Yesterday (Friday) I went to Fremont Cycle Salvage in search of a new-to-my-bike Katana 600 shock.  I am lucky enough to have the alloy linkage so I didn't have to be picky about the clevis length.  The guy returned with a katana 750 shock that had the remote adjuster for rebound.  I wasn't sure if it would work so we went outside to look at another GS they had on the lot.  We were talking about how it might fit when someone else walks up and tells us it will work just fine.  Then he goes on to tell me about all these other shocks that would work too.  Finally he says to check out GStwins.com and I reply that I'm already on there.  We introduce ourselves and it turns out it is Srinath!  Turns out he was out here visiting for a couple days from the east coast.  We talked for a bit about mod plans and the DMV.  He had some bs to take care of there.  Leave it to the DMV to screw something up.  Take me for example, they put on my license that I have "corrective lenses" but I don't and never have worn glasses .  Well Srinath is a nice guy and was very helpfull at the shop.  I also know how to say his name correctly .  Talk about someone I never expected to meet in person :lol:

Now on the the shock install.  It only took about a half hour to do.  I think I spent more time cleaning my hands afterward .  I put the bike on the center stand and loosened the top and bottom bolt on the shock.  As I was tapping out the lower bolt I noticed that the swingarm+wheel was going to lower once that bolt was out so I put my big screwdriver under the tire to lever the wheel up and get the bolt out.  I opted to just leave the screwdriver under the tire because I knew I would have to reinstall the shock and didn't have an extra set of hands with me.  I couldn't get the stock shock out without removing the lower bolt on the dog bones so I took that out.  Once the dogbones and linkage could swing out of the way, the shock just came out the bottom.  I slid the new shock up there with the remote linkage pointing to the left side of the bike.  I got everything bolted back up and zip tied the adjuster to the subframe and cleaned up my tools.

Now for the test ride.  The first time I sat on the bike I could tell it was taller with the new shock and it was definitely firmer.  I played with the rebound and opted to keep it at the lowest setting.  The preload was already set at 4 of 7 or 8 so I left it there.  I weigh in at about 160-165.  On the road, I instantly noticed the bike didn't squat like it used to when I gassed it.  It stayed very composed on the street and the twisties.  I feel a lot more of the road but I was more comfortable on the seat now.  I think I didn't slide around on it as much but I'm not sure honestly.  Overall I am very pleased with the improvement in ride quality and do not regret giving the salvage yard 75 bones for the shock.  With the help of Scratch, I found out my old shock was totally wasted so maybe my improvement is more than the next person might have but I'd still recommend it to anyone who already has the front springs done.

I took a couple pics but its tough to really make much out.
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ayates128/vwp?.dir=/Motorcycle&.dnm=new+Katana+750+shock.jpg&.view=t


You can see what a nasy combination of baking soda and battery acid looks like here too
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ayates128/vwp?.dir=/Motorcycle&.dnm=Katana+shock+installed.jpg&.view=t

Andy, it looks like your Yahoo account won't let us non-members link to individual images in your webspace.  Try changing the file extension on your pictures to ".txt", and then edit the URLs in your post to match.

Hi 70camguy,
Nice meeting you too... The guy you bought the shock from - His name is Chris...is one hell of a mechanic...He's no GS specialist but you can trust him to tell you the truth about anything you ask him...
Cool.
Srinath.