ZX10R Rear shock on a Hawk

[Skyd]

Hey guys,


I've been off the forum for a few months....winter here and the Hawk is asleep, but I want to start prepping for riding season with a few new mods.



I've got a couple things I want to address but one big item I'd like to fix is the rear shock. The stock spring/shock is not where it's at especially for a guy my size (6'4" 225lbs).


When I get in the rough stuff especially the rear end won't stay planted and swaps hard requiring alot of body english to keep me on the move. Sure I could slow down, but what's the fun in that.


Anyway, I read someone swapped in a shock from a ZX10R and it was literally a straight swap. So I have 2 questions, is it indeed a straight swap and does it change the ride height? Higher is ok, lower is not.


Secondly - is this a worthwhile improvement or are there better options for a rear shock?

[Megadan]

I received this message a little while back about it from the gentleman that did this swap originally.

Originally Posted by drstansbury@yahoo.

Found that a 2016-19 zx10r rear shock was a direct fit replacement on my hawk with the stock swing arm.

As far as I know the length is the same and the spring rate and damping works out very well with the Hawk.

Hopefully he sees this thread and chimes in with more detail as I have very little other information to work with.

[Skyd]

Well I'm not going to pull the trigger just yet...I've got a bit of time anyway but I think it's worth trying. A quick look reveals a bunch on ebay for just over the $100 mark.

[tknj99]

Some would call this blasphemy.. But I think its so cool!

[jasbeth]

The 2016-2019 ZX10 Rear shock is a perfect fit on the Hawk and the Bashan Storm, we have done both bikes. Ride height will be the same as stock. Honestly this is one of the best upgrades you can do for 100 bucks. It's a Showa shock that is adjustable.

[Britt]

I don't know what the spring rate is, but I have a Hawk DLX and am also 6'4" and about 230 lbs. The DLX spring is adjustable, and where I have mine set (I don't remember changing it), I can easily ride with a passenger. I suspect it drops less than 2" when I sit on it. So, the DLX spring might be an option as well.

[TxTaoRider]

I'm just curious, but looking at the pics online, it seems as though the zx10 shock has a very short amount of travel compared to the stock. A little difference at the shock is allot at the wheel.

I mean it might just look shorter, can someone measure the shock travel?

[drstansbury@yahoo.]

Perfect fit on the Hawk. I did it on mine awhile back. it was the exact same length eye to eye and the same bolt diameter as well. Just bolt it up adjust the preload on the spring and them adjust the rebound and compression dampening to your liking. One of my favorite upgrades. Bike ride quality is 1000 times better. I never measured the travel but side by side visual comparison I'd say the difference is negligible

Don't waste money on a seat for comfort just put this shock on your bike!!!

[Skyd]

Ok I was gonna try it anyway, but with everyone's input here it's for sure happening. I'll keep my eyes peeled for a good deal on fleabay.

I also need to shave the hump on my seat still and I've got some gel to add to it. Gonna put some miles on this year, whoop whoop

[TxTaoRider]

Originally Posted by drstansbury@yahoo.

Perfect fit on the Hawk. I did it on mine awhile back. it was the exact same length eye to eye and the same bolt diameter as well. Just bolt it up adjust the preload on the spring and them adjust the rebound and compression dampening to your liking. One of my favorite upgrades. Bike ride quality is 1000 times better. I never measured the travel but side by side visual comparison I'd say the difference is negligible

Don't waste money on a seat for comfort just put this shock on your bike!!!

I don't doubt the eye to eye is the same, I'm curious as to the actual travel of the shock. My aftermarket shock is the same length as my stock shock, but it has more travel at the shock so I picked up more rear wheel travel. The zx10 appears to have less travel than the stock shock. I was just wondering if someone had actually measured the travel and compared it to a stock shock.

[Skyd]

Originally Posted by TxTaoRider

I don't doubt the eye to eye is the same, I'm curious as to the actual travel of the shock. My aftermarket shock is the same length as my stock shock, but it has more travel at the shock so I picked up more rear wheel travel. The zx10 appears to have less travel than the stock shock. I was just wondering if someone had actually measured the travel and compared it to a stock shock.

That's a good question and I might try to check that out myself when I get one. Does anyone know the travel on a stock Hawk shock?


Also from what research I could do the eye to eye length on the ZX10R shock is actually 308mm, which is a tad longer than the hawk if memory serves (which I like).

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by Skyd

That's a good question and I might try to check that out myself when I get one. Does anyone know the travel on a stock Hawk shock?


Also from what research I could do the eye to eye length on the ZX10R shock is actually 308mm, which is a tad longer than the hawk if memory serves (which I like).

tad shorter. Hawk shock is around 320mm long. The ZX10 is nominally 310mm long, but the ride height is likely the same because the Hawk's dual rate spring has a really soft initial rate and has more static sag under the bikes weight.

[Skyd]

Originally Posted by Megadan

tad shorter. Hawk shock is around 320mm long. The ZX10 is nominally 310mm long, but the ride height is likely the same because the Hawk's dual rate spring has a really soft initial rate and has more static sag under the bikes weight.

Ok, good to know. I don't know why I was thinking the stock eye to eye length was 295mm, I may have seen where someone swapped one in to lower the seat height, I dunno, lol.


Well I'm going to attempt to measure somewhat accurately the change in seat height when I do the swap. I know to be accurate I need to have the sag set the same with each spring, so I should at least measure the static sag and take that into account.


Be a fun little project if I remember to write it all down, good info to have.


Also - I'm going to pull the swing arm off while I'm at it and grease the bearings is there anything I should do while I'm right there? Is it worth changing the bearings out all together? probably be another month or so before I pull the bike in to work on it so trying to decide what all i wanna get done.

[China Rider 27]

Originally Posted by TxTaoRider

I don't doubt the eye to eye is the same, I'm curious as to the actual travel of the shock. My aftermarket shock is the same length as my stock shock, but it has more travel at the shock so I picked up more rear wheel travel. The zx10 appears to have less travel than the stock shock. I was just wondering if someone had actually measured the travel and compared it to a stock shock.

What aftermarket shock did you use?

[ChillRider]

Originally Posted by tknj99

Some would call this blasphemy.. But I think its so cool!

Well, with many of these chinabikes you have to get inventive with spare parts. E.g. the ZongShen Sierra uses what looks suspiciously like a Yamaha TW200 rear shock (not an easy/cheap part to find on its own right), while the front inverted forks looks suspsiciously like the Honda CRF 150F's...



It stand to reason that other chinabikes may work with other name-brand parts. It's just that said replacements are not necessarily cheaper (almost never) or particularly easy to find.