torquey wrote: Though was still wondering if anyone knows what the #'s mean. I have seen rates for my bike range from 45/90 to 100/150

The key number for a spring is the rate. That is how much force (or weight) is required to compress the spring a certain distance. Generally this would be in pounds/inch, or kilograms/mm. So a 100 lbs/in spring would compress by 1" if you put 100 pounds on top of it, or 0.1" if you put 10 pounds on it. The larger the number, the more force is required to compress the spring, the stiffer the ride. So given the choices above, 45/90 would be on the soft side, and the 100/150 would be firm...

The fact that you give two numbers (45/90) suggests that the springs you were looking at are dual rate springs, or progressive rate springs. Basically, the spring rate increases as you compress the spring more. That is, the force required to compress the first inch is less than the force required to compress the final inch. To make this they generally have one section of the spring with a low rate, and once with a high rate, and you can often see that the two ends are not wound the same when you look at it. The idea is that the initial soft spring gives a cushy ride, but when things really get crazy and the wheel moves a lot it stiffens up the suspension.

The Z1-R came with dual rate springs. All they did was stack two different springs together, and put a plastic spacer between them to keep them in line.

There are a ton of other numbers too if you were actually ordering a random spring, like coil diameter, wire diameter, and how far you can compress it before the coils bind. But often when you're talking about a single application, all you care about are the rate (lbs/in) and the free length of the spring.

How you translate the bike weight, rider weight, riding style, and specific shock and swingarm geometry into an ideal spring rate is super complicated. At the very least it requires a bunch of trigonometry and fancy maths. But beyond that it requires experience to know how to translate "comfortable" or "sporty" or "twisty canyon" into a target number to put into the math. I can't help you with any of that.

Now i'm bothered because I JUST ordered a 630-530 conversion from Z1 and my bike is an LTD with 16" wheel....

Another option is to remove the bearing/sprocket mount from the wheel and have a new one made at a machine shop that will bolt on that wheel and fit the new sprocket.

Might cost $50-$100 or so.

Yea I initially thought the LTD sprocket would fit but nope, It has a 33t sprocket specialist sprocket on there now. Right now I'll stick with 630 for a while since I just went ahead and bought another chain since I needed the bike for school. Meanwhile I will be looking for an 18" police wheel so I can use the sprocket I bought and convert to 530 pitch then.

I really did blow out the shocks though now that I'm really looking at the pics.

bluezbike wrote: Your wheels look a lot like stock LTD's so it should be easy to get a rear sprocket to fit, any chance of just exchanging the sprocket you just bought instead of going through a wheel swap with all it's attendant headaches? Really like the colour of your bike BTW.

No way any KZ or any other Kawasaki rear sprocket will fit on that Morris Mag, I already tried. I contacted all the sprocket companies and ended up having Sprocket Specialist make me one. There is one custom wheel that uses the same sprocket, but I can't remember which one.

That's why I bought a set of KZ1000 mags to replace the Morris Mags, plus I wanted a cush drive. And someday I'll install them. :laugh:

Your wheels look a lot like stock LTD's so it should be easy to get a rear sprocket to fit, any chance of just exchanging the sprocket you just bought instead of going through a wheel swap with all it's attendant headaches? Really like the colour of your bike BTW.

Looks super-clean! Nice Rich....

Also was trying to convert to 530 with new sprockets at the same time, but that didn't happen. I ordered new 530 sprockets 17t front 38t rear to go a little higher than stock 15/33 and a nice new x 0-ring chain. Then come to find out Bam,



turns out the morris mags use a different rear sprocket, so now I am on a mission to find who makes a 530 38t sprocket for this rim,



but no luck yet...

I might just go ahead and switch over to an 18" police mag so I can use the sprocket I bought if I can find one for a decent price.

Finally finished up my swingarm swap, used the GS shocks, but I will need some new ones because I think I blew them out when I took my GF out for a ride. It feels like I have struts in the back, no give at all. The rear also dropped and does not sit this high anymore. Anywho here is some pics







Anyone know what year are the Goldwing shocks people use?

Finally had some free time and got them mounted. All I had to do was grind the metal bushing until they fit over the mount.