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Well, the bike started to bottom-out at a slightest glimpse of a bump and it kept getting worse. Small potholes felt like crevasse and I had to do something about it. This bike is no ordinary bike, as it's loaded beyond its rating on any standards. Last I checked it on scale, it weighed almost 1200lb with the gear, Cynthia and I on it. I upgraded the suspension (front and rear) to progressive and it did great for about a year but the progressive shocks gave out finally. By the way, the bike is a 1982 GS850GZ and you can see all the mods here at http://www.motorcyclememoir.com/motorcycle/
Now if we were in the States, it was just a matter of phone call to get another set, but down here in Medellin, Colombia, I don't have that luxury. We searched every motorcycle shop in town and no shocks even come close to the rating I want, so we decided to make our own.
We dismantled the progressives and kept the HD springs to install them on two heavy duty shocks. These shocks are from a Taiwanese 250cc motorcycle with mono rear suspension system (one chock in middle) and they are unbelievably tough. The length was 13" so it was the right size.
We mounted the springs on them and modified the bushings and heads to fit the GS and installed them on the bike. It's a pain installing shocks on this bike since I have to remove the boxes in order to get to the shocks and we did this 5 times yesterday!
The shop that's doing the shock work is a specialized machine shop that only deals with motorcycle shocks and suspension, so there is no shortage of tools or talents here but we kept getting stiff shocks. In fact, they are so hard that 3 people can't push the bike down to compress the darn thing. At 6 p.m last night we stopped after 7 hours of work and we're getting back to work this morning again.
The plan today is to open the chambers to modify the valves, (enlarging the holes) to let more fluid through faster and changing the viscosity of the oil. Hopefully that helps the stiffness.
I'm filming the process and it's a very interesting work so stay tuned for the pictures and videos tonight.
Have any of you ever made your own custom shocks? Any experience you want to share?
Now if we were in the States, it was just a matter of phone call to get another set, but down here in Medellin, Colombia, I don't have that luxury. We searched every motorcycle shop in town and no shocks even come close to the rating I want, so we decided to make our own.
We dismantled the progressives and kept the HD springs to install them on two heavy duty shocks. These shocks are from a Taiwanese 250cc motorcycle with mono rear suspension system (one chock in middle) and they are unbelievably tough. The length was 13" so it was the right size.
We mounted the springs on them and modified the bushings and heads to fit the GS and installed them on the bike. It's a pain installing shocks on this bike since I have to remove the boxes in order to get to the shocks and we did this 5 times yesterday!
The shop that's doing the shock work is a specialized machine shop that only deals with motorcycle shocks and suspension, so there is no shortage of tools or talents here but we kept getting stiff shocks. In fact, they are so hard that 3 people can't push the bike down to compress the darn thing. At 6 p.m last night we stopped after 7 hours of work and we're getting back to work this morning again.
The plan today is to open the chambers to modify the valves, (enlarging the holes) to let more fluid through faster and changing the viscosity of the oil. Hopefully that helps the stiffness.
I'm filming the process and it's a very interesting work so stay tuned for the pictures and videos tonight.
Have any of you ever made your own custom shocks? Any experience you want to share?
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