Old school shocks

In a different thread, Zedone wrote:

... I'm running a pair of old school S&W shocks
(black with babyblue colored springs)....

Wishing for a better memory, but vaguely recall
S&W shock springs being color-coded for various
stiffness ratings. Maybe it was a different brand
of shock, or maybe I/m just dreaming. But I've run
these blue springs for many years over many miles,
and remained well-satisfied with the looks and
performance. A hot-ticket in times past, and still
doing fine. Am thinking they are S&W's, but might
be some other brand, and don't see any obvious
marking on them.

Hi Patton, those are almost identical to my shocks, except mine have a black plastic spring cover covering the top 2 inches or so just below the upper shock mount. Interesting topic regarding the spring color. Can you post a pic for me in this thread? (I still can't post pics too good, I'm a moron, LOL!). I'll try and PM it to you. Thanks, Doug

The ones that you mention , with the black plastic covers at the top , are S&W Street Strokers . I have a set that need the shafts rechromed . The ones pictured are also S&W's , but I'm not sure of the specific model . I have a set of those on my '81 550 currently and they work great . Mine have black one-piece springs and a yellow preload ring and top spring retainer .
I've been on a shock buying binge this past winter , I now have 2 pr. Ohlins (modern and vintage) , 1 pr. Works piggyback ,2 pr Koni 7610's , 1 Fox w/out res , 2 pr. Marzocchi w/out res , 2 pr S&W , 1 pr ZRX 1100/1200 , 2 pr ZR550 . Not exactly sure why I have all these , If I ever finish half of my projects I may able to get some use from some them .

Zedone wrote:

... still can't post pics too good....

Let's give this a try ---

When typing inside the Message box prior to posting it in the forum, below the Message box is a line "Select Image file to attach", a blank entry box, and buttons for "Browse" and "img"

Click "Browse"

Screen changes to your pics program

Find your pic and click on it

Then click "open"
Screen changes back to message box with info appearing in the "blank" box

Move pointer a little to the right and click "img"

Only the letters "img" in brackets appear inside the message to be posted (the pic itself does not appear here where you are typing). Cut and paste the "img" to whereever in your post you want the picture to appear.

Click "Submit"

If everything's okay, pic will appear in the new post.
If not, some error message may appear on screen, such as the one I usually get which says "you have screwed up and must re-size the pic."

This method allows only one pic in the message. If other pics are added, the first pic is just repeated. [See Edit below]
So give it a try! Good Luck!

Edit for correction -- Have since proved myself wrong, as it is the 2nd "img" which repeats itself where two separate pics are attempted in the same post.

My S&W's have black springs with yellow preload and spring keeper. (You can see them in the KZ650 Gallery on page 417 or search for 650ed there). The spring rate is color coded, but only by a couple little paint marks (in my case orange) on the black springs. These are great shocks. I just took mine off last fall to put on a new set of Hagons, but the S&W's still work like new. I wanted the Hagons because they resemble stock shocks. Ed

Lets see if this works

Hey, that was cool, thanks for the lesson on pic posting.... Doug

Here's a pic of S&Ws on my KZ650C1: