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Vtec Shock Options


Baileyrock

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  • Member Contributer
Has anyone tried using 93-99 CBR900RR shocks? I am replacing my CBR's shock with an Ohlins and it looks like, at first glance, that it should fit well.

Thanks.

That would require the same modification as a CBR929RR rear shock. It's also too short to fit the VFR directly. You might be more specific, the shocks changed about three or four times during the 93-99 period and the relative performance of each varies somewhat. The leghts changed as well.

The shock is from a '93 CBR900RR. I don't have the data from Honda regarding length and stroke, but from Ohlins, for comparison purposes, they list the 900RR shock length at 319mm, stroke of 54mm. For the 6thGen VFR, for which Ohlins has 2 models, they list length for both models at 317.5mm, and strokes of 53.5 and 54.5mm.

At least from this data, the CBR shock is 1.5mm longer, and smack in the middle of the two VFR shocks wrt stroke at 54mm.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

Yes, the 93's are the longest of the 900RR shocks. My notes show the 93 900RR shock to be 326mm and the 02+ VFR as 315mm, that's a huge difference. I'd measure the 900RR shock to be sure. Ohlins probably makes the shocks shorter to cover more years and let's the user adjust the length to suit. Adjustable ride height is a great thing.

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Guest vufero

Hi all

I'm planning to swap with a '97 Cbr 900 Ohlins shock for my fifth gen

as for references, I found that oem spring rates are different

http://www.racetech.com/evalving/english/S...angname=english

http://www.racetech.com/evalving/english/S...angname=english

14.6 kg/mm for Cbr vs 15.3 kg/mm for Vfr, but the Ohlins I found has a spring code 01092-59 /150 L064 that implies just the right spring rate for the fifth generation (if I'm not wrong)

for lenght references I use this site

http://www.fournales.fr/catalogue/2%20Roue...20Husqvarna.htm

so I'd have to add just 5mm :goofy:

btw in the next future probably I'll go to Andreani, italian Ohlins specialist, for a perfect setup, and the eventual regeneration of forks (I've Cbr 900 forks wink.gif ) and monoshock :biggrin:

Edited by vufero
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  • 2 months later...
  • Member Contributer
What was the spring rate on the different years 900rr's?

Thax

The 92-94's had 15.0kg/mm and all other years had 14.6kg/mm stock. Why?

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Yup its about the millage, so Blackbird's shock goes in without any mods?

Yep, straight bolt in and the added length with quicken steering some! Also the slightly stiffer spring will help with your weight! :fing02:

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest sotokan

Hello everybody….first of all sorry for my bad english :ph34r:

I really need your help guys

Here is the problem :

I bought, for my 04 vfr vtec, an ohlins sock (type S46HR1C1L with code HO 605)

This sock came with the standard spring (i think 01092-69)

Fully preloaded my dynamic sag is 25 mm only with me on the bike and without my boots, leathers, hard bags etc (with all this and my wife, probably it will go 55).

Now, I ride often with my wife on the back of the bike (me 200 pounds + wife 115 pounds ).

What do you suggest that i must do

1.Change the sping ???Cod No ???(which one will cover the range of my needs, ride alone – ride with passenger and bags).

2.Put a spacer (say about 10 mm) between spring and the top of the sock, or even better ( I don t know if this possible) adjust the basic position of the hydraulic preload, this way i think that i ll put some extra preload on the sping altought it is not for my weight .

Wow I m really confused… :biggrin:

Thanks

Edited by sotokan
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Hello everybody….first of all sorry for my bad english :ph34r:

I really need your help guys

Here is the problem :

I bought, for my 04 vfr vtec, an ohlins sock (type S46HR1C1L with code HO 605)

This sock came with the standard spring (i think 01092-69)

Fully preloaded my dynamic sag is 25 mm only with me on the bike and without my boots, leathers, hard bags etc (with all this and my wife, probably it will go 55).

Now, I ride often with my wife on the back of the bike (me 200 pounds + wife 115 pounds ).

What do you suggest that i must do

1.Change the sping ???Cod No ???(which one will cover the range of my needs, ride alone – ride with passenger and bags).

2.Put a spacer (say about 10 mm) between spring and the top of the sock, or even better ( I don t know if this possible) adjust the basic position of the hydraulic preload, this way i think that i ll put some extra preload on the sping altought it is not for my weight .

Wow I m really confused… :biggrin:

Thanks

Hello,

It looks like the shock came with a heavier spring than stock(15.3kg) as it's a 17.34kg, most likely a little soft for your weight. Does the bike have any Free Sag(no rider sag) when you have it maxed out to achieve the 30mm?

Here's the Ohlins spring chart: read the blue numbers, spring length across the top and rate on the side.

Ohlinsspringchart.jpg

I weight 190 lbs and run a 19kg spring on my Ohlins and would suggest a 19-20kg spring(Ohlins 1092-79 or 1092-84). Adding extra preload (with spacer) is Not the correct way to set the bike up. :ph34r: You need the correct springs for your weight to start with.If you do a lot of two-up I would go with the 1092-84 myself.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • Member Contributer
Hey Jamie, any update on the 929 shock upper mount extension?

For the 6th gens I'm working a CBR954 upper extension. I think the oreintation of the reservoir on the 954's will suit those bikes better. I've got the first CNC parts made I just have a few more details to sort out before building some prototypes.

Yeah, I'm very interested also. Given the correct length of the extension, It would be PERFECT to put a 929 shock in a 4th GEN. :fing02:

I've been doing lots of CBR929's for the 4th gens and it works great!

Edited by JamieDaugherty
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Has anyone put blackbird shock into VFR800 vtec? If yes any pictures / info would be greatly appreciated.

There's no real performance advantage to the 1100XX shock. It's a tad longer at 320mm, so that would be nice. Besides that, you would need to upgrade the valving in the XX shock at minimum in order to see any improvement.

Since the 6th gens use a 315mm long shock you are kind of out of luck when it comes to options.

I put a blackbird shock on my 6th Gen and it's was pretty much the way Jamie describes it.

It was nice that it was a tad longer, and it was nice that the spring was a tad bit stiffer. Otherwise, it was the same POS crap shock that the OEM 6th Gen has.

I eventually upgraded to a full Elka shock, so I sold the shock to Silver788. He found that the shock was a nice improvement for his 5th Gen since the Blackbird shock with its stiffer spring supports his weight better than the stock VFR shock.

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  • 1 month later...
Guest AlexP

Just put in Blackbird aftermarket shock from K tech UK

http://cgi.ebay.ie/HONDA-BLACKBIRD-REPLACE...id=p3286.c0.m14

Give them a shout you can get a better deal by going direct.

As for the shock its the same lenght as orginal and can be adjusted,

here the spec

Top Mount: 10mm dia hole x 28mm wide.

Bott Mount: 10mm dia hole x 39mm wide.

Length: 315mm – 325mm.

Price: £293.55 inc VAT

Ride quality is amazing just need to adjust reboud and thats it really.

I will put a more detail about instalation later. If you need any info let me know.

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  • 3 months later...

I have put the CBR929 shock on my '02, here is how I did it.

3 problems you run into:

1) Shock length is wrong, too short, I made a top mount like they are doing on the 5th gen and I think the F3 shocks, I don't remember the measurement, but it needed to be longer, and I like to to my own calculations anyway so I know it is correct. I also made a longer one to raise the tail of it

2) The brake proportioning valve bracket is in the way of the reservoir on the shock, you need to cut it and make a new piece to weld in. The picture trys to illustrate it. You have to at least undo the top subframe mount and pull this thing out of there. Cut it, weld a new piece in it, paint it, put it back in, sounds easy, it is a little work though. Sorry, no pics from my bike, it is a little work to pull out and didn't take any before I put it in.

gallery_4071_2768_810.gif

vfrmod.GIF

3) Shock reservoir hits the brake lines next to the rear cylinder head. There is no way to take a pic of this, but the reservoir is really close to the cylinder head, I just had to push the metal brake lines that were in the way up a little bit, not much room at all, but I did make it work.

I tried to flip around the reservoir, you would have to move/cut more stuff. Here is a pic of the compression adjuster, just requires a little longer flat head screw driver. Access to the preload is quite easy from the left side. Rebound adjuster is in the stock shock's position.

gallery_4071_2768_32110.jpg

CBR929 shock on VTEC, showing comp adjuster

Thanks again for posting this up! :rolleyes:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've read through this thread but I'm still not sure what I should do. I have a like new F3 shock. An F4 shock seems to be the best option on a budget but it sounds like the F3 shock is the same except for length? Does someone on here make or sell an extension for the F3 shock? If not it might be easier for me to buy an F4 shock.. I have an 02 VFR. I'd like to have it sprung for a 200 lbs. rider with rebound and comp adjustments. When I have more money I'm buying an Elka shock but for now I just want to improve it a little with a used set up. I've also considered buying the Blackbird shock but I don't think they have any more adjustment than the stock VFR shock. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Hi and welcome to VFRD! :happy:

I don't recall how long or what the stroke of the F3 shock is, but do know that many have done the F4/F4i shock swap. Most all CBR shocks are sprung way soft vs VFR's like in the 14kg range where the stock vfr is a soft 15.3kg.

I run a 19kg on my F3 Ohlins and it works great for my 190 lbs, I would go with a 19-20 kg for your weight. I doubt the stock valving of a F3/F4 shock will be adequate for a 19kg spring, but you could always try it and see. You may not have much adjust-ability but if it controlled the spring then it would be good enough until you buy you Elka.

Otherwise you'll have to spend some bucks revalving the shock on top of buying a spring. Member JD does the entire mod with spring/valving/extension for less than $300 I think. :ohmy:

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  • 2 months later...

I'm not a real aggressive rider, but I would like my suspension to be more tuned to my weight. Is it an option to get a heavier spring to go on the stock shock? I weigh about 225lbs.

Howdy! biggrin.gif

Your weight will require springs in the area of .95 kg front(min)and 1200 lb rear spring (min) rear. You don't mention what Gen VFR your riding, we can better suggest Mods if we have more info. fing02.gif

Welcome to VFRD btw.

BR

Sorry about the slow response. My bad on the year, it's an '02. I didn't think to put the year in since it was the "Sixth Gen fourms"mellow.gif

Is the 6th gen spring alone replaceable on the stock shock? I just got the bike and dont' want the wife to slit my throat by spending 800 dollars on a new shock quite yet.

Thanks!

No you are right it is a 6th gen thread, but many 5th gen guys have posted too and what works/fits a 5th gen doesn't always work on the 6th. :fing02:

Yes you can change out the spring on the VFR shock, but it's a POS compared to most other Honda sport bike shocks and I wouldn't waste the time or money putting a 1200-1300 lb spring on a stock VFR shock.

Options:

The easiest mod I would suggest is to install a CBR 1100XX shock on it, it's not stiff enough for your weight but it's a bolt in mod and will quicken the steering a little because it's slightly longer. Stock VFR rear shock has a 15.3 kg spring, the XX has a 16.8 kg spring. It's only 10% stiffer, but that's better and would add some extra ground clearance too.

The next step would be slapping a 1200 lb spring on a F4i shock with a 12mm (or bigger)top mount spacer and hope there's enough rebound adjustment to control the 1200 lb spring, if so your in like flint. :goofy:

Either one of these shocks(F4i, CBR xx) can be had for $50 ON EBAY and the F4i shock has rebound & compression adjustment.

Springs avg. $100 per end(front/rear). The 929 shock is a common mod for 5th gen, but there's a fitment issue on 6th gen that requires a mod to a bracket at the rear of the bike too.

The next step is to have someone re-valve an F4i shock for the 1200-1300lb spring, JamieDaughtery is member here who does that. This is probably around $300 w/new spring.

Used Ohlins or Penskes are another choice, I found a Ohlins on eBay from a CBR F2/F3 for $300 and installed a 19kg spring w/no valving change and it works Great, only had to make a spacer for the top mount.

Lots of options out there which cost less than new but require some slight mods.

BR

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  • 1 month later...

Does anyone know if a shock from a VTR1000 will work on the 6th gen?

It looks to be the same length shock, but wanted to see if anyone had tried it. If so, is the spring rate similar?

TC,

Looks like it's a good fit for a 5th gen length wise as the VTR shock is listed at 326mm where the 5th gen is 325mm & the vtec is 317mm. Stroke is 63mm vs 58/53mm for the VFR800's.

If it's an aftermarket VTR shock like Ohlins or Penske that has ride height adjustment then it might adjust short enough for a 6th gen. :cheerleader:

BR

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  • 1 month later...

Just an update/FYI - I bought a used 6th gen OEM shock last fall and had Jamie rebuild and re-spring it for my weight. Turned out great! A buddy and I installed it last month and, coupled with heavier fork springs and oil, my VFR finally handles like a sportbike - even with my fat arse on it! :fing02:

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  • 10 months later...

I installed a stock VFR rear shock on my 84 VF1000f. Works much better than the stocker, but is a little too soft. Is there a stiffer spring I could salvage off a bone yard shock that fits this model shock?

I hind sight a blackbird shock looks pretty good and 10% stiffer, but I don't have access to the machine shop I used to when I did the VFR shock.

Actually if I'm not mistaken the XX Blackbird has the stiffest spring of this type shock that Honda uses at 16.9kg. :blush:

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I installed a stock VFR rear shock on my 84 VF1000f. Works much better than the stocker, but is a little too soft. Is there a stiffer spring I could salvage off a bone yard shock that fits this model shock?

I hind sight a blackbird shock looks pretty good and 10% stiffer, but I don't have access to the machine shop I used to when I did the VFR shock.

Actually if I'm not mistaken the XX Blackbird has the stiffest spring of this type shock that Honda uses at 16.9kg. :blush:

I had read that the XX Blackbird has the stiffest spring of this type shock. Do you know if that spring will fit the VFR shock? I was trying to find spring dimensions for the VFR shock. I can rough measure mine in the bike, but I don't have a feel for how critical that number is. I also don't know free height of the vfr spring either.

Yes, it fits as I installed an XX spring on my 00 VFR shock. I should have just installed the XX shock instead! :blush:

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For anyone that might be interested.... I've been working on a minimal cost suspension upgrade, with the thought of being able to progress into a much more proper completed system in the future without having to replace the new parts as I build.

(My stats are, wt. 255 lbs. ; six-gen VFR ; In-between kneedragging and NOT)

I had my forks cleaned and assembled with "sonic" 1.0 non-progressive springs, And 5-wt fork oil. I start my test rides(usually 100 to 200 mile for each eval'). The 1st thing, I left my sag alone just to see how the spring felt, then did some sag adjustments, I increased the rear dampener 1/8 of a turn(and might back that off a mm). For my next run I lowered my front 3mm(only).

So far I'm loving it. The changes are that it turns in with no effort under normal S's riding I find my comfort zone went up about 10 mph +. One other thing is, it turns well in the slow parking-lot maneuvers as well. For me, I'm glad I didn't lower the front any more than this(at least for the time being).

I'm thinking about rebuilding my stock shock and changing the spring at another time after T-Mac's rally. For now it's fine.

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  • 2 months later...

Bailey... did you ever actually install a 929 shock on your VTECker??

I just forked out the cash on one and have just seen these recent posts on clearance issues that I hadn't seen on older posts...

I was hoping just having a longer top mounting bracket machined would be all I had to worry about...

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These are both 929 shocks, the white spring ones came on the Erion versions of the 929 and yellow springs on the standard 929.

Picture104.jpg

Bailey (or anyone else for that matter)... do you know if there is any difference other than colour between the Erion and Regular version of the 929er??

From what I've read the 929er has the same spring rate as the VTECker.

New longer top bracket to be what?? 30 - 42 mm longer?? I wouldn't mind some 10mm more seat height.

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Bailey (or anyone else for that matter)... do you know if there is any difference other than colour between the Erion and Regular version of the 929er??

Never could find out if there was any difference other than Spring color!

From what I've read the 929er has the same spring rate as the VTECker.

Yep, 15.3kg

New longer top bracket to be what?? 30 - 42 mm longer?? I wouldn't mind some 10mm more seat height.

I think the 929 is approx 288mm long eye center to eye center where as the Vtec is like 314mm so the Min. length spacer would be 26mm. I would say 28-30mm would be a good starting point and washers could be used to add height if desired!

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  • Member Contributer

So, i just got a Gen 6 (2004).

Prior bike is 1993 VFR750 with Hyperpro that i had custom built with longer pushrod and spring/valving for my riding. Unfortunately, that shock isn't going to fit my 2004, from what I have read.

I am currently having my mountain bike rear shock custom rebuilt and custom valved by PUSH Industries, here in Colorado. They don't know it yet, but I am going to ask if they would do a RaceTech spring and gold valve installation on my stock Showa unit.

I am wondering if this my best/lowest cost solution under $500? I know that stock shocks suck. I gave my KLR Showa away and had a custom shock done by Cogent Dynamics. But, since the VFR isn't going offroad, I am hoping that a properly sprung and valved Showa might be OK for my purposes.

Soliciting comments.

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  • Member Contributer

I am wondering if this my best/lowest cost solution under $500? I know that stock shocks suck. I gave my KLR Showa away and had a custom shock done by Cogent Dynamics. But, since the VFR isn't going offroad, I am hoping that a properly sprung and valved Showa might be OK for my purposes.

Soliciting comments.

This is the most common way to upgrade forks, but because it's so easy to change a shock I don't know of anyone who has done this.

Not sure I would trust a MTB shock builder to do a motorcycle shock. Air shocks are different.

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