Has anyone experimented with a longer shock?

[ChopperCharles]

Tried that extension on a stock shock first, and it was way, way too tall.

Charles.

[Lukas]

Did you loosen the spring after installing this extension?

[ChopperCharles]

Why would I loosen the preload? My goal is to not be hitting the bump stop.

Charles.

[Lukas]

In my case, the goal is to make the shock absorber softer, that is, to reduce the tension of the spring in order to ride comfortably, but after unscrewing the spring unfortunately the wheel rubs against the air box so it must be very tight and, therefore, poorly absorbs bumps, so I want to try to insert this extension and loosen the spring, and buying a shock absorber that has the same spring but a longer handle is not a good solution, but if the extension will not fit, I will write to the chinese guy, if he will fix this size, because he has a longer 450 I was also thinking to buy a shock absorber with a thin spring, 420 and replace the spring, but there is no 420 that would have damping adjustment only 430 may, and it is the same length as the extension eh.

[ChopperCharles]

Yeah, I like the stock spring. I don't like that it hits the airbox when I use off-road tires. With proper preload it doesn't hit often, but it still hits on the really big bumps. When using Shinko 244s on the back, it always hits (the tire is about 1" larger in diameter than even the Kenda big block). I'm a heavy guy and I have no desire to have a softer spring. Just a longer shock. And I've already fixed it by shortening my dog bones.

Charles.

[Lukas]

After a long search on alie xpres I accidentally found something like this at 5 in the morning.
https://pl.aliexpress.com/item/10050...65633e5fjyG5W2

[ChopperCharles]

So, I said I fixed it by altering my dogbones. This is technically true. But this made the bike very unstable at 70+ mph. The bike was designed for a 15" wheel. A 17" wheel lifts the rear an inch already, and going the extra 0.75" or so that I lifted it was too much.

I might be able to fix it via the 19" front wheel CSC offers, or even maybe by going to an oversized front tire on the existing 18" wheel... but instead I've reverted my bike back to stock (I preferred the lowness anyhow) and I ripped out the airbox. The airbox seal was already compromised, so it had to come out. Looking at it... damn it's going to be impossible to shorten it. So I'm going to replace it with a foam filter attached to the throttle body. I'm going to put it on about 6" of tubing so the filter sits under the left side cover and is protected from dirt and mud and wind. Uni foam filter of course. I'm also thinking about designing a completely different airbox around the filter, just to make water crossings safer.

Just waiting on parts right now. This is gonna be fun.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Done.