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Author Topic: rear shocks . . . how long is too long on a street cb550?  (Read 5288 times)

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Offline thehammer

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rear shocks . . . how long is too long on a street cb550?
« on: January 10, 2011, 12:01:55 PM »
 . . . for the sake of swingarm clearance with the factory swingarm.
« Last Edit: January 10, 2011, 01:39:05 PM by thehammer »
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Offline domer

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Re: rear shocks . . . how long is too long on a street cb550?
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2011, 02:41:23 PM »
fwiw....i have 750k shocks on my 500 (perfect condition, cl find for $20) none the less they are a little over an inch longer than my stock ones, and a little stiffer too. no issues that i can see... but i imagine too much longer than that and you start to f with the geometry of the bike.
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Offline thehammer

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Re: rear shocks . . . how long is too long on a street cb550?
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2011, 02:54:15 PM »
yeah, considering a pair of progressive shocks. Mine are 12", progressive sells them up to 14.5". anyone sporting 14.5" rears on a 500/550?
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Offline MCRider

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Re: rear shocks . . . how long is too long on a street cb550?
« Reply #3 on: January 10, 2011, 02:58:31 PM »
Quote from: thehammer on January 10, 2011, 02:54:15 PM
yeah, considering a pair of progressive shocks. Mine are 12", progressive sells them up to 14.5". anyone sporting 14.5" rears on a 500/550?
Probably render the stands useless as well as changin the handling. I'd stick within an inch of stock, all things considered.
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Offline Gordon

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Re: rear shocks . . . how long is too long on a street cb550?
« Reply #4 on: January 10, 2011, 03:24:26 PM »
Going too much longer than stock will also screw with the chain.  The countershaft is several inches in front of the swingarm pivot, so when the swingarm is at the bottom of its travel the chain is slightly looser than when it's in the middle.  By installing longer shocks the bottom of the swingarm travel will be even farther from center causing this effect to be exaggerated, so it may not be possible to set the chain tension so that it's not either too loose at the bottom or too tight in the middle of travel.
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Offline thehammer

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Re: rear shocks . . . how long is too long on a street cb550?
« Reply #5 on: January 10, 2011, 04:53:03 PM »
Quote from: Gordon on January 10, 2011, 03:24:26 PM
Going too much longer than stock will also screw with the chain.  The countershaft is several inches in front of the swingarm pivot, so when the swingarm is at the bottom of its travel the chain is slightly looser than when it's in the middle.  By installing longer shocks the bottom of the swingarm travel will be even farther from center causing this effect to be exaggerated, so it may not be possible to set the chain tension so that it's not either too loose at the bottom or too tight in the middle of travel.

an excellent note and a detail i must admitt i hadn't considered. folks seem to not have problems 1" above stock . . .
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Offline Gordon

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Re: rear shocks . . . how long is too long on a street cb550?
« Reply #6 on: January 10, 2011, 05:05:23 PM »
Quote from: thehammer on January 10, 2011, 04:53:03 PM
Quote from: Gordon on January 10, 2011, 03:24:26 PM
Going too much longer than stock will also screw with the chain.  The countershaft is several inches in front of the swingarm pivot, so when the swingarm is at the bottom of its travel the chain is slightly looser than when it's in the middle.  By installing longer shocks the bottom of the swingarm travel will be even farther from center causing this effect to be exaggerated, so it may not be possible to set the chain tension so that it's not either too loose at the bottom or too tight in the middle of travel.

an excellent note and a detail i must admitt i hadn't considered. folks seem to not have problems 1" above stock . . .

1" over is doable and should allow you to still use the center stand, but you may want to measure the gap between your rear tire and the floor with the bike on the center stand and stock shocks just to be sure.  Contact between your rear tire and the ground when on the center stand won't necessarily render it unusable, but it will keep you from rotating the wheel to make chain and brake adjustments. 
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Offline bigjoshl

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Re: rear shocks . . . how long is too long on a street cb550?
« Reply #7 on: January 10, 2011, 05:17:37 PM »
Hey there, I'm running 14.5" shocks on my 550k cafe racer, no chain clearance issues. I did have to use a spacer under my centerstand about an inch thick for maintainance until I mounted spools, your sidestand will be to short after this to. I accomadated this by using a ninja 250 stand, and it worked perfectly.  The handling did not change for the worse, if anything it is better in the corners. Bigjoshl
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Offline Bluegreen

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Re: rear shocks . . . how long is too long on a street cb550?
« Reply #8 on: January 12, 2011, 01:43:25 AM »
Quote from: thehammer on January 10, 2011, 04:53:03 PM
Quote from: Gordon on January 10, 2011, 03:24:26 PM
Going too much longer than stock will also screw with the chain.  The countershaft is several inches in front of the swingarm pivot, so when the swingarm is at the bottom of its travel the chain is slightly looser than when it's in the middle.  By installing longer shocks the bottom of the swingarm travel will be even farther from center causing this effect to be exaggerated, so it may not be possible to set the chain tension so that it's not either too loose at the bottom or too tight in the middle of travel.

an excellent note and a detail i must admitt i hadn't considered. folks seem to not have problems 1" above stock . . .

I'm using Progressives that are 1" longer and have no problems with either my center stand or chain tension. I have lowered the front however.
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Offline KRONUS0100

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Re: rear shocks . . . how long is too long on a street cb550?
« Reply #9 on: January 13, 2011, 08:03:41 AM »
well.....i modified the swing arm mounts to fit the air shocks off the gl1000 i got my front end off of.  bike sits 2 inches taller...had to change out the side stand to keep it from falling over....when on center stand the rea wheel is barely on the ground....I have to put a piece of scrap1x4 under center stand to change the wheel.  But I am 6 foot 2 inches so it fits me better now than it did before, and it handles better than it did before.
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Offline thehammer

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Re: rear shocks . . . how long is too long on a street cb550?
« Reply #10 on: January 14, 2011, 12:19:36 PM »
Quote from: KRONUS0100 on January 13, 2011, 08:03:41 AM
well.....i modified the swing arm mounts to fit the air shocks off the gl1000 i got my front end off of.  bike sits 2 inches taller...had to change out the side stand to keep it from falling over....when on center stand the rea wheel is barely on the ground....I have to put a piece of scrap1x4 under center stand to change the wheel.  But I am 6 foot 2 inches so it fits me better now than it did before, and it handles better than it did before.

GL1000 suspension on a cb550? sounds cool.
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