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Discovered a Great Shock Upgrade for 5th Gen


RossR

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Found this recent thread on vfrworld.com, and thought that it might benefit 5th Gen owners looking for a budget upgrade to their rear suspension.

 

https://vfrworld.com/threads/discovered-a-great-shock-upgrade-for-5th-gen.54848/

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According to Ohlins, the 2016 ZX-10R shock is 309mm long (with +4/-2mm adjustment available), and the fifth gen shock is 325mm long, so you need to make up 12mm just to get to OEM ride height.  Does Jose's conversion do that?   The other critical measurement for shock swapping is stroke length.  The VFR's is 58mm; unfortunately, Ohlins' latest catalog omits stroke data entirely, so I don't know how the '16 ZX-10R shock compares in that spec.   The '11 ZX-10R's shock was also 309mm long, and had a 59mm stroke (which would be perfect for the fifth gen), but the later ZX-10Rs could have had a shorter stroke (which would not be good for a fifth gen).  Personally, I'd want to know the '16's stroke length before trying this swap.  Normally, increasing the length of a shock isn't very difficult, but some bikes are easier than others (e.g., the 3rd gen is not ideal for doing this).

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

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On 11/4/2018 at 8:01 AM, JZH said:

According to Ohlins, the 2016 ZX-10R shock is 309mm long (with +4/-2mm adjustment available), and the fifth gen shock is 325mm long, so you need to make up 12mm just to get to OEM ride height.  Does Jose's conversion do that?   The other critical measurement for shock swapping is stroke length.  The VFR's is 58mm; unfortunately, Ohlins' latest catalog omits stroke data entirely, so I don't know how the '16 ZX-10R shock compares in that spec.   The '11 ZX-10R's shock was also 309mm long, and had a 59mm stroke (which would be perfect for the fifth gen), but the later ZX-10Rs could have had a shorter stroke (which would not be good for a fifth gen).  Personally, I'd want to know the '16's stroke length before trying this swap.  Normally, increasing the length of a shock isn't very difficult, but some bikes are easier than others (e.g., the 3rd gen is not ideal for doing this).

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

 

Quote from DaHose post #1: " The difference in overall shock lengths was addressed by flipping over the original ZX10R mounting nut, and running it all the way down snug."

In the second paragraph he did state that the Kawasaki shock is 20mm shorter than the VFR shock.

 

Regarding stroke length, I will post if I find out what the Kawasaki's is. BTW, at Revzilla the Ohlins for the 2016 Kawasaki ZX10R is the same part for 2017/2018 so presumably the stroke length is the same for all three years.
 

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Hey JZH,

 

I found the information on the Ohlin site. The stroke travel on the Ohlins is 57mm. I am no expert but I don't think that a 1mm difference will matter.

https://www.ohlins.com/product-item/56335/

 

Ross

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Cool, I was looking at an old catalog.  I wouldn't worry about 1mm.  I read what he wrote, but I usually don't trust write-ups when they don't show their work!  

 

Ciao,

 

JZH

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  • 2 weeks later...
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I saw that Terry, but not sure if 17 is the same.

I doubt that it changed that much to need a 19.5km/mm spring though.

There is a new one selling cheap, but it will also need a shim rebuild, as there is way too much difference from stock spring, to what the VFR would need.

 

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