CBR600RR shock without airbox clearance issues

[shinyribs 1,566]

Is it alright for a n00b to post a new thread??  (rofl)
 
After seeing this post by mccawesome : 
https://fz07.org/post/122933
 
... I decided to give this a try myself, but with a twist. 
 
For personal reasons, I wasn't willing to ditch the factory airbox. Been down that road in the past...not going there again. I had a 2005 CBR 600 RR shock on hand for another project bike I'm working on , so I took a look at converting the piggyback external reservoir on that shock to a remote reservoir. The whole point of the project is to make this shock ( quality Showa piece with independent rebound and compression clickers) a bolt-on affair with zero modifications to the bike itself. I just started fiddling with this last night, but I figured I'd post up things as they happen. 
 
Broke down the shock and lopped off the reservoir to see what was what inside. 
 

 
Did NOT expect to find such a large transfer area between the shock body and the reservoir! I was hoping to find a small transfer port that would allow me to simply drill/tap some AN adapters in place, but I'm never that lucky... Plan B, it is then.
 
The orientation of the port location would not have cleared the airbox anyway, so that will simply be capped off. I drilled/tapped another hole on the left hand side of the body for what will be the future attachment point for the reservoir hose instead. It'll be more clear when I'm further along and have more pictures. In the pic below you can just make out the tapped hole on to the left side of the eyelet. 
 
Plan is to weld a plate over the opening on the shock body. There will be another plate welded over the opening on the reservoir that will also get drilled/tapped. The two pieces will be attached via a Teflon lined, braided stainless -4AN high pressure line. 
 

 
Before you think this looks overly involved and not do-able with basic hand tools....it is. The shock is literally held together with two circlips. That's all! The pre-assembled high pressure line and fitting have been ordered from Speedway Motors for $25.96 to my door. I'm working with limited tools since I haven't got my shop set up at my new house, so I am farming out the welding to a bud from another forum. He's charging me $40, which a bargain. Add in a quart of shock fluid ($15 max) and a Nitrogen recharge ( typically $10-25 depending on your local shop) and this is a very low cost project. <-- All that adds up to $90.96. So, $90.96+ whatever a shock off ebay costs you...usually about $25-40. Easily a sub $150 option for a bolt-on, double adjustable shock with ZERO alterations to the bike.  Anyone with a hacksaw and files can cut off the reservoir. Those are the tools I used. Hire the welding done, then bolt her back up. Easy!
 
 
Sorry for the long winded post. Will update as things happen. Ride safe!
 
 
 

[shinyribs 1,566]

Welding is done, but will have to wait til after the long weekend to be shipped back to me. A shot of paint and some reassembly will hopefully have this ready to fit. 
 
 
Still need to fab up a mount for the reservoir. 
 
 

[blackout 1,135]

Awesome stuff! We need more of this. Most people are just parts changers.

[jmacas87 116]

Very cool love the ingenuity. Keep us posted

[shinyribs 1,566]

Thanks, guys! I enjoy building my own parts. And it makes it possible for me to afford insane FZ 07 insurance  ;-|
 
The parts to make the line came in. rather disappointed to see the braided hose does not have a vinyl sheath. That braiding is very abrasive, so I'll run a piece of heat shrink over it to protect the painted areas it will be running around.
 
 

 
Part numbers if anyone is interested. 
 

 
Off to the shop to work on that reservoir bracket...
 
 
 

[shinyribs 1,566]

It's my thread, so I can derail it, right?
 
Didn't have proper material on hand to build a reservoir mount, so I played with my levers. Never cared for shorty levers. I do like "jeweled" levers, though. Subtle, but I think it makes a difference. I've done this on several bikes and am always surprised by how many comments it gets.


 
 

 
Then turned up some preload spacers. Didn't bore them out very much in order to reduce air gap at the same time. If they're too stiff I'll just bore the centers bigger until it feels good. Easier than mucking around with oil levels. Have had luck with this approach in the past.
 

 
Sag numbers currently look all crazy, but the bike feels good. I'll revisit it when something happens with the shock, but for now brake dive is gone, so I'm calling it job done!
 
 
 

[peteinpa 181]

So how tall are your spacers? I did the same thing with pvc pipe. Cost...zero $$$

[shinyribs 1,566]

They are 15mm tall. I ended up only dropping a spacer in one leg. It's ok, but it needs a bit more. I think I'll reduce them to 10mm and use one in both legs for the next test. I went looking for PVC first, but didn't have any on hand. I prefer PVC over aluminum as it can't scratch the fork walls or produce any shavings.
 
I'm quite surprised how much the rear settled down with the forks stiffened up.

[firstyammerha 103]

Good to see these kind of posts. I've got a few clevis lower mount shocks from other bikes and I believe this is one of them. I mocked the swap out and it appeared that the air box/reservoir position was going to be a trouble spot. Like you, I don't want to start cutting any plastic to make the shock fit. A remote reservoir shock seems to be the easiest to mount so I will attempt to put a Suzuki `93-95 GSXR 750 shock. It fit my Gladius with no problem. I have a `05-07 YZFR 600 piggyback that may work too as the piggyback reservoir is more in line with the shock body, projecting downwards toward the clevis mount. All have adjustable compression and rebound. Naturally, spring rates may not be close but there are plenty of new/used spring choices out there. Update, the GSXR 750 clevis wasn't deep enough to allow the bolt to pass through the links eye and the banjo fitting the reservoir oil line to the shock interfered with the airbox so I believe that rules out this GSXR shock as an easy swap to the FZ07.The YZFR was too short overall and would require a longer shock shaft or spacer of some sort to mount on the bike. I bought a 2000 GSF 1200 shock which is a good fit IMO. It has 4 position rebound, no compression adjustment or reservoirs but the action is good. Spring rate good for my 210lb.riding weight and solo riding style. 

Edited June 13, 2020 by firstyammerha
update

[faffi 971]

If you stray far off with the spring, damping will be off.

[firstyammerha 103]

Probably so Faffi. Depends on your riding style. The GSXR shock fit to my Gladius and the 20 mile test ride I took after the install didn't show any bad damping issues. The GSXR shock spring was much lighter in rate than the Gladius shock spring so the ride was plush. Now if I had been really bending it around the corners or going over successive ripples in the road  the spring rate weakness might really have shown up. I didn't change the damping settings after the ride but dismounted the shock and made the move to an FZ09.There was a lot of shaft and little teeny bumpstop on that shock.My data sheet for the CBR600  shows that the spring rate(600lb.) should be real close to what he needs depending on his riding weight and style. If he needs any help Jamie Daugherty with Daugherty Motorsports is a Honda shock specialist. I discovered him when I was riding a CB500F a couple of years ago. The CBR600f4i was the hot set up for that bike and he provided rebuilt shocks to the CBR500riders.com community. I believe the FZ07 has a lot of options when it comes to oem shock interchanges.

[shinyribs 1,566]

I've got the shock all back together. Full of oil and bled. 20 psi in the bladder for a 24hr leak test. If this passes, it'll get charged (150 psi of nitrogen) and leak tested again. Then I just have to make time to fit it to the bike ( aka: park it long enough).

 

[rick 878]

That's quite a transformation from your 1st pits.  Nice!

 

 

[shinyribs 1,566]

On 9/22/2017 at 9:22 AM, rick said:

That's quite a transformation from your 1st pits.  Nice!

 

 

Thanks! It passed the first leak test, but I haven't yet charged it with nitrogen. Decided I would just go ahead and setup a nitrogen charging station at home, so I'm waiting on those parts to show up. In the meantime I did knock the spring back off the shock and installed it in the bike. Wanted to work the shock through the whole range of wheel travel and check for any clearance issues. All clear

 

Reckon maybe I shoulda just made this a thread of tidbits I'm doing to the bike here and there,instead of initially making it a shock thread. Oh well.

 

Turned up a pair of bushings to get rid of those ridiculously floppy things Yamaha put in for bar mounts. Did this earlier in the week, but after a few hundred miles I can say that I see no extra vibration in the bars. Control over the bike in parking lot situations is vastly improved.

 

Requires a little dish on the bottom side to fit properly, but I reckon you could make do with a simple washer, too.

 

 

Tonight, turned up a pair of spools. I just popped a couple holes in the swinger to bolt them on,but I figured a backing plate for the interior of the swinger wouldn't be a bad idea either. Pretty pleased with how these turned out, even if it is a very simple piece.

 

 

 

Few other bits being made up, but nothing finalized yet, so pics will wait til it's done. Sorting out some luggage issues and a clock relocation/windscreen setup.

 

Edited September 24, 2017 by shinyribs

[rick 878]

How much fun was it reaching in to hold those nuts and inner shims for those spools. 😉

 

My only concern for doing that is the sheet metal thickness (or should I say thinness)  that is the swinger. Thinking you should also install axle sliders as a simple tip-over could result in a really ugly dent in the swing arm if your new spool hits the ground. 

 

Some day, before I stop riding, I'm gonna own a machine lathe again. 

 

[shinyribs 1,566]

I can tell we think alike lol. 

 

The reason for the inner washers/ backing plates was because of the thinness on the arm, like you mention. I wouldn't be comfortable lifting the bike without them, and I won't sit on the bike on these spools either, but I think it'll be fine for general maintenance. Spools and lift stands are so handy that I adapt spools to everything. I even put spools on my KLR lol. Exact same design as these and it held up just fine. 

 

Reaching the nuts wasn't horrible. I measured before I drilled and I could reach through the axle adjuster slot well enough to get the nut started. Didn't have to use a wrench to hold the nut as it beds in to the soft aluminum washer well enough on its own. High strength Loc Tite to make sure it stays put.

 

I do have axle sliders up front, but the rear sliders are still in progress Solid point, though. 

 

 

That lathe is the single best tool I ever bought. $700 of Craigslist with complete tooling. I basically paid for the tooling and got the lathe for free. It's literally paid for itself by making parts for guys on other forums. It's paid itself a few times over again by also allowing me to build things I would otherwise have had to buy. I'll sell my wrenches before I ever sell my lathe lol. 

[rick 878]

I actually was not worried about lifting the bike with those spools. With all the load in shear, thinking that should be fine.

 

My concern would be in the odd chance the bike would fall over and maybe land on that spool. I fear the swinger would dent badly in that rare event. With an axle slider back there, the slider would take the impact instead of the spool. And even if the spool does touch the ground, with most of the bam on the slider, the swinger would still be protected.

 

.

[shinyribs 1,566]

After it passed a leakdown test, I refilled the nitrogen and test rode the shock this evening. 

 

 

I took off down the roughness road around here and was completely pleased. I had sat the spring preload and both clickers middle of the road, and had no complaints with how the bike was riding and handling. Before making the trip back home I ran both clickers in a fair bit to see what would happen. I didn't like how it felt, but it told me that the rebound clicker is still plenty effective, even all the way at the other end of a 24" hose now

 

I couldn't be happier with this project. Spring rate and sag is spot on and it rides beautifully. 

 

Also, I was suspicious that some of my "fork dive" wasn't really fork dive at all, but a result of the lack of rear rebound control. I had the idea that my forks weren't actually diving, but that my rear suspension was just completely unloading instead. Yep. Almost zero "fork dive" now that there's a decent rear shock out back.

[shinyribs 1,566]

On 9/27/2017 at 2:53 PM, rick said:

I actually was not worried about lifting the bike with those spools. With all the load in shear, thinking that should be fine.

 

My concern would be in the odd chance the bike would fall over and maybe land on that spool. I fear the swinger would dent badly in that rare event. With an axle slider back there, the slider would take the impact instead of the spool. And even if the spool does touch the ground, with most of the bam on the slider, the swinger would still be protected.

 

.

The spools actually do not protrude any further than the stock axle blocks, so it's not as fragile as it looks. If you lay the bike on its side, the foot controls and handlebars would hold enough angle to keep the spools off the road. I think you'd have to fall directly on a curb or something to target the spools alone. 

 

I do agree with you, though. 

[mcbrien 37]

I was curious about the spacers in the forks. I just installed a Penske shock so the stock forks was feeling like a weak link.

I machined 2 aluminum spacers , 1.350 od /1.100id x .400 and it transformed the front end ! With 16 clicks on my Penske the bike

rides and corners superb . I weigh 180 lbs. Thanks for the tip on the spacers.👍

[Kyuzo 61]

Did you use shims for the rear shock or were they direct bolt on?

[shinyribs 1,566]

On 12/29/2017 at 1:20 AM, Kyuzo said:

Did you use shims for the rear shock or were they direct bolt on?

Sorry for not answering earlier. I just saw your question. Yes, I did have to make shims to bolt the shock in. 

[Kyuzo 61]

No problem, did you need to notch the linkage? I have the 600rr shock and it wouldn't fit cause the clevis was hitting the linkage...

Edited February 1, 2018 by Kyuzo

[Jaxx 2]

Awesome write-up and interesting theory about the fork dive. Thanks for sharing 👍

[r1limited 1,684]

On 9/29/2017 at 9:59 PM, shinyribs said:

Also, I was suspicious that some of my "fork dive" wasn't really fork dive at all, but a result of the lack of rear rebound control. I had the idea that my forks weren't actually diving, but that my rear suspension was just completely unloading instead. Yep. Almost zero "fork dive" now that there's a decent rear shock out back

That is actually a true observation.  My R1 had a huge issue with dive and front end chatter when on the binders.  So went to Phil Douglas of Aftershocks talked to him on what was being experienced.  Suspension should level the bike in any braking situation, so that dive was in fact  a two soft setup in the rear.  Phil set me up with some numbers a few clicks and boom no more dive. Of course the R1 is far different then the FZ but the concept os the same and you are spot on.  But the front is a pogo stick as well on the FZ