Ade

Can someone point me in the right direction of a chart with different spindle dimensions on please? I thought I had a couple but I seem to have misplaced them.

Hi, I have been looking to see if I can find the swingarm dimensions for the 600/750 K models and SRAD but have been coming up blank. I am most specifically looking for 600 K1, 2 & 3 dimensions. Could someone point me in the right direction please?

First pic needed a block of wood to stop it falling over. Second pic is pants but the bike leans at a decent angle without the wood.

That is a before pic next to a finished pic

I have been away for a week and only just had chance to do the final update. The triangle adjustable dog bones worked but you couldn't get at the adjuster on the bottom of the shock. So I made another set of dog bones at 139mm centres which let you use the adjuster and raise the rear of the bike a little. I noticed the shock was rubbing the 20mm spacer plate so I whipped that off and linished a recess in it to give the shock room. The WP shock looks like a moped shock compared to the GSXR 750 K2 shock. All it needs now is the shock dialled in for the rider.

Finally finished! Fourth time lucky! I got the mechanicals working perfect with the WP shock only the shock itself was too soft for the SRAD link and dog bones. I got an SRAD shock which was too long and threw up other issues. It is a bigger diameter to the WP shock so hit the link with the SRAD 150mm dog bones. I made some new 140mm and 135mm dog bones which let the shock fit the link but pushed the top eye even higher so the SRAD shock was a no go. The GSXR 750 K2 shock arrived today and it is even bigger diameter than the SRAD shock. It still fitted with the 140mm dog bones but the 15mm spacer plate I made first was too thin to allow the shock to bolt in and I needed to raise the top mount a little. I made a 20mm spacer plate and moved the adjustable top mount up the bolt holes. I set the shock on its softest settings and it works great. You can't bottom it out even with my 15stone fat ass bouncing it! The adjustable top mount is on it's lowest setting as well. So the shock can be dialled in by stiffening the spring and setting the rebound and dampening adjusters and the height can be changed on the top adjuster. The last picture is one I found online of someone raising the standard top shock mount that I unashamedly pinched the idea off when I needed to raise mine up! Thankfully I only needed the one spacer plate.

I have resleeved end cans and bought end caps from PJ Engineering. You should be able to find somewhere your side of the pond that sells carbon sleeves.

(1) Carbon Tubes – pj engineering

I have done something similar but with 5mm thick cork gasket material. Cut discs out to fit in pod filters to restrict air flow.

Had another result this afternoon. While checking the length of the SRAD shock I bought I found they are 356mm between hole centres. The shock in the bike is 312mm between centres. The SRAD shock might be too long to fit. I started looking at other options and the GSXR 750 K1 to K3 shocks are 330mm between centres. I found a decent looking one on Eblag for £24 delivered.

Just had a result. Looking at an SRAD shock on Eblag, found one that looked decent for £30 or offers. I offered a cheeky £20 expecting them to come back with a counter offer. They accepted my offer so I have an SRAD 750 shock on it's way. Some people are asking well over £100 for shocks that look like they have been dredged from a canal! This one looks pretty good. I'll still whip the spring off and clean it up but it should do the job.

It makes things easier. I tried 130mm and they worked but it lent over too much on the side stand. I tried 120mm and it was even worse. I went back to the 150mm SRAD ones as they put the link in as close to the SRAD angle of dangle as I could get. If necessary I can go to 140mm. By trying 10mm increments you can see which direction you need to go in so if 130mm and 140mm aren't quite right you can do some in the middle at 135mm.

It's great that you can attach pictures direct from a PC to the forum now. It used to take ages going from a photo hosting site, copying the link, then attaching it to a forum.

I like a challenge.

The original top mount had been offset with the frame bar drilled and tapped to suit. That part is thinner than where the shock mount is supposed to fit and it was bolted down across the original raised section with a 2mm gap at the bolts. I made some 2mm stainless shims to fill the gap at first, but didn't like the idea. So I decided to make an adjustable top mount. I used some 12mm flat as the base with some 8mm plate for the top and some 5mm gussets. It is a bit heavy but I tried to err on the side of strength and use stuff I already had in. When I do another one I will buy in some 8mm thick steel angle, or even a section of H beam and cut it down from a single piece of steel, I'll work that out when the time comes. I used a ZX6R top eye because they are easy to get and cheaper than if I made one from scratch. I made a 15mm thick ally spacer to move the shock away from the front of the swingarm. Just need to find an SRAD shock now as the one that was in it is too soft with the SARD link and dog bones.

That shows the SRAD link with dog bones I bought in, a standard WP link and the cut down WP link. The first pic is when I started showing the shock jammed against the swing arm. I first off sanded some of the raised area off the SRAD link to get it to move properly in the WP mountings, you will see there is a small blob of ally on the frame that was restricting the movement of the link sot I had to remove nearly all of the raised area and sand a little notch in the link to stop anything fouling on each other. I made some 6mm ally test dog bones to try different hole spacings. I made some 316 stainless adjustable dog bones at 110mm, 120mm and 130mm. They 120 and 130mm centres ended up jacking the rear up too much, I did think about just lengthening the side stand and going with the 130mm centres but decided I could do it better.

After some trial and error the SRAD linkage is fitted and works. The bike bounces on it's own suspension instead of being a hardtail with the shock jammed against the swingarm. I tried making adjustable dog bones at 120mm and 130mm centres, using the original top shock mount, but that jacked the rear up too much. I decided to try the 150mm SRAD dog bones as a base setting and make an adjustable top mount. Now it all works but the shock in it is too soft. I am looking for an SRAD 750 shock ideally, or a 600 one will do. I used a ZX6R top shock eye and made the adjustable mount to fit the standard shock mounting points with the eye offset to line the shock up with the offset link. I'll put some pics up now I have the fabrication side worked out.

Are SRAD 600 and 750 rear shocks the same? I guess they are the same body casting but the 750 was a higher spec bike than the 600 so I am thinking the 750 shock might have different internals and spring.

I'll put some on when I have finished.

To be fair I might not have needed to linish the extra area of ally off the SRAD link as it only touches the frame on the lowest dangle. At the time I didn't know how much movement I would need for the link so I removed it. I'll check it when I have the right length dog bones worked out. It doesn't hurt to remove it but I could have been over thinking it.

So it's an SRAD 600 shock link, all the link needs is a little area of extra ally on the bottom removed near the front pivot. The WP front pivot bush is modified to fit the SRAD link using the WP washers each side of the link and a 27mm spacer takes the length back to fit the WP mounts on the frame with the WP 14mm bolt. The VFR swingarm pivot bush is now 40mm long with a 27mm spacer each side to centralise the SRAD link. The WP top shock mount has been offset to the left to line up with the VFR mount. I have some 5mm thick 316 stainless flat bar to make new links. I'll make ally ones to try different lengths first, then make stainless ones when I know what length I need.

I fitted the SRAD shock link Sunday and it was a lot easier than I had worked myself into believing. I took the WP link and Hagon shock out, the original builder had tried to offset the WP link by removing one of the bearings and pushing the one remaining bearing into the centre of what was left of the WP link, they had cut it down to offset it to line up with the VFR arm shock mount. They just had not cut it down enough, it didn't line up perfect so the shock was a bit pissed. They had left the WP link pivot bush the full length to fit in the brackets on the frame so it was only the dog bones keeping it all in place, the link could slide either way on the pivot bush. The pivot bush in the VFR arm was similar, it was a full width bush the same width as the dog bone mount on the WP linkage. It could slide in and out on the VFR arm. I measured the width of the bearing mount on the VFR arm then cut down the bush that was fitted to give 2mm of play each side. I measured the width of the front pivot before I cut the WP front pivot bush down to the same length as the SRAD one, the front bush outer diameter was the same in the WP and the SRAD links. The front pivot bolt diameters are different, the WP is 14mm, the SRAD is 12mm. I could have bored out the SRAD bush but the WP bush was in better condition. The bushes are hardened steel so cutting down the WP one was easier than boring out the SRAD one. A parting off tool struggled to cut the bushes but a stainless cutting disc went through them, then a facing off tool cut them OK. I measured the dog bone pivot bush, then worked out what spacers I needed to centralise the SRAD link and dog bones. I needed a 27mm spacer each side of the VFR arm shock mount pivot bush to centre it. I offered it up to the bike and the SRAD link fitted perfectly to the left hand side bracket on the WP frame. I was gob smacked, I thought it would be a lot of fettling and measuring to work out spacers. All it needed was one 27mm spacer to fill the gap to the right hand bracket. There was one minor snag, the SRAD link had an extra bit of ally cast on the bottom, a raised flat section. One end of that raised section hit the WP frame and restricted the movement of the linkage. A few minutes on the linisher took that end of the raised section off so the SRAD link has full range of movement. I used the SRAD dog bones to get an idea of where everything fits and when I took the bike off the stands and jack it sits too low but at least the suspension works after being a hardtail with the shock jammed against the swing arm! Even the offset WP top shock mount will work so I might not need to make a new top mount. Next job is to work out what length dog bones I need to get the bike to the right height. The SRAD dog bones are 150mm between centres. I have some 120mm ones to try which might be too short but will give me an idea of where to go with making new ones.

A friend has a GSXR 1100 that I worked on for him and looked after for years. That had a 1216 motor. It has a VFR 400 NC30 single side swingarm with a Triumph 6" wheel and NC30 cush drive less sprocket carrier. That 1216 motor must be close to 150bhp ish. Then he got me to fit a 150bhp NOS kit, it came with 3 sets of jets, 50bhp, 100bhp and 150bhp. It's an old school single shot kit so the full 150bhp in one press of the button and will stay on as long as the button is pressed, or until the NOS bottle runs out. Not like the modern timed stepped bhp kits. That NC30 swingarm came from a 54bhp bike yet it has been in my mates GSXR 1100 for over 20 years and works great and copes with the extra power.