shock question

are most shocks kinda universal?? In the sense that if I was to buy a shock setup off a ATV or something.. could I get it to work? I noticed that when I did a search for shocks on ebay I found a pair of nice progressive shocks for a ATV that look to have the same eye bolt connection as the shocks I have. I just dont know if I could use them or what I could do to use them...

here is a link to the shocks I found on ebay:
Ebay shocks

any help would be great. thanks

Aside from the obvious differences in appearances and mounting configurations, shocks have diff springs/damping rates.
To stiff and you feel like you're riding with struts, to soft and you could bottom out and shove the tire into the bottom of the rear fender.
Either way, both extremeties can pose seriously unsafe handling issues.

Um, exactely what year and model bike are you looking to get shocks for?
It would help oblivious folks like myself to be able to answer your questions if you list your bikes info in your sig line.

i don't know about the atv shocks but i have a set similar to these on my 79 kz650. The ride is awesome! I don't know what year Goldwing I took them off of though. The others on ebay look dfferent than mine. these are the closest match. Great shocks, like a cloud.
cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HONDA-GOLDWING-G...dZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Thes might work too. I put minimal air in mine beacuse of the weight difference. If I air the up too much it's way too stiff of a ride.

cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/kawasaki-kz1300-...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Post edited by: vach, at: 2007/04/29 16:02

Post edited by: vach, at: 2007/04/29 16:06

Quite a few people on this forum have switched to Harley Sportster shocks. They are pretty easy to find on ebay and usually cheap. Harley riders tend to swap out original shocks for shorter ones to lower their bikes.

Things to be aware of are eye-to-eye length. I'm pretty sure most of the KZ's should be around 13.5" eye-to-eye. Another concern with the Harley shocks is you will have to swap out the bushings in the eye. Harleys are larger. On some KZ's you will also have to spread the shock mounts on the swingarm.

Depending on the type of riding you do I believe you will find the Harley shocks to be more than adequate and an improvement over 30 year old originals. If you like peg draging, canyon carving, high speed passes through the twisties than the best advice is to not pay any attention to anything I just said.

Someone with far more experience will be along shortly to help you.

harley shocks huh? ok so I saw some harley shocks on ebay... they were 14.75 inches eye to eye. would lifting my rear do anything?To me my bike just looks like it sits to low above my tire. I would like to give it a better looking stance. :huh:

Post edited by: badboie, at: 2007/04/30 14:59

so I can say for sure.. on my own guessing that they will be okay? because I dont have much time till they go. thanks

I don't know what kind of bike you have, or whether you bought them, but in looking at what they showed:

Free Length Compressed Length Travel
15.50'' (394mm) 11.15" (283mm) 4.35" (110mm)

at $139 for buy it now. . .I'd have passed for all of that.

The Sportster shocks do the job for me. If the shock is too long, you aren't going to be able to get the wheel off the ground for chain lubrication / rotation.