rear suspension and sissy bar?

Okay, newbie here. Just bought a 79 KZ650 SR, to my knowledge all is standard. I noticed that my rear shocks were set to the lowest (softest) setting out of five. Streets are pretty normal, etc. No heavy weight other than my butt being hauled around. Is this right? What should I set them to?

Also, there was a sissy bar/luggage rack attached when I bought it. The bars going from the suspension bolt to the rack have a flange that sits right on top of the turn signals. It lookes like it should be bolted to something, but there is nothing there to bolt it to. Instead, it just presses down on the turn signals. Is there a way to extend the signals so they are farther out? Are there other signals that the stock round ones?

Thanks in advance and thanks for all the good tips I have already picked up from the site!!

If you could post a pic of the rack, I could help you out a bit more. On the topic of the shocks...

Set them so that the rear drops about 1/3 of the travel when you sit on the bike.

Welcome to KZR.

I had a very similar rack, with a loop that was supposed to go around the turn signals. The loop was a closed loop, so you would have to disassemble the turn signal to pass the post through the loop. My loops were cut and openned up by a previous owner. It also had a bracket just in front of the loops that attached to the frame where the grab rails attach, just in front of the turn signal mount. The grab rails could not be used when the rack is on. There was this slotted 1 inch bracket that helped to line up with the frame mount. I only had one of these brackets, so on the other side I just drilled a hole where this mounting bolt lined up to on the frame. I do not have this backrest/rack anymore, but will see if I still have some pictures.

Your signals may have been shortened at some time. The posts exposed length should be about 3 inches long. If their shorter, you could try to buy some stock length ones on ebay, or ask away here if someone may have some.

Give us a picture of the whole bike as well.

Post edited by: rstnick, at: 2005/10/28 09:37

Thanks,

I will post pics as soon as I can. I (still living in the age of the dinosaurs) do not own a digital camera. But, there are other ways...