Shocks for a Kawasaki KZ and Video Link

Threw on my exhaust today and went for a nice long ride.

The rear feels a bit more bumpy than it used to. Tire pressure and everything else is OK.

Whats a good set of shocks for this bike?

Ohlins.


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Nebr_Rex wrote: Ohlins.


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While Ohlins are good shocks, they are completely cliche and I dont think they go with the look of my bike. I want something stock-ish but with better performance

Contact Nils at Restocycle
He is one of our vendors and is the rep for IKON SHOCKS
They were known before as KONI
Dave

See:



:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

650ed wrote: See:

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Im not a fan of Ohlins to begin with. They are too common and in my opinion, would take away from the look of my bike. I think that while they serve a function, they are pretentious, just like Rickman fairings, etc.

650Dude wrote:

650ed wrote: See:

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Im not a fan of Ohlins to begin with. They are too common and in my opinion, would take away from the look of my bike. I think that while they serve a function, they are pretentious, just like Rickman fairings, etc.

On a related note, these shocks are reasonably common for the KZs. The design isn't bad, materials are fine, they're just not assembled well. There are groups that buy these, dismantle, and reassemble properly with known oils. - see here .

I did the same thing - bought some RFY shocks online, dismantled and reassembled with new oil, and they're great. Perhaps a little too stiff, but I wanted stiffer than stock, which would bottom out even without any luggage.

I'm sure ohlins are much better, but I wasn't going to spend $1000 on shocks for my $1000 bike.

650ed wrote: See:

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

I bought some Hagons for my CB750 last year around this time from Dave Quinn. Looks like he got sick and went out of business.

I'll be getting these:

If you asked me a year ago, I'd recommend hagons too - a friend of mine bought them and they made a great improvement to his bike.

However, his bike isn't kept undercover. Those hagon shocks are now rustier than the 35yo shocks that were on my bike - and my bike wasn't being stored undercover either. The chrome looks great when new but doesn't seem to hold up to weather well.

Irish Yobbo wrote: If you asked me a year ago, I'd recommend hagons too - a friend of mine bought them and they made a great improvement to his bike.

However, his bike isn't kept undercover. Those hagon shocks are now rustier than the 35yo shocks that were on my bike - and my bike wasn't being stored undercover either. The chrome looks great when new but doesn't seem to hold up to weather well.

Very interesting. The bodies and shrouds of my Hagons are made of stainless steel, the springs have heavy chrome plating, and the adjusters are aluminum. There's nothing on mine that can rust unless someone was to file the chrome off the springs. I wonder if Hagon offered different levels on quality? Ed

Irish Yobbo wrote: If you asked me a year ago, I'd recommend hagons too - a friend of mine bought them and they made a great improvement to his bike.

However, his bike isn't kept undercover. Those hagon shocks are now rustier than the 35yo shocks that were on my bike - and my bike wasn't being stored undercover either. The chrome looks great when new but doesn't seem to hold up to weather well.

Here's a Hagon ad showing stainless ..........



Ed

His looked like these ones. No shroud, and I can't remember if the body was stainless or painted, but the chrome spring was pretty heavily rusted after a year.