R1 rear shock in the Roketa. Preliminary results.

[red2003]

OK, I got the shock in the mail today and man what a piece of mechanical art. 27 position clickers for rebound and compression dampening, all aluminim shock body, needle bearing end mounts and a titanium spring. This shock retails for $549.00!! $20.00 on eBay 8O . Anyway, I got things measured up and the R1 shock is 9/16in. longer then the stocker. The stocker is 11 1/4, not 11 1/2 like I reported earlier :oops: . So, I squished it in there and threw a few bolts in to hold it together and took it for a little trip. OMFG man! Night and day. When you hit a bump, it actually stops the hit from transfering to your tailbone. No way???? The R1 spring is a lot softer then the stocker and is perfect for my weigth of 210. I had the spring preload set on the middle clicker, so there's adjustment both ways. While I had everything apart I measured up the swingarm throw with the stock shock. As I suspected the stock setup only gives you 2 3/4in. of rear travel before you're on the shock bumper. The R1 shock will give me just under 6 in. before it hits the bumper!!!!! Yeah BABY!! So, tomorrow I gotta chop up the upper mount and get the ride height back to stock. I'll take pics and log measurements as I go along. I'll post it up tomorrow. While I had it apart I also added grease zerks to all 3 pivot points of the shock scissor. NO grease in there from the factory. Imagine.

[SamM]

Did the R1 shock bolt on with the factory bolts? If not, What did you have to do to bolt it on?

Looking forward to seeing your pictures of this mod!

[ob1]

Never heard of a clicker for spring preload.

Is there not a physical adjustment of the spring compression? A couple of large rings on threads to adjust the spring?

A ball park setting of shock spring preload shoud be 25% of the total shock travel with your weight on the bike. Adjust your compression and rebound clickers from there, then maybe fine tune all the adjustments if needed.

[Savage]

SWEET! Can't wait for the pics. Maybe a stock height pic and an almost identical pic with the R1 shock. So does the R1 shock make the rear sit taller or is it limited by stock metal parts?

[red2003]

Ok, here goes. No, the R1 shock will not use the stock bolts. The R1 bolts are smaller. I have to make a new top mount to bring the ride height back down, so I'll drill the correct size holes there. Bottom mount I will tack on some washers inside and outside of the correct size. Also will need a spacer or 2 since the R1 shock is narrower then the stocker. OB1, the preload adjustment is not the spanner nut / jam nut setup. It's a single stepped spanner nut, which I apparently misnamed as a clicker. Does it really matter?? Geez. Anyway, the R1 shock is gonna be a great improvement over the stock brick, but it is NOT a direct bolt in replacement, however. I'll update tomorrow when it's all done.

[SamM]

I'm wondering if the shock from a dirtbike might be a better candidate for a swap. I'll be pulling out the owner's manual for my WR and checking the specs on the Yamaha shock. Not questioning your choice of shocks, just pointing that out. Dirtbike stuff is cheap on ebay too.

The WP PDS shock on my 950 has an adjustable swingout lever that makes quick setting changes of the rear shock preload. Very nice for switching between solo and 2 up riding or riding loaded up with camping gear.

Making a mount for a rear shock isn't very hard. Stamped steel tabs are available from metal fabricators pn the intermnet and boxing the mount is fairly straight forward. It might be interesting to try eliminating the rear suspension linkage on the bike. That's probably the way I would go. The swingarms and frames on these bikes are made of steel, so MIG welding is easy and no special fabbing is needed. TIG welding would (may) be stronger. You could weld a flat plate to the bottom of the swingarm and tack tabs onto it to get everything setup, before final welding.

Can't wait to see what you come up with. I have a little bit of suspension fabrication experience. A few years ago, I built a 1977 Toyota FJ-40 Land Cruiser with a custom 4-link quarter-elliptical rear suspension. The suspension had 40" of rear suspension travel!

[ob1]

It might be a good idea to look at the sag adjustments from my post above before you change the mount positions. You may want some of that additional ride height to compensate for for the softer spring on the new shock. If it ends up too low at the rear, steering will get sluggish, not much fun, especially offroad.

[red2003]

OK, I am headed out to the shop to fab it up. Sam, a real dirtbike shock isn't really an option on these bikes. No where near enough room to mount it in the chassis. If you could, there isn't enough throw for the back wheel to use all that travel anyways, and I ride mostly paved roads with this bike, so too soft in the rear would handle like crap. I thought about mounting the shock on top of the swing arm like a KTM, and do away with the scissor like you mentioned. This COULD be done. Plenty of room and would work fine I would suspect. With this shock it makes no sense to do that as I'd lose travel at the wheel and it would be real close to the tire. It's pretty well protected where it is now. OB1, I got it covered buddy. You seem to think I am like 12 yrs old or something. I've been working on street bikes, cars, trucks, snowmobiles and dirtbikes for 30 years. Crew chiefed a local motocrosser to the track championship on his YZ250F in 05. I appreciate ALL comments and suggestions, but man give it a rest already, please. I'll post pics when it's done!

[ob1]

Sorry Red.

You dont know me, I dont know you, and neither of us knows who may take guidance from this thread.

[red2003]

I appreciate that OB1 . Hopefully everyone that reads it will be that much more informed. Lots of knowledge on this forum. Head over to my new thread to see the final results of the shock install.