Guess what? This is my first real mod :D and guess what else? It worked great!! :thumb:
It has got to be one of the easiest and best value mods you can do. I hope no-one bothers tracking down dirty katana shocks anymore, this is the shiz. Shocks from 2006-2008 (known, others may also) will bolt straight* into the GS. *You do have to get the rather large reservoir and damping assembly in there, but once its in its good. I couldn't get the dogbones undone without tipping the bike off the centrestand, so I removed the airbox and battery box. But turns out the battery box has wiry bits hanging off the sides, so I just unbolted it and hit it with a hammer til I could scrape the shock past. And scrape it did :icon_eek: Anyway, not like I'm ever going to sell it on, so meh. Only thing is try to get one with the linkage included, cos you want to use the bearing sleeve and bolt from the bottom clevis of the R6 shock rather than the stock GS. OD of the sleeve is the same but the ID and clevis bolt holes are bigger than the GS. You won't get those bits unless you get the linkage with the shock.
I've read that the spring touches the swingarm at full extension but I didn't seem to have that issue so I'm leaving it for now. The spring has a good couple of mm of rubber coating on it and thats all that people seem to need to grind off the swingarm.
Anyway, first run up the old pacific hwy today with the shock set to standard specs. Its so much better that the rest of the bike feels rubbish!! Front end work to come...
I also have done this and it is great, I do need to play with the damping and rebound cause it seems to float a little through rough corners.
I think u will enjoy the upgrade on the front suspension even more. I went with .85kg springs and some 15wt oil and it made a world of diff.