Author Topic: My cheap piggyback reservoir shocks from ebay (Read 26286 times)

Gaucho · « **on:** September 03, 2010, 06:14:39 PM »

Well, I was a little bit intrigued by the look of piggyback reservoir shocks from china that I saw in ebay.
So for $150.- a set shipped I said: Let's gamble.
When they arrived I found them too short eye to eye so I had a machine shop make me a set of adapters for the lower eye.
I've installed them today so the comparison ride and opinions will come tomorrow.
Gaucho

Terry in Australia · « **Reply #1 on:** September 03, 2010, 10:34:11 PM »

Well they look the business mate, so let us know how they work! Cheers, Terry.

swellguy · « **Reply #2 on:** September 03, 2010, 11:43:20 PM »

I honestly hate the look of reservoir shocks and coming from China I can't imagine they're any good, or at least better than stock shocks. You must have another $100+ in machine shop charges.
This negativity aside, I hope your ride is much improved.

Hush · « **Reply #3 on:** September 04, 2010, 12:43:27 AM »

They look very light for a 750, will be interested in your results.

fasturd · « **Reply #4 on:** September 04, 2010, 06:58:18 AM »

I have a feeling that with those springs the ride might be rather harsh.. But I have to say I like your cafe seat assembly.
Good luck!

Gaucho · « **Reply #5 on:** September 04, 2010, 09:11:48 AM »

OK,
Back from a 175 mile ride.

A nice mix of really crappy city streets, nice and smooth city streets and highway.
They never bottomed out, they are not any harsher than the Progressive Suspension shocks I had installed before.
Now the Caveat: 1) I didn't buy them to improve the handling, I bought them for the looks. I know, I know, what a frigging poser. Truth be told, when I want impeccable handling I jump on my Aprilia Tuono.
2) Yes, you are right, I spent some money at the machine shop. $120.- bucks to be precise. Did you check the price of a set of racing shocks for these bikes?
3) This shocks are rebuildable, there are threads in the DTT website on how to do it. So even when they came from China they are not Bottom of the barrel useless crap.
I couldn't be happier, I'm getting closer to the point in which I can take the whole bike apart and paint it and chrome it the way I like.

Gaucho

Gaither · « **Reply #6 on:** September 04, 2010, 04:34:39 PM »

Gaucho

FWIW

Isn't it great that we can all have options according to our own personal taste.

It's your bike and your money and you weren't reluctant to spend it. "What you want" is always worth more [and, generally costs more]. That's the way I feel about the small Shoei saddlebags on the 550 - while most folks don't like "baggers" at all.

Spending another $120 to get 'em on the bike properly just indicates your determination to "have it your way" regardless of cost. Gotta admire you for that. IMO, you made 'em look good on the bike - including the "adaptors" [well designed].

Glad it rode out to suit you. [Hey,that is a nice seat!]

May we all ride safely with a wide grin.

Raef · « **Reply #7 on:** September 04, 2010, 04:43:57 PM »

Nice looking set up, Who was the seller.

rangelov · « **Reply #8 on:** September 04, 2010, 06:37:08 PM »

Were these shocks sold as a replacement for the CB750K?

Did they have the correct shock ends on them?

What was the center of eye to eye length?

Were they better than the stock Honda shocks?

Seller link, please.

I'm asking because they are nice. I would like to get a set of shocks that are bit shorter than stock at reasonable price with decent performance and road manners.

Thanks, Dimitar

Dunstall_74 · « **Reply #9 on:** September 05, 2010, 11:33:00 AM »

Good looking shocks. Lets see the other side of the bike....curious about that exhaust

Also, Is that a '77 or '78? I'm riding a '78 right now and not sure if I'm gonna stay with the drop center rims. Anyhow, Cool bike.

Gaucho · « **Reply #10 on:** September 06, 2010, 05:58:02 PM »

Wow, so many questions. I feel special now

Just got back from Sanibel Island with the wife and the dog.
I promise I'll answer all the questions.
First the easy ones:
These shocks are sold for Yamaha VMax. They are probably an inch too short for our bikes. Mine is a K8.
The particular brand of my socks is NTC. They started manufacturing mountain bike shocks.
I'll post some pics of the right side tomorrow, I'm running a Mac 4-1.
Gaucho

Dunstall_74 · « **Reply #11 on:** September 06, 2010, 10:34:26 PM »

Cool. I think a set of these would look nice on the cb550 I'm gonna start tearing into. This set is up on ebay right now for 100 bucks. Think I'll wait for something that already has proper clevis though

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-NTC-TWIN-SHOCKS-/130427109125?pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e5e0fbf05

fastbroshi · « **Reply #12 on:** September 07, 2010, 07:36:58 AM »

http://forums.sohc4.net/index.php?topic=76386.0

Dunstall_74 · « **Reply #13 on:** September 07, 2010, 08:06:32 AM »

Those Ohlins are rad...The search is on!

SKTP · « **Reply #14 on:** September 07, 2010, 09:51:26 AM »

Don't want to side track this thread, but what exhaust is that? I'm switching to 4-in-to-1 and would love to keep my center stand.

Gaucho · « **Reply #15 on:** September 07, 2010, 04:09:04 PM »

Picture from the right, better view of the Mac 4-1.
The length of the original shocks was 13 1/2 eye to eye.

Gaucho · « **Reply #16 on:** September 07, 2010, 04:10:07 PM »

These are the clevis adapters that came with the kit.

Gaucho · « **Reply #17 on:** September 07, 2010, 04:20:42 PM »

This is the one I made.

rangelov · « **Reply #18 on:** September 13, 2010, 07:44:48 AM »

It looks like your adapters are about 32mm or 1-1/4" longer than the supplied adapter. How close am I?

Gaucho · « **Reply #19 on:** June 07, 2011, 05:08:57 AM »

Pretty close, this is the blueprint I came up with. With the thread pitch I've left it to the machine shop to determine the right one. It's a weird one.
Gaucho

Gaucho · « **Reply #20 on:** June 07, 2011, 05:19:41 AM »

Now, after experiencing no issues at all with the previous set I've installed another one on my Kawasaki W1 project.

This time I've used the single coil style, they are more than capable for the weight of the W1.
Gaucho

Terry in Australia · « **Reply #21 on:** June 07, 2011, 11:49:33 PM »

That's a nice old Kawasaki mate, don't chop it up, it'll always be worth a lot more money as a rare original classic than just another cafe racer. Cheers, Terry.

Gaucho · « **Reply #22 on:** June 08, 2011, 05:21:15 AM »

I agree with you, that's why it will take very little to bring back this bike to original (and I have all the original parts).
Everything that you see mounted on the bike was done without hacking any of the original frame. The seat frame and front fender are a work in progress that's why they look so ugly, mounting the tank took some work but it's fine now.
The shocks were a drop in, without any mods. I installed Hondaman's ignition with Accel coils and also binned the original carb for a brand new Mikuni VM-32. The kickstart never makes it to the bottom and the engine is running and idling perfectly.
Now I'm in the process of fabricating new header pipes, bought a pre bent kit from Coneeng and they have an outstanding quality product, let's see how it comes out.

Gaucho

Terry in Australia · « **Reply #23 on:** June 08, 2011, 05:31:30 AM »

Well done mate, I've got no problems with "customizing", or perhaps "personalizing" a bike like that, as long as it can be returned to original. Cheers, Terry.

Nikkisixx · « **Reply #24 on:** July 28, 2011, 08:23:02 PM »

Like you Gaucho, I bought a pair of those POS shocks for looks. Put them on my Triumph Bonneville and it looked 10-15 mph faster.

Out for a ride, one of the Chinese wonders came apart at the clevis and spit the spring right off. Rode it home and put the British OEM shocks back on. My Bonnie tips the scales at about 325 lbs, wet. I'd hate to see what loosing one side would do on a fat ass Honda 750.

eideteker · « **Reply #25 on:** July 28, 2011, 09:30:22 PM »

Quote from: Nikkisixx on July 28, 2011, 08:23:02 PM

Like you Gaucho, I bought a pair of those POS shocks for looks. Put them on my Triumph Bonneville and it looked 10-15 mph faster.

Out for a ride, one of the Chinese wonders came apart at the clevis and spit the spring right off. Rode it home and put the British OEM shocks back on. My Bonnie tips the scales at about 325 lbs, wet. I'd hate to see what loosing one side would do on a fat ass Honda 750.

Any pics of the aftermath or did you just pitch the shocks in the trash? I have a set of these on my 500 and they seem to work relatively well for the price. As a caveat I'll add that I've never felt really good shocks like Ohlins or Ikon so I'm only basing my conclusion on the squishy stockers that I replaced with the "Chinese wonders".

Nikkisixx · « **Reply #26 on:** July 29, 2011, 01:24:28 PM »

Yeah eideteker, I'm gonna hang the fogger next to my computer as an reminder for those late night eBay purchases.

I had somebody with a 500 ask about these things via eBay and I said they were ok. Hope I didn't mislead anybody $:-\$

I will shamefully admit this shock failed once before and I collected the pieces off the side of the road, checked everything over and put it back together. It looked as if the rod had only been threaded in part of the way, so I checked the other side and sure enough it was also loose. I tightend everything up and put the shocks back on the bike. This time Mark and I were out for a ride, and neither of us noticed the sh!t had come appart. The spring is sitting in a ditch somewhere.

In a battle between the steel piston rod and the silly putty/aluminum threads the divorce was fast and final:

The steel rod is unharmed:

And the "disassembled" unit:

crazypj · « **Reply #27 on:** July 29, 2011, 01:54:59 PM »

I bought same ones through eBay France for about same price.
It's probably my 360 thread on DTT about re-building these shocks. (http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=11736.0)
Out of the box they had several issues so I completely stripped and re-built them plus made completely new lower mount/spring seats.
I actually did quite a lot of work on them but it was really worth it.
How do you know shocks are working properly?
You can't tell they are working (if you can tell they are moving, they are not working right

)

bert96 · « **Reply #28 on:** July 29, 2011, 03:10:51 PM »

Just wondering if this clevis would fit on chinese chocks?

http://www.gazisuspension.com/_product_50296/Fork_-_Clevis_10

it would be a cheap upgrade....

Bert

wildcatmahone · « **Reply #29 on:** July 29, 2011, 07:31:39 PM »

Glad to hear your ok man but anyone who puts that chinko junk on their bike should absolutely know better. Last Word=YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

Nikkisixx · « **Reply #30 on:** July 29, 2011, 08:06:49 PM »

Quote from: wildcatmahone on July 29, 2011, 07:31:39 PM

Glad to hear your ok man but anyone who puts that chinko junk on their bike should absolutely know better. Last Word=YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

Yup, and I knew that going in. The chinkotastic junk look tits, and the Bonnie was intended to be a bar hopper so the shocks were good for that purpose. Unfortunately that bike is a freakin blast to ride and it sees more action than my CB750 now, so it may have earned a set of Ohlins.

My advice to anyone trying these out would be to do a complete rework like crazypj did or just run worn out gear and eat bologna sammiches until you can pony up for a pair of shocks with a warranty.

crazypj · « **Reply #31 on:** July 29, 2011, 08:10:44 PM »

Quote from: wildcatmahone on July 29, 2011, 07:31:39 PM

Glad to hear your ok man but anyone who puts that chinko junk on their bike should absolutely know better. Last Word=YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR.

Buy me a set of Ohlins, I'll happily fit them
As long as you realise they were probably assembled by a 7yr old in a barn, you'll be fine with them
BTW, It's a standard metric fine thread, pretty sure I have taps and dies the correct size

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Author Topic: My cheap piggyback reservoir shocks from ebay (Read 26286 times)