RC36Rider

You are welcome. One thing that might give you grief, though is the remote preload hose and knob. I'm not positive that they are routed to the same side and of similar lengths. The Bird's shock is a confirmed OK fit on the 6th Gen.

They are not identical but close enough that the 1200 should be usable. The mounting points are compatible, AFAIK. Here's the data from Öhlins for the 6th Gen: And for the 1200:  - Longer OAL will raise the back about 1/2". - Shorter stroke might reduce wheel travel a bit but I don't see that as a real issue. - Slightly heavier spring which is a boon unless you are a horse jockey.

Hi RC36Rider, Thank you for your donation of 10.00 USD. We look forward to improving the forums with your donation. Thanks VFRDiscussion

He's on Facebook now. Progress has been halted for a long time due to some 2 stroke salvage operation but he's back at it.

This may be of interest: The RVF Project

Correct. I'm not 100% sure I recall correctly but I think the stock top bolt is long enough for 6 mm.

You'll need to shim the top mount about 6 mm (319 -> 325 mm) to compensate for the length difference. Other than that, it should bolt on with no issues. The Bird's shock also has a slightly shorter stroke so you'll lose a bit of wheel travel but it's travel you don't use under 99% of riding circumstances so no big deal IMO.

Just checked my records and the DMr recommendation for your weight class is 0.85/18.77 (1050 #/in actually as he uses US made springs) for a ratio of 22+. I hope he'll forgive my audacity if he reads this but my own research suggests that this shock spring rate to fork spring rate is a bit on the high side for lighter riders. Might serve you well if you ride with pillion/luggage, though.

I am certainly no expert but based on what I could gather (from this board, Öhlins, my own experience with 0.90 fork springs) that sounds fairly reasonable to me. Should give you a firm setup (on the sport side of sport-touring) but nothing like race hard. I reckon (own calculations) that will give you about 35 mm of front-end sag @ 15 mm of preload which is a good ballpark for spirited riding on public roads. Note that spring rates play a fairly minor role in how harsh your suspension will feel. Damping is mostly what causes harshness (aside from excessive friction) so bumpy/crappy roads are not a good reason to go to lighter springs. Shock spring rate on the 6G should be about 20-22 times the fork spring rate. Taller/heavier guys should aim for 22, 20 for shorter/lighter folks. Feel free to question my 'wisdom'.