I just bought my first GS, as well as the most modern bike I've owned (coming from the vintage/cafe scene) I just snagged a 1996 GS500E with 9.9k miles for $1450!


excuse the cardboard, just had the floors epoxy sealed

I've spent several days now absorbing all of the info I can from the fantastic site, as well as the Wiki page. I've got some goddies on the way to improve the looks and performance of the bike slightly, but it  seems I made one big oversight on my first time through the Wiki page...

I ordered an SV650 shock...a WHITE SV650 shock...from Ebay...

What is it that's different about the white shock and what are the reason for it not working with this bike as compared to the yellow.

Thanks in advance for the help guys/gals.

the color has nothing to do with the sv shock not fitting as far as i know.   it has to do with the length of the shock.  it has to be cut down and redrilled to fit in to the gs.

Well the Wiki page has a specific note about needing to use the yellow shock, hence my concern...

I'm aware of the need to redrill and trim the clevis mount. Thanks for the help, anyone else?

Welcome to the board.  I will not comment on the color as I do not know for sure.

But I will tell you to sell it and get an R6 shock - they are exact length and are much nicer IMO.

Well due to me trying to keep the remainder of my budget focused on an upcoming vintage project, and the SV shock only costing $24 I'll definitely stick with it if it fits...

Thanks for the heads up though, I may certainly try to graduate to one down the road!

Beyond that, all the R6 shocks I'm seeing are eye to eye, rather then eye to clevis...

No clevis needed.  An for what it is worth, I snagged mine before they got popular and paid like $18 I think for it.

Is the lower clevis mount removable from the bike?

You might search some posts by Danny500.  I think he documented some of his challenges with an SV650 shock.

I appreciate that info. Having a 32-33" inseam, liking the high tail, and weighing just 165lbs, I think the SV shock may still work well for me. At this point my only worry is why the white shock won't work, or rather if it will.

I'll also be adding a pair of spacers to the front fork to increse preload, and will eventually get a set of progressive springs.

Thanks for all the help so far guys, much appreciated.

I've got one of those yellow SV650 shocks I was going to put on my bike at some point, but decided not to because I didn't want to raise the seat, but if you have any interest I'll sell it to you for $15 plus shipping(I would guess about $10 since those things are heavy), and you can try to sell your white one to break even.

I personally have no idea what the difference is between the white and yellow, but I know this one's going on ebay sometime soon anyway.

I finally got and answer!!! (and from all places, vwvortex.com, well it WAAAAAS in the motorcycle section  )

QuoteThe white spring is from a 2nd-gen SV650. The yellow is 1st-gen. The motion ratio is different between generations, resulting in the need for a much softer spring on the 2nd-gen, along with correspondingly less damping.

I may still give it a shot since it's coming, I can always pull it right back off if there's no improvement.

@ 165lbs, I don't need much spring rate for it to feel stiff.

Looks very clean - congrats!

Thanks, I can't wait to actually go put some miles on it...

Any body know what the original rear spring rate is?