Maybe I'm crazy but I have 4 dirtbike s all varying in size.
As a result my man caves she'd is filled with 5 pairs of different front forks and about the same in rear shocks.
The question is would it be feasible to install ( fully adjustable )
Shocks and set them up for the road?
Rear
[attachment deleted by admin]
Front/rear
[attachment deleted by admin]
Think if you managed to shoehorn those on there that you have the beginnings of a respectable poor mans BMW GS. only things to watch are the rake and trail of the bike when you do it. as it could really affect the handling characteristics of the bike. you could turn your GS into a supermotard and get some luggage onto it for camping road trips. just make sure the forks and shock you fit are suited for the weight of the GS and yourself, and any load you want to carry. keeping it well balanced could be a tricky task, but to be honest the standard GS setup is pretty poor out of the box.
The only issue I see is with the resevoir. It may be a tight fit, and you may need to cut/fabricate a few parts. Other than that, I say go for it! The worst that can happen is you find out that it won't fit without modding.
If you're going to try a shock from a different bike there's a few thing to consider.
First is length. Rear shock length is arguably the single most important parameter in setting up the chassis/suspension on a bike. It affects a bunch of crucial numbers. Swingarm angle, trail, wheelbase, CoG (height and fore/aft), rake...etc. Because of the linkage ratio small changes in shock length have a big effect.
The most important of those are trail and swingarm angle. Roughly, a 1mm increase in shock length decreases trail by 1mm. Bikes are very sensitive to trail, just a few mm and the handling can totally change. On race bikes and a lot of sport bikes, the rider can usually feel a 1mm change, 2mm is very noticeable. "Standard" street bikes aren't quite that sensitive, but 3-4mm is enough to feel, and over 5mm is pretty dramatic. The limit, beyond which the handling is going to get very dodgy, varies from bike to bike but generally in the 5-12mm range.
You never want to go shorter, that reduces ground clearance and makes the bike turn in slowly.
Then you have to figure out if the spring rate is correct. Because of the linkage ratio rate is not a simple calculation like it is for the forks. You need to know the stock rate, and then figure out from sag ratios what the rate you need is.
And then there's the damping curves. Assuming that they're matched well to the spring rate any street shock should be ok there, but dirt bikes have different priorities and constraints, so it's unlikely that damping will suit street use that well.
And then of course there's the "will it fit" question. Unfortunately a lot of people start with that and think that it's all that matters.
The first issue you will have is not length or adjustment, or anything like that. The rear shock needs to have the forked end on it. Not a double eye like you have...unless you plan to do some fabricating.
See below:
http://wiki.gstwins.com/index.php?n=Upgrades.RearShock
there a few people that have fitted drz suspension , and loved jt