Hello everyone. Just to show there is a great deal of information on this board and elsewhere, I decided to take a chance on the knowledge the others have posted here and some that I have found elsewhere and I believe I have come up with a really great Rear Shock upgrade solution. (If it has been covered before, please forgive me.)

As I have read here, there are not many Suzuki rear shocks that will fit well on the GS without:
1. Having a remote resevoir
2. Having to cut something, hammer something, bend something, etc....

So I set out to find a replacement shock with Preload, Compression, Damping, and Rebound adjustments that would be a bolt on replacement. "NEVER!" you say but I say it can be done. As you shall see, I have found a direct bolt in replacement with all of the above mentioned goodies and none of the muss and fuss! It is called "loverliness!" And it took me all of 10 minutes to bolt it on.

"You jest!" you say, but I say, Watch and bask in the goodness.

Okay, enough of the tardness. After reading some information on here and customfighters.com, I found a stickied thread they have over there that lists some measurements on rear shocks. I got to thinking, I wonder what they are on mine. I didn't want to install a shock that would require me to lengthen the kickstand or would allow the rear tire to sit on the ground when on the center stand. So I went out and measured the shock (bolt to bolt) and found that it was 290mm. Hmmmmmm. I looked on the measurements of some of the other shocks and saw that some were close to that and some I believe were dead on. I also did some other searching and came across a for sale add (in one of the search engines) that listed a Yamaha YZF R6 shock modified for the GS500.

Sooooooo, I thinks to meself, wonder if there are any Yamaha YZF R6 rear shocks on Ebizzle, fo shizzle. Sure enough, there were. Tons of take off rear shocks in impeccable condition and not too pricey. So I thought, what the heck, order one for a few bucks, if it doesn't work out, sell it, trash it, or give it away.  (NOTE; This is a shock from an 06-07 R6, the others do not have the same bottom clevis.)

Well, I got it in today and low and behold!, it fits perrrrrrrrrrfffffffectly. Now keep in mind, this may be a crappy shock all around. (hence the loads of them on Ebay.) However, my shock was absolutely shot! It has the leaky farts and crud. So it is totally better than what I had even if it may suck. (Only time will tell once I get it running and setup.)

Anyway, I hope someone else finds this informative and useful and without further adieu, pics please.  (Tawlk amoungst yooooselves.)

Man that's awesome good job.   You will go down in GS History!   Now gotta find me one as my '93 shock is welll.....errrrrrrr...toast.

Very good find! Now whenever someone comes asking for a shock upgrade, not everyone will scream KATANA! I'm guessing this shock might even be better, it certainly has more adjustment.
Now we need a report on how it feels with the GS but this might be the next big thing.

P.S. I like your headlight bucket 

Looks like a larger diameter spring no issues with rubbing the swing  or dogbones rubbing?

No rubbing that I can tell. I will inspect it more closely tomorrow as I am going to be working on painting my swingarm and frame. Just for some perspective, I am 6' 1 1/2" and 245 dry weight. (I know, I know, loose some weight.) But when I sat on the bike, there did not seem to be any obvious rubbing. I will look at the edges of everything to see if there are any shiny spots, Also, in the second to last picture, (you can't see very well,) there is about 1mm space on both sides of the spring.

My problem right now is that I don't have the tool to add more preload so when I sit my big butt down on it, there is considerable sag. But it hasn't been set up for me just yet. I basically popped it on, snapped some pictures, and had a feeling of glee that it simply fit. 

Dam this post is a week too late I just bought a katana shock bugger

I really hope this shock works...if so I'll have one on order by Monday.

have you tryed sitting on it with air box and battery box in?  it looks as tho the resivor will hit on one of the 2 when moving.

Unfortunately, I have the head off of my bike at the moment, so I can't test fit the K&N that I have. (Don't have the full box) However, the main reason that I picked this shock over the others that I had found, was because the reservoir sits slightly lower than the top of the shock. It actually sits right dead level with the battery box mount (maybe slightly lower.) I sat on the bike and looked for large movements in the linkage and shock, and I didn't see any movement at the top which would cause it to hit.  It's hard to tell in the fourth picture but it really is level with the battery box brace.

I will get some level pictures tomorrow and fit my battery box on to see if there is any interference.

Hmmmmmm, you have really caught my attention with this one!!!  I am a hairs-breath away from ordering one right now. lol  Go jump on your bike literally and cycle the suspension more.  We need input.

Oh, and why do you say this is a crappy shock?

My mistake. This shock looks to be really good. I just don't have any knowledge if the yamaha shocks are any good. I will hop on the bike in the morning and really give it the what for.

I had to ask as an R6 is not a shabby bike. 

You think it will clear the airbox ?

Anyway, the thing about the newer sport bikes shocks is leverage.
I have a SV1000 I did suspension swaps on. I put a GSXR 1000 shock in it. It looked beefy and like it would eat the sv shock for lunch ... and it feels like I was sitting on a dead mattress. The GSXR1K has a lot of travel in its shock compared to an SV, but relatively less than a sv seat travel. That means it had a linkage that amplifies it more than the sv. The GSXR for 2 inch of seat travel compresses the shock 1 inch. The sv for 2 inch seat travel, compresses the shock 1/2 inch. Rough example.

Anyway it prolly is well damped but softly sprung. You should try it out and post back. The Kat and old GSXR shocks were nearly identical for linkage in their original locations. No brainer swaps IMHO, but that dont mean its the only option though.
Cool.
Buddha.

Way to bust balls, Srinath.




Good friggin job, Cboling.  If you're giving the entire rebuild that much attention, you're gonna have a heckuva scooter.  Nice to finally have options, besides the favorite shock of the beer-gutted. 

I think it will clear the airbox however, since I don't have an airbox on my bike I did some searching for a picture of a bike with one on it. Here is a pic from Pantablo's site. I will get a comparison shot of the shock on my bike. I don't think there is any movement at the top range of the shock like a pivot point where it mounts. Correct me if I am wrong but just by looking at it while I sat on the bike there didn't seem to be any. (I'll add a comparison picture here in just a little bit.)

UPDATED: I took a few shots of the shock and some clearance (the best I could) to see what might interfere. It is entirely possible that the airbox could touch and cause problems but I just don't have one I can fit in there to test. I did use a straight edge across the battery box brace to see what the gap was between that and the highest point of the reservoir and it measured right at 9mm so I am not sure if that helps anyone.

If there is anyone near mobile, al with a GS that wants to come by and we can install this on their bike for a comparison, let me know. As for anyone using a unipod or k&n, there wouldn't be any problems. I was going to get some pictures while sitting on the bike to see if there is any interference at the spring / swingarm but I currently have the back wheel off so that I can take off the swingarm and clean it up and paint it today. Once I get it all back together, I will get some more pictures.

Comparison pictures added with more info.

As far as the softer spring issue, I did a little research last night and the red springs on the '07 are said to be stiffer. 

Overall I think I am going to give this a shot.  I completely agree with/understand Buddha's insights into the linkage and travel differences.  But for such a cheap price on them why not try it?!

Just from looking I think it will be significantly stiffer. The wire diameter is larger and on top of that there are less coils. Both of which usually end up making stiffer springs.

The GSXR shock also looks like it ate the SV's shock for lunch ... it even has a muscular color ... bright yellow and gun metal against the SV's white and silver.

No dice ... However the GSXR pre 95 750 shock - oh yea ... will pick up the ass of that SV nice. Canr wait till I run it with that shock and see, and first thing I'd do is go to the GSXR pre 95 one. Of course the SV shock is near about a jack hammer with very little rebound and huge compression ... it beats you up on the compression cyle - as you hit a bump, and beats you on the way back with rebounding very quick.

Post back Cboling when you get to bouncing on it I guess.
Cool.
Buddha.

just so you know after talking to some guys over on the kat page the R6 shock is junk for a swap because of a weaker spring rate so i have been told.