Shock Lengths

Mighty Norton Knowledgeable,

My right stock Girling shock has started leaking bad and it's time to replace the set. I have
read the other post's about preference in brand, look and pricing and i think i will be buying the
Hagon stainless steel bodies w/ black springs. Mainly local highway daily commuter around town.

I could benefit from lowering the bike a little bit. Just a little. I'm thinking about going with the 12.6
or 12.2 length rather than the stock 13in but before i pull the trigger i was hoping to get some opinions.

Stick with 13in? Is 12.2 too low? Will the rear shock height make a difference without lowering the front?
What length do you use?

Thanks in advance.

1973 850cc Roadster
19in dunlop

G'Day Joe.
I went the other way some years ago and fitted 13.5 in Koni Tri-rate ( now IKON ) shocks and would never go back to standard. It not only gives a little extra ground clearance but it also balances perfectly on the wheels and centerstand - just a little nudge and up it goes -ohh so easy !
The only downside is that I have to put a small block of wood under the centrestand to raise the rear wheel completely off the ground, but that's no big deal. Either way, I would suggest you also look at the IKON shocks as they have 4-way adjustable dampening as well.

Johno

Saw some shocks on a Kenny Dreer bike, from Progressive I believe, that had offset eyelets on the bottom, making it an easy fit around the chainguard.

I've been looking around on the web this week for some decent pictures of the 13" Progressive shock, so that I could verify I was getting the correct shock with the offset eyelet. Unfortunately, though, all the photos I've found so far don't clearly show how the eyelet is positioned.

I even called Progressive, during business hours, and was never able to speak to a live person, being stuck perpetually in the hold queue.

On the Progressive website the do list a shock they recommend for Nortons.

Home page link:

http://www.progressivesuspension.com/


Direct link to page for Commando recommendations:

http://www.progressivesuspension.com/pr ... odelID=753



And if someone with information and/or photos of the Progressive shocks in question could post photos or reply with clarifying information, it would be much appreciated (at least by me).

Dunno what you mean by "offset eylet". My Progressive shocks have the eylets centered on the body and they clear the chainguard fine. I think they're Series 14.

Changing your rear shock length (up or down) will change your handling. Make sure you are ready to deal with that if you change it from the current setup.

The guy to talk to if you are thinking of lowering a Commando is Matt at CNW. I did.
I lowered my bike by 33mm, Front and rear.
There is a bit of a languge problem between Yorkshire English and Colarado USA so sure if this is what he advised but this is what I did.

Rear : 18" rim with 110/18-80 tyre, Hagon adjustable damping shocks 304mm centres spring as per standard shocks with bult in rubber buffer to avoid bottoming elsewhere. Min length standard.
Front: 19" rim with 90/19-90 tyre. New 'Manx' stantions which are shorter..about 1.25" I think. Figures may be a bit vauge I have it all written down somewhere. Cut down springs by 1.25"...square. Shortened damper rods by same amount and recut the top threads on a lathe.
Centre stand cut and rewelded 1.25" shorter.
Side stand heated an bent at angle at the existing bend to suit.

I calculated each end to gain equal drop, taking into account triangulation and getting the tyre diameters from Avon.
I did a Vertical drop of 33mm.
I have now done about 4000miles.

Good points:
The bike is now a perfect height for me, at 5'5", with my feet pretty much flat on the ground both sides. This makes riding the bike a real pleasure, especially in built up traffic and at slow speeds.
Riding solo the bike is good, going round corners it feels solid on a line, I can let my hands off the bars at speed or slow pretty well, (a slight low speed twitching at low speed, but not an issue). I have done a ton (not on UK roads if the long arm are listening...) without it scaring me to death.

Bad points:
Of course the bike touches down earlier, slightly worse on the left with the sidestand. So cornering angle is more limited. I run with the shocks on max compression and max damping all the time.
When two up with luggage the bike sits a bit low at the rear, and feels a bit soft. More lightly to touch on LHS when in this mode. Can bottom out on rear shock buffer at these times. At the front the mudguard sits abit away from the tyre..could move down about 12-15mm...it is a bit wide as well...it is dented so I have touched when I nailed a speed bump.

My conclusions?
I will go for slightly less drop when the shocks need replacing, maybe move it up about 5/16". but I will definately go for a slightly stronger spring and more damping in the rear shocks. At the front I will just put a spacer under the spring, and maybe slightly more and slightly thicker oil. (I think you should have more because you took some spring away?)
The front mudguard is a bit scabby so I will replace with a stainless 4" one, held on 'y' brackets without stays sitting tighter to the tyre.
I would advise a vertical drop of 1" to be about the right amount, but stiffen up the rear to compensate.

Personally I would not drop the rear much without dropping the front. I don't know how that would affect the handling.
The adjustable damping range of shocks from Hagon are custom built and can be ordered to customer spec. in length, spring rate and damping.

Stu.

maylar said:

Dunno what you mean by "offset eylet". My Progressive shocks have the eylets centered on the body and they clear the chainguard fine. I think they're Series 14.

Click to expand...

I mean the eyelet that the attachment bolt goes through is not welded in the center of the shock. I believe it was only at the bottom end, but it may have been offset at both ends, and now that I think about it, it seems that it would have been.

Robert_Norton said:

I mean the eyelet that the attachment bolt goes through is not welded in the center of the shock. I believe it was only at the bottom end, but it may have been offset at both ends, and now that I think about it, it seems that it would have been.

Click to expand...

Some Ikon shocks are certainly made that way.

_____________________________________

(Robert, you still appear to have your default *BBCode* setting disabled, which is probably why quotes in your messages are not showing correctly?

To correct it, see my reply to your original question about it, here: post35398.html#p35398 )