hi guys!!!! i noticed a leak near the rear shock and that my suspension was very soft...tooo soffftttt..... :o what could it be??? i 'm just back from a 3000 km trip in 4 days montreal-washington d.c. and back.... my bike (gs 500 2003 ) is at 14400 km... is it dead already??? :dunno:
maybe, but this whould be a great time to put that katana shock in. and then not worry about it.
What he said!
Great time to upgrade.
So I hear all of this talk about swapping for the Katana 600 Rear Shock on the GS500, but nowhere have I seen any explanation as to why or what benefits that one has with the Katana 600 Rear Shock. I think I am noticing a leak in my rear shock. Sounds like air escaping when I bounce on the seat, so I guess it would be time to replace the shock. I would like to find something that is an exact fit for a replacement, or pretty close so that nothing else will need to be modified. And a bonus would be that the replacement shock would be more reliable that the previous one. Given my GS500E is a 1992 and I have only had it for 6+ months, not knowing if the rear shock has ever been replaced before, if it was the original I would say that it has done it's job. But mainly I want to know how I would benefit from switching to this Katana 600 rear shock. I am not racing or anything like that, just riding my bike back and forth to work, some interstate, some non-interstate. Just transportation.
Thanks,
Murle "Bubba" Meetze
meetzem@yahoo.com
Quote from: BubbaMeetze on June 01, 2006, 08:13:17 AM
So I hear all of this talk about swapping for the Katana 600 Rear Shock on the GS500, but nowhere have I seen any explanation as to why or what benefits that one has with the Katana 600 Rear Shock. I think I am noticing a leak in my rear shock. Sounds like air escaping when I bounce on the seat, so I guess it would be time to replace the shock. I would like to find something that is an exact fit for a replacement, or pretty close so that nothing else will need to be modified. And a bonus would be that the replacement shock would be more reliable that the previous one. Given my GS500E is a 1992 and I have only had it for 6+ months, not knowing if the rear shock has ever been replaced before, if it was the original I would say that it has done it's job. But mainly I want to know how I would benefit from switching to this Katana 600 rear shock. I am not racing or anything like that, just riding my bike back and forth to work, some interstate, some non-interstate. Just transportation.
Thanks,
Murle "Bubba" Meetze
meetzem@yahoo.com
You didn't read that the Katana shock has more than just preload adjustments? It's got compression damping to (or maybe rebound, whatever). All the same, it offers more adjustability than the GS shock does.
The sound is probably normal. You hear the oil squeezing through the damping ducts.
The katana shock gives you slighly higher spring rate, brings the tail up a bit, which in turn gives steeper steering head angle and a little bit more responsiveness.
With your user profile, I'd say don't bother.
you can also put on an rgv shock which has all the things the katana does but it doesn't alter ride height, its probly the best option if your a light weight or short, :icon_mrgreen:
What does rear shock adjustability matter? I'm 5'7" 160 lbs. Seems fine to me, but I have no idea what a properly tuned shock is like... Though I intend to do the front shock stiffening thing soon. Should I alter the rear if I stiffen the front? If so, why?
Quote from: MarkusN on June 01, 2006, 08:24:31 AM
The sound is probably normal. You hear the oil squeezing through the damping ducts.
The katana shock gives you slighly higher spring rate, brings the tail up a bit, which in turn gives steeper steering head angle and a little bit more responsiveness.
With your user profile, I'd say don't bother.
Well I already got myself a 2005 Katana 600 shock. I might hold off on putting it on. I was wondering about the sound I was hearing, maybe I didn't notice it before. Otherwise the shock feels fine. I don't get the impression that I am riding on the spirng. Definitely not bottoming out ever. I was just curious as to the talk all about the Kat600 shock, the way people were going on about it you would think that it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I may end up putting it on later just to see how I like it. I have a couple other questions also.
1. As that I got my bike second hand, I didn't get the toolkit that is supposed to come with it. Does anyone know the size of the Shock Spanner/Wrench so that if I happened to get one off of the internet that I will know the correct size (I figure that the diameter is basically all I should need). Also since I have the Kat600 shock, does anyone know if the same spanner fits both of these shocks. I was looking at one of these adjustable hook spanners from Armstrong off of the Craftsman site. Hopefully not one of the expensive ones. If I know what I should be looking for then I can get the right one the first time. I can't seem to locate anywhere that I can get one locally
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/search.do?BV_UseBVCookie=Yes&vertical=TOOL&keyword=spanner&gobutton.x=0&gobutton.y=0&gobutton=find
2. I noticed that my chain appeared to me a bit looser than I thought it was before. I had to change the rear tire about 500-600 miles back and I could have sworn that I had it where it needed to be, it just appears that there is a slightly bit too much slack in it. Since I was thinking about doing the shock, I figured that I would adjust the chain tension while I was at it. But given I might not do the shock I will most likely adjust the chain tension on it's own. I was thinking at first that this might have something to do with what I thought the shock was leaking (perhaps suspension going swingarm was in a different position which showed the extra slack in the chain).
3. I have been reading about the Progressive Front Fork Springs mod. Given I got my bike second hand I have no clue as to if the front suspension is stock or the progressive springs. I was wondering if there was any way to tell what I had. I guess only way is to crack it open and see. Would have to measure the springs as I think I remember reading that the progressive springs are longer. My bike feels like it rides just fine. I wonder the actual improvement that one notices. Can someone describe the feel as to how it is different?
As to size of rider. I am 190-200 and 6' tall. Loving my GS500E. I see people talking about how small my bike is all of the time. It suits me just fine, and I love the gas mileage it gets. The main reason I got it. I ususally get anywhere from 52-60MPG. I ride it pretty easy most of the time as I use it to commute back and forth to work mostly. Put about 2500-3000 miles on it since I got it in November.
1) You can actually still buy the stock toolkit, or even just the spanner (although it wouldn't come with the "extender handle" in the toolkit). Follow the 1992 links on the
Parts Fiche (http://www.bbburma.net/Documents/GS500_Parts_Fiche_1.html) page, look under "REAR FENDER" and check out items 10, 11 and 20 in the diagram. If you have a dealer nearby, you can order the part(s) using the Suzuki numbers from the parts fiche (not true for BikeBandit - they use their own own numbering system) and skip the shipping cost.
BTW - If you're wondering what the toolkit includes ... see
this image (http://johnla2.tripod.com/toolkit.html) contributed long ago by
JohNLA.
2) You may as well adjust the chain whether or not you install the Kat shock. It's easy, and you wouldn't want
THIS (http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=26906.msg283605#msg283605) to happen to you!
3) The differences that I remember most distinctly after installing Progressive springs are:
* No more see-sawing when I went up through the gears quickly.
* No more "diving" when I hit the brakes hard.
* No more "wham" from bottoming out when I hit a bump in the road or went over the lip on my driveway.
I gotta say, I love Kerry's illustrations.
I knew if I got interrupted when I was writing my last post I was going to forget one of the questions I was going to ask. I was also wanting to find out about the adjustments on the Katana Shock. It is supposed to have Preload and Rebound adjustments on it. I can see the preload adjustment, the gold yellowish collar with the gaps in it on the bottom like in picture on JohnNLA's page (http://johnla2.tripod.com/shkmd02.html), but where is the rebound adjustments. I read that it is on the top, and I guess from the picture in JohnNLA's page that the top of the shock it up on the picture and the bottom of the shock is where the gold preload adjustment collar is at towards to lower part of the picture.