| Adjustable Shock Mount It was at last years NEC bike show, that I saw a company advertising an adjustable top shock mount for the new GSXR range. 'Trick Idea' I thought, I wouldn't one o' them for my 7/11. I picked one up, had a good look at it, and then clocked the price - £125 ! fuck that, I'll make my own thanks, and I'll make it better ! |
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| All the pics and drawings that follow, are of the one I made for my 1989 GSXR 750K, which fortunately, Suzuki saw fit to bless with a removable top shock mount, as they did on all 750 slingshots ( J to M ) and the 1100K also. |  |
| But whatever it's for, you can easily follow the same principles as this one, and modify the design to suit your own application. The main bracket is probably the only thing you'll need to change. You can make this out of steel or thick alloy plate, and weld or bolt it to your frame. |  |
| At the heart of the assembly is the adjuster screw. The beauty of this design ( unlike the others that are for sale) is that the ride height can be adjusted with everything in situ. As the 'fork' is able to spin on the adjuster screw, which is retained underneath by a bolt. All you need to do is loosen the locknut and adjust the screw to get the desired ride height. |  |
| The application detailed will allow an adjustment of 12mm either side of the nominal position, which due to the geometry of the suspension linkage is more than enough to achieve up to a 50mm increase ( for quicker steering or just 'the pose') or a 50mm decrease in ride height ( for extra stability or that 'on the deck' drag racing stance. Generally ( on Suzuki’s ) a 5mm change at the shock equates to around 35mm change at the wheel. |  |
| Start off by making the lower clamp. Measure the existing fork mounting on top of your shock and then replicate the following pattern in the pics to your dimensions. Then get the screw adjuster made – in essence, a piece of 25mm steel bar, turned with a thread on the outside, a hex machined at the top ( for your spanner adjustment) |  |
| The bottom should have a flange and a sleeve to support the fork and then an M8 internal thread to accept a high tensile bolt.this will secured the fork to the adjuster screw, but still allows it to spin, so that you can adjust it without removing the shock. |  |
| Dimensions of bracket and fork. If the images aren't clear enough you can download a MS PowerPoint file here. |
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| Then you've got to make yourself a bracket to accept the screw adjuster. Basically its just an 'L' shape with a couple of strengthening webs supporting the top plate. The top plate needs to be threaded to accept the screw. |  |
| On mine I made a threaded steel 'insert' pressed into the alloy plate for extra strength. |  |
| Each application will be different, the main thing is to copy your existing geometry. i.e. the position of the upper shock 'eye' in relation to the point at which your mount attaches to the frame. Use the pictures as a general guide of how things should turn out. |  |
| Points to note,
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| When you do your 'working out' consider what items could 'foul' each other at the extremes of adjustment – if you jack it right up – you may find the chain will quickly eat into your lovely polished swingarm at the front – due to the change in swingarm angle. at the other extreme make sure you’re not gonna do summat silly like crush your brake hose, when the suspensions at full compression |  |
