Need suspension help for a 78 750, rear shock suggestions

[Chuck78]

Its been a few months, but if looking at new, I always tell people the following.
#1 - rebuild forks first, modify for & add cartridge emulators & springs or chop the stockers, clean internals, inspect for stanchions' (upper/inner legs') chrome for anything that will cause sealing problems or damage the new fork seals, replace slider and stanchion bushings with OEM or Racetech.
Now you have healthy forks and 3 valving circuits instead of 1 - high & low speed travel dampening for compression, & rebound, 1000% better than stock, plus a proper spring rate without the ill-advised pressurizing emulsion forks with air.

#2 address your rear shocks next, and spend $200-800 (as much as you can afford/justify) on rear shocks.


My advice, cheaper @ top to best @ bottom:

$200 Hagon or Progressive shocks sprung & valved for your bike/rider weight & riding style, passenger&luggage considered (goes for all shocks bought new)

$309 Hagon 2810 non-rebuildable but with 10 click adjustable rebound

$350-$380 Ikon 7610 twin tube shock absorber - more consistent than a standard emulsion shock due to twin tube design. Rebuildable.

$450 YSS C-302 alloy body piggyback (oil & gas cushion are totally seperated for no foaming, more consistent dampening), valved&sprung custom for you. 12mm shaft 30mm piston, best dampening for the money as long as you don't need adjustable rebound (can dismantle & adjust if needed).

$500 Ikon 7614-1296 (clevis bottom is 1296, alloy body is 7614)
Same as the steel 7610 but infinite preload adj with threaded collar on aluminum body.

$500 YSS Z-362 12mm shaft 36mm piston self adjusting gas pressurized emulsion shock with 10mm +/- ride height adjustment and 60 clicks rebound adjustment - very nice! Self adjusting valving tries to compensate for foaming of oil (hence change in viscosity) after bumpy sections.



$570 YSS G-302-TRL piggyback style (oil&gas cushion are totally seperated for no foaming, more consistent dampening) 12mm shaft 30mm piston with 10mm +/- ride height adjustment and 60 clicks rebound adjustment - very nice!

$700 YSS G-302-TRCL same as above but also has 20 clicks compression dampening adjustment

$770 YSS G-362-TRCL same as above but the larger piston & oil capacity (more consistent dampening) but only 3 clicks compression adjustment (add $50 for 20 clicks comp adj)

$780 Gazi Hyper X - fully adjustable piggyback. less details on specs on website but similar to the YSS G-362-TRCL but 40mm piston & 15mm shaft. This is the only shock in their lineup that compares better than a similar YSS.


$$$$$ YSS Z-366 emulsion shocks and G-366 piggybacks - these big boys cost a few hundred more but have very stout 16mm shafts for those extreme riders or loaded tourers.

You get so much more out of YSS for the money than Ohlins, Wilbur's, or other high end offerings. YSS has made a string effort for more than a decade to put out better and better quality products to keep on the cutting edge, and their quality shows as soon as you have one of these in your hands. Based in Thailand with an R&D/design office in Australia as well, and a USA headquarters on top of that. Gazi is also from Thailand.

The only shocks I have left put that I think deserve more are Works Performance & Fox's new line of Podium & Podium R's. Cognito Moto had Fox make some special runs if these tailored towards cafe racers and vintage bikes, and for like $500-600 standard & $900-1000 piggyback.

Also, for eye-to-eye only (no clevis), the $500-ish Hagon Nitro is a great shock.

[tkent02]

I'd like to know why every time I buy shocks for these bikes they ride hard as a rock. Hagons on my 550/675, Ikons on an old 750, Ohlins on the 1000, now just tried Progressive on my 750, all hard as a rock. I have never been able to buy a shock for any price and get a nice smooth comfortable ride. They can't actually believe the customers who buy this stuff want their backbones pounded every mile. Hell I might as well buy a hard tail.

[tom203]

"I'd like to know why every time I buy shocks for these bikes they ride hard as a rock. "

I just put on a set of used Showas off a low milesge gs550t. At first i thought they would be too soft on my pitiful roads, but after about 500 miles with them, i feel lucky - they work well and make me realize just how poorly my old ones were. I was not in the mood to research the choices available during my limited riding season.

[Chuck78]

I'd like to know why every time I buy shocks for these bikes they ride hard as a rock. Hagons on my 550/675, Ikons on an old 750, Ohlins on the 1000, now just tried Progressive on my 750, all hard as a rock. I have never been able to buy a shock for any price and get a nice smooth comfortable ride. They can't actually believe the customers who buy this stuff want their backbones pounded every mile. Hell I might as well buy a hard tail.

Maybe you're barely a buck fifty like myself? Good thing is companies like Dave Quinn Motorcycles (preferred Hagon Dealer) have a free 1 time spring exchange if you don't feel good with the original spring selection. I remember TheCafeKid said the same thing about an $800-$900 group purchase buy on a set of lower end Ohlins, he got rid of them... The rebound dampening needs to be roughly tailored to the spring rate as well, so buying new from a reputable shop or the manufacturer (YSS-USA, Dave Quinn, etc) is a huge bonus.

[Chuck78]

I got very lucky with my 1981/82 Fox Factory Shox once I got a misleading seller to give me a partial $100 refund on the "chrome on shafts is perfect" claim so I could spend $170 on two reproduction shafts...

Those rare vintage Fox's are a Piggyback design with a reservoir piston separating the Nitrogen from the oil. They were from a GS1000. Short spring ("medium") & long spring ("medium-light") combo. I was afraid it might be too soft. Nope. Tried preloaded at close to 6 or 7 steps out of 8& the thing was stiff as a board, could not compress on bench. Backed off to previous owner's 3rd setting, firm ride but good. Dampening was amazing. Might back off 1 more to test, but those things are amazing. No fade at all on rough roads, viscosity insensitive design also. Basically like a the $450 YSS but a much larger piston & steel main cylinder alloy head & res. Great setup.

[tkent02]

Maybe you're barely a buck fifty like myself? Good thing is companies like Dave Quinn Motorcycles (preferred Hagon Dealer) have a free 1 time spring exchange if you don't feel good with the original spring selection. I remember TheCafeKid said the same thing about an $800-$900 group purchase buy on a set of lower end Ohlins, he got rid of them... The rebound dampening needs to be roughly tailored to the spring rate as well, so buying new from a reputable shop or the manufacturer (YSS-USA, Dave Quinn, etc) is a huge bonus.

After I'm dead and all the meat has rotted off my bones I may get down to 150. When I was rock climbing and skiing daily I was 180, not anymore. Dave Quinn is the one who sold me the Hagons, the spring rate is fine, the damping is just hard as a rock. Same with the new Progressives, the spring rate is good, the sag is correct, the damping is brutally hard.

[Ecklund]

I put these on front and back and haven't looked back. Some think they're a bit pricey, but worth every penny IMO.

I'd like to do a side by side of the Progressives with the high end stuff from YSS or Ohlin or even the high end Hagons.

My suspicion is that the high end stuff gives better ride quality over a wider range of road conditions but just not three times better as the price would suggest.

I have the Progressives too with the HD springs.

I was thinking about a set of YSS or Ohlins for the '75 GL1000. Maybe an inch or so taller than stock. It runs OK now as is and it will be used to pull a side car so maybe when I do the front suspension...

[radek22]

Question for those who tried.. In what way, if any, taller than stock rear shocks will affect the ride? I would like to lift up the rear by about an inch, when the time comes for new rear shocks.

[Steve]

Question for those who tried.. In what way, if any, taller than stock rear shocks will affect the ride? I would like to lift up the rear by about an inch, when the time comes for new rear shocks.

That will depend a bit on the bike. As usual, we are forced to ask ... WHAT BIKE ARE WE TALKING ABOUT???

Generally speaking, raising the rear of the bike will decrease the angle of the steering head a little bit. Some claim to be able to tell the difference in the steering, apparently I am not that sensitive. Besides the steering angle change, there will also be a small change to the 'trail', but I am not sure whether it will increase or decrease.

On a longer-wheelbase bike, the quicker steering might be a welcome thing, but on a shorter bike, it might make the bike downright 'twitchy'.

You are more likely to notice the difference when you park the bike. Longer shocks will make the bike lean over farther on the side stand. If you use the centerstand, there is a possibility that the rear wheel might still touch the ground.

The seat will obviously be farther from the ground, hope your legs are long enough.

If you have a shaft-driven bike, there will be a change in the angle of the u-joint. They usually like to run as straight as possible. The farther they are bent in constant use, the quicker they will wear out items that are 'downstream' of the u-joint, like the splines in the final drive and the rear hub.

Welcome to the nuthouse, now fill out your profile to show your general location and your bike.

.

[radek22]

gs1100e.jpg My apologies - 1980 GS 1100e with shorter (bmw style) handle bars. Thanks for your input!

[Danb4563]

I got very lucky with my 1981/82 Fox Factory Shox once I got a misleading seller to give me a partial $100 refund on the "chrome on shafts is perfect" claim so I could spend $170 on two reproduction shafts...

Those rare vintage Fox's are a Piggyback design with a reservoir piston separating the Nitrogen from the oil. They were from a GS1000. Short spring ("medium") & long spring ("medium-light") combo. I was afraid it might be too soft. Nope. Tried preloaded at close to 6 or 7 steps out of 8& the thing was stiff as a board, could not compress on bench. Backed off to previous owner's 3rd setting, firm ride but good. Dampening was amazing. Might back off 1 more to test, but those things are amazing. No fade at all on rough roads, viscosity insensitive design also. Basically like a the $450 YSS but a much larger piston & steel main cylinder alloy head & res. Great setup.

Sorry to jump in here with an unrelated question, but I have to know Chuck, what are you running for a rear brake? Looks way different than any I have come across

[Chuck78]

It's a gold painted (stripped now) GS1150 caliper with the older 750/850/1000/1100 tubular brake stay shortened and the end narrowed to fit. Rotor is an 89-91 right front floating rotor off of an 1100 Katana I believe.had to redrill the bolt pattern a half a hole off because the Katana took 10mm bolts and the GS takes 8mm. Much lighter than stock. The gs650 caliper is slightly lighter than the big 750/1000/1100 rear caliper as well.

[Danb4563]

It's a gold painted (stripped now) GS1150 caliper with the older 750/850/1000/1100 tubular brake stay shortened and the end narrowed to fit. Rotor is an 89-91 right front floating rotor off of an 1100 Katana I believe.had to redrill the bolt pattern a half a hole off because the Katana took 10mm bolts and the GS takes 8mm. Much lighter than stock. The gs650 caliper is slightly lighter than the big 750/1000/1100 rear caliper as well.

Nice setup! Looks almost stock.

[one_civic]

I ended up buying the older Koni's however the seals are NLA from Ikon. I found a guy who still has the old style seals and he makes a conversion kit to use the newer seals.

The Koni's that I put on my bike were originally for a cb750 / 76P-1296 / They are 1/2" longer and I have noticed quicker turning.

Anyway's here are some pics of the Koni's that I rebuilt / restored as well as the old vs new style seals. The guy I bought the seals from still has plenty of stock for the older style seals.

His name is Robert Haag and he rebuild's old shocks on the side specializing in Koni's, IMG_0144.jpg

I was also able to get new bump stops and eye bushings from David Gardner who is the Ikon rep. for the states.

[one_civic]

IMG_0079.jpg old style seal