tell about these shocks, based on spring wire diameter, number of coils, overall length, etc? I know it will be an estimate at best, but that's better than nothing.
Just looked up the weight of a Kat 750 (209 kg) and a CB650 (220 kg) I figure that is close enough that a Kat shock should work fine under the CB650.
Also, is there any way to test them? Every one is too strong a spring for me to push them down even a little.
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