rear shocks (new)

Anyone have a recomendation for new rear shocks? ive got a 78 kz650. ive got my eye in these MDI shocks black and chrome, but not sure if i should go with the 440lb or 255lb or if anyone has another brand i should try. she is slowly turning into a cafe racer so i wanna keep in line with this look.

Last night I replaced my stock shocks on my 77' 650 with stock shocks from a 2005 suzuki boulevard. it lowerd the bike just shy of 2" and are alot stiffer and shinier than the stock ones.

Last night I replaced my stock shocks on my 77' 650 with stock shocks from a 2005 suzuki boulevard. it lowerd the bike just shy of 2" and are alot stiffer and shinier than the stock ones.

I've become a big fam of using stock shocks from a Vulcan on my 650's. They are about 1.25" shorter than stock and can be had on ebay at a pretty reasonable price. I now have them on 2 of my 650's and paid $30 for one set and $40 for the other set including shipping. It gives the bike a sort of slammed look and since I only have a 28" inseam it makes it easier to flatfoot the bike. The shocks I've been buying are off a 500 Vulcan but if you want more adjustability you can also use the 750/800 Vulcan shocks which come with the air adjust feature. They usually fetch a few more bucks though. Here is a pic of one of my bikes with the Vulcan shocks installed.

I recently replaced my stock shocks on my 77 kz650 cafe racer with progressive wound (not Progressive brand though, too much coin for me) that I bought off of www.mikesxs.com . They are available in three lengths for $79 for the pair, or you could go with the piggybacks for $169 a pair if you want to spend some more coin. I have put a couple hundred miles on mine and have nothing but good to say about them, and they were a direct bolt up.

I got the progressive brand coil springs and gas shock sets for my 750. They are not cheap, but they are the best for street riding for combined performance and comfort. Z1 sells them and installs the springs on the shock for free.

I cheched out mixesxs.com those are a lot like the ones i saw at www.hvccycle.com/mdischocks.htm so what length did you end up going with? 12 3/4? what does the bike call for, the ones on her now are about 12.5 , but im not sure they are stock. what is stock length? also is these alot stiffer?
thanks for the help.

I went with the 12 3/4" which are close to the same length as stock, might be just a hair longer. They are quite a bit stiffer than stock, I had my pre-load set as heavy as possible on the stock shocks I replaced and it was still quite squishy. On the mikesxs replacements I have them in middle position and they are significantly more firm than the stock set on full preload. Very responsive feel to them as well. I really can't say enough about them for the price and the performance.

these sound like the way to go then. are the black caps metal? theyre not plastic are they?

They are metal. And the shocks come with an assortment of ruber grommets, including the correct size to mount them on our bikes. And Mikesxs has free shipping. :woohoo: