Rear Shock Question

stefman722 · January 09, 2005, 11:33:15 PM

hey guys,

Well i am replacing my rear shock, for the reason that i ride 2 up sometimes, i wish it wouldnt bottom out! So, what are my options. According to the search i did on the site;

katana rear shocks will work with no problem. What i want to know is if ANY year katana rear shock will work. i have a 500F and i hope that wont affect anything. Please let me know.

Thanks Guys.

Stefan

stefman722 · January 10, 2005, 09:28:20 PM

Bump

96gs · January 10, 2005, 09:33:03 PM

I'm not sure bout any year, I think they all work. Just make sure it doesn't have many miles on it. I recently put one on my bike and its a miracle how well they work.

stefman722 · January 10, 2005, 09:47:03 PM

where did you get it from? Cauz there are many on ebay, but i dont wanna get screwed over. So any help i could get i would appreciate.

96gs · January 10, 2005, 10:03:41 PM

Got it from eBay. $30 for a 2002 Katana 600 rear shock with I think 8600 miles on it.

stefman722 · January 10, 2005, 10:43:30 PM

how was the install. Did you do it yourself? let me know..
Thanks
Stef

96gs · January 11, 2005, 06:00:28 AM

Well, no I didn't, my Dad did but I watched everything he did. From what I saw it gets really tough getting off the bolts that keep the stock shock in place.

pantablo · January 11, 2005, 10:45:14 AM

as long as you remember that the upper bolt is accessed through the plastic cap covered hole in the frame and you have sufficient leverage in case the bolts have been there long time...you should be okay. It took about 20 minutes when I did it.

stefman722 · January 11, 2005, 02:17:19 PM

Quote from: pantabloas long as you remember that the upper bolt is accessed through the plastic cap covered hole in the frame and you have sufficient leverage in case the bolts have been there long time...you should be okay. It took about 20 minutes when I did it.

Yeah, my bike is brand new, so it shouldnt be that hard to take the bolts out. So any year katana shock will do?

pantablo · January 11, 2005, 02:35:10 PM

well, I dont know for sure how far back you'd want to go but I'd try to get a 2000+ shock, just because of the potential mileage on it. I had bought a 2001 shock for my 2001 gs, coincidentally. Get the newest you can find.

stefman722 · January 11, 2005, 04:05:46 PM

alright, ill do that. Do any of you know how much the dealer would charge for a brand new one?

96gs · January 11, 2005, 04:08:07 PM

Quote from: pantabloas long as you remember that the upper bolt is accessed through the plastic cap covered hole in the frame and you have sufficient leverage in case the bolts have been there long time...you should be okay. It took about 20 minutes when I did it.

Yea, we could have used that one, we were trying to get to it from the lil area by the rear tire, then my dad found the cap and i juts poked it out.

pantablo · January 11, 2005, 04:10:11 PM

Quote from: stefman722alright, ill do that. Do any of you know how much the dealer would charge for a brand new one?

too much.
keep an eye out on ebay or on maximum-suzuki.com (bandit and katana specific site).

TR · January 11, 2005, 04:42:48 PM

I bought an used '93 shock for less than $20, installed it in one hour or so, rode 5000 miles and then drove over a bump and the shock head got lose from the rod and I went boucing the whole way home. For the nature of the failure nothing fell down, so once I reinstalled the old stock shock I managed to reassembly the kat shock, but haven't installed it again.

I wonder if it will fall apart on the bike again... by the way, I never lubed it while installed so I guess it failed due to lack of lubrication or probably due to an inadecuate setup.

stefman722 · January 11, 2005, 04:49:53 PM

we have to lube it up when we put it on? where. What kind of lube.

TR · January 11, 2005, 05:07:46 PM

Just a little grease on the screws and dogbone links, I think...

stefman722 · January 11, 2005, 05:12:16 PM

Is it like the stock shock, where you can adjust it with that tool provided with the bike? Same setup?

96gs · January 11, 2005, 05:21:12 PM

You can adjust preload and rebound.

TR · January 11, 2005, 05:29:09 PM

The kat shock is alike the stock, except it's 1" longer and has a knob in the upper head to setup rebound, the preload is the same as the stock shock. The spring is stronger, you can tell that simply by sight, so the shock is slightly heavier. The kat shock raises the seat 1 or 2 inches, and if fully preload and the bike is on the centerstand the rear tyre never leaves the ground, which makes easier to put the bike on the centerstand but a little harder to put it off, because your body is higher and I usually had to hang down a foot to push the bike (i'm 5'7"). Don't hesitate, change the shock, it makes handling much better...

stefman722 · January 12, 2005, 05:03:46 PM

HOLY guys, i finally got an answer back from the zuki dealer here in winnipeg, and got quote $1326.94 CDN for the rear shock!!!!! that friken crazy! I think ill take my chances on ebay.

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Rear Shock Question