I put the Yamaha R6 07 shock in my 2005f GS

[dread_au]

I have taken it for a ride of about 70kms. It feels alright to me but I have to admit I do not have the experience of most on this site. I have rode my GS for about 15000kms in stock form.

The road I took it on was twisty and uneven (greendale road for the people in sydney). As I said The R6 shock felt good to me. I have taken pictures and will do a write up of what I done and the problems I faced. It will be done after I put my sonic springs which came today. Then I will also do the hopefully final adjustments on the rear shock.

Feel free to ask questions and I will do my best to answer them.

[cboling]

Really good to hear. Definitely post some pictures when you can. 

[drincruz]

aha! i've been following cboling's thread about this too.

was it a simple swap? are you still using the stock air box?

i'm curious about this as well...

and pictures! please! 

cheers,
~drin

[dread_au]

I had to grind the swingarm to stop the lower coil hitting so not quite a straight bolt in. It had to go in from the top so airbox and battery holder had to be un bolted. Stock airbox is still on though the shock touches. I will put pics up as soon as I can get them off my camera.

[The Buddha]

Well so an R6 shock fits like a GSXR and feels like a ... katana ... its sure got lots of dials and clickers and adjusters boy ... But ... but ... on an sv1K ... if I made a eyelet to clevise converter, the thing may work ... the pre 07 I think.
Cool.
Buddha.

[dread_au]

Okay here is the write up for how I put the Yamaha R6 07 shock in my 2005f gs

1. Remove the air filter box if you have one

2. undo the battery holder. You need the space to get the shock. I could not get in from underneath.

3. Remove old shock.

4. Okay this is where I got a little lucky in the following picture you can see the old gs bearing spacer and the yamaha R6  spacer. The R6 linkages were shipped to me with the shock. The spacers are interchangeable. The bottom of the R6 shock eyelet is 2mm bigger than the gs So I  thought the swap is needed.



5.You can check to see if ne shock will fit at this point without hitting the swingarm. If not remove all the linkages and dogbones to give you space to grind the swingarm.

6. Grind swingarm here.



7. I had to assemble and disassemble several times until I was happy with the gap. Then tighten to manual specs and check again. Yep sure enough when tightened it was touching and apart it all went again.

8. At this point you would reassemeble. At this point I should mention that I think the top of the shock spacer seems slightly narrower and could probably use a couple of washers.

9. For me the airbox is touching the shock. I had no trouble lining the airbox bolts up when reassembling.




I have done 75kms so far and I am happy with the result.

[cboling]

From your other post:

I measured the gs shock to be approx 65mm wide. the yamaha r6 one is 76mm approx. My gs is a 2005f model.

I measured mine yesterday and came up with the same. Approximately 3" or 76mm. I am really surprised you had to grind the swingarm. I think I will take mine out again and re-install to see what the difference is. I mean to say, when I installed it, the shock did touch the swingarm but because I had the brake stay arm disconnected, I could raise and lower the swing arm a little more and I am wondering if that might be the difference? With it installed, I don't have any clearance issues.

Do you feel like the shock is a bit springy? Sort of soft when you sit down?

thanks for posting the additional info.

[The Buddha]

Crap, the r6 linkage is a bushing not a needle bearing. Yuck. Good you didn't need the linkage.
Cool.
Buddha.

[O.C.D.]

So did you determine that it was a better shock then?  So far we have no evidence or personal insights that would lead us to buy one?!  We need feedback people!

[cboling]

Well, I received my shock wrench yesterday and I went out to do some adjusting. (difficult to do by myself. Need a third arm.) Anyway, I don't know what the SAG / Preload measurements are supposed to be. So measuring from the swing arm to a point on the seat (which I marked with tape) it was right at 20". When I sat on the bike and measured, it was 19 3/4" I played around with the adjuster (which has steps on the ring) and went lower preload setting. I sat again and it measured around 19 1/4"

I can't imagine that there is only a 1/2" to 3/4" difference. I raised the collar to the higest setting and it didn't seem to change from 19 3/4" (So I am sure I am doing it wrong.)

Overall, the spring feels soft too me but I don't really have anything to compare it to. My stock shock was blown and leaking. (When I sat down I would hear a "shhhhh" sound.)

However, I was able to get the bike to crank last night so I am getting ever so close to having it run. Hopefully by this weekend, the bike will officially be running and I will be able to test the ride in the parking lot of my apartments.

I have been thinking about getting the shock from Psyber_Optix which I believe is a newer model GSXR shock to see how it fits and what difference I see there.

[The Buddha]

New GSXR need a lot of work. The remote reservoir is also in the wrong place. But some cutting and welding later it should fit ...
But, davipu did it a long time ago, dgyver done it, like there is anything dgyver didn't do. Possibly r'gal and maybe Bob broussard.

Cool.
Buddha.

[The Buddha]

So hypothetically, if I had a large drum full of R6 shockses ... how much you think I can get for em ....

I dont think I am going to be able to open them, they look like they ate a katana shock and grew all these knobs and dials and what not ... but ... I can press test them I think ...

Cool.
Buddha.

[lamoun]

So measuring from the swing arm to a point on the seat (which I marked with tape) it was right at 20".

Is this with the rear wheel off the ground?
If not, just put her on the centerstand and measure again.

When I sat on the bike and measured, it was 19 3/4" I played around with the adjuster (which has steps on the ring) and went lower preload setting. I sat again and it measured around 19 1/4"

While sitting, it should sag about 1.3" ~ 1.4".

After you set the rider sag right, measure the sag holding the bike vertical (without you on top), this will tell as if the spring is soft or stiff for your weight. (at least that's what theory tells as...  )

[O.C.D.]

Regardless if they work, lol, they are flying off the bay for some reason.  I just lost one to an $82 dollar bid!!!  When the threads started about this they were going for $15, lol.

[cboling]

So measuring from the swing arm to a point on the seat (which I marked with tape) it was right at 20".

Is this with the rear wheel off the ground?
If not, just put her on the centerstand and measure again.

When I sat on the bike and measured, it was 19 3/4" I played around with the adjuster (which has steps on the ring) and went lower preload setting. I sat again and it measured around 19 1/4"

While sitting, it should sag about 1.3" ~ 1.4".

After you set the rider sag right, measure the sag holding the bike vertical (without you on top), this will tell as if the spring is soft or stiff for your weight. (at least that's what theory tells as...  )

I had a video I posted a link to here somewhere. I'll have to go back and watch that to get a fresh perspective on what to do. I was under the impression to set sag, you had to take the measurement while the rear tire was on the ground without a rider, then with a rider. Maybe I am thinking something different.

O.C.D. - That is weird. I did see some other posts where someone was using the same shock for a different bike. Not sure if it was the SV650 or something. That may be why they are higher now too.

[The Buddha]

Regardless if they work, lol, they are flying off the bay for some reason.  I just lost one to an $82 dollar bid!!!  When the threads started about this they were going for $15, lol.

The new parts start out cheap, but they end up going pretty high, I doubt any of em sold really for 15, I have seen Kat FE's start at 50 or so and run clean into 250+.
But see ... well maybe the buddha has a garage full ... maybe ... just maybe ... muhahahahaha hahahahaha hahahahah hahaha .....
Cool.
Buddha.

[Bluehaze]

dammit.. i up and bought an 07 r6r suspension. i hope they are one and the same.. if not..well now i got 2 extra  rear suspension in my garage.  paperweights.

[The Buddha]

<snip>
O.C.D. - That is weird. I did see some other posts where someone was using the same shock for a different bike. Not sure if it was the SV650 or something. That may be why they are higher now too.

I would say it wont work on a SV650. I am nearly certain it will be too soft on a katana, and forget all the others. GSXR's etc will need much stiffer, and the mother of those for stiffness is the SV1000.
I think just about the GS is all it will work for, and even so better than a katana - still in question, but I like the dials and knobs and bs ... some of them even may do something. 
Cool.
Buddha.

[cboling]

We can only hope. 

[The Buddha]

Yea I like a bunch of these things sitting around ... who cares if they work or not ... 
Cool.
Buddha.