ZRX shocks

[Guest]

Has anyone put ZRX shocks on a GS??

[makenzie71]

What model GS? I looked into it extensively, but they're expensive and they'll fit very few GS's without modification.

[bwringer]

I knew a guy who put ZRX shocks on a '79 GS850 he was building into some sort of cafe mutation.

The main problem is that the ZRX shocks were a lot longer than the correct length GS shocks (by about 1.5 inches, IIRC) and put the swingarm and driveshaft at what could be an unworkable angle.

He abandoned the project before it got very far, so we'll never know if it would have worked or what the effects might have been.



(Edit: Googling turned up the factoid that ZRX shocks are 14.5" (about 370mm) eye to eye. Shocks on all shafties were 13" (330mm) eye-to-eye, although I think a few 650GL models were a wee bit shorter.)

[waterman]

I knew a guy who put ZRX shocks on a '79 GS850 he was building into some sort of cafe mutation.

The main problem is that the ZRX shocks were a lot longer than the correct length GS shocks (by about 1.5 inches, IIRC) and put the swingarm and driveshaft at what could be an unworkable angle.

He abandoned the project before it got very far, so we'll never know if it would have worked or what the effects might have been.



(Edit: Googling turned up the factoid that ZRX shocks are 14.5" (about 370mm) eye to eye. Shocks on all shafties were 13" (330mm) eye-to-eye, although I think a few 650GL models were a wee bit shorter.)

Brian, the 650GL is shorter at 12.5", the chain drive 650E is 13", the regular G is longer at 13.5", and the rare 650 Katana M is 14.25" respectively.

[ukilme]

I am putting zrx shocks on my Kat build but I have also switched out the swing arm and welded custom mounts to it.

I have heard of people getting adapters of some sort machined to mate the shock to the gs swing arm but then you lose on the cost savings.

[GSWeergin]

As a follow up, you would have to change the mounts on the swingarm since the ZRX shocks have the same type of mount on the bottom as the top, and GSs use a clevis for the bottom. Since you have to do that, you should be able to locate them where ever needed to maintain the proper ride height. Any competent welder should be able to do that for you if welding is not your specialty.