929 upgrade or other options on rear suspension upgrades?

Hey all after a long hiatus I'm back again. I'm getting ready to do some more mods to my VFR, one of which is upgrading the suspenion (finally!!) and I had some questions that I hope you all can answer.

First for the rear suspension, I did some browsing through the different forums and haven't seen anything new for upgrades on the 5th gens... I still have a 929 shock that has been sitting in my toolbin for over a year now waiting to be put on, is the 929 upgrade still the easiest \ least expensive option or is there something else out there?

Next the spring on the 929 shock, my goal for the suspension is to primarily just firm it up, it's mostly used for commuting solo, touring two up, but also some mildly agressive twisties riding. Is the stock spring on the 929 good enough or should I pony up the bucks and get a spring replacement? And any thoughts on the oil in the shock? Is it replaceable?

Any other options out there? Once i get the rear done suspension done, I'm going to be starting on the front suspenion, as well as some other mods i've been kicking around. Should be pretty sweet once i get it all done, fingers crossed!

thanks for any advice, it is greatly appreciated!!

Steve

 

Got a Fox shock and the full race tech stuff up front. Nice thing is once its set you can forget it. If I carry a pillion, I just pump up the rear tyre to 42 psi/You gona replace your crappy rubber lines with some proper braided steel ones?

 

As much as i like the Fox shock it's too pricey for me at this point and a bit of overkill really... and yes i will be replacing the brake lines with braided, but only after i come up with a solution to remove the LBS, which I hate with a passion. I did swap the pads out for some EBC HHs which helped quite a bit, i also plan on upgrading the reseviour to a GSXR 1k resevoir which is rattling around in my parts bin.

 

oh Shit! Sorry for your misery, I hate LBS with a passion, should be called (Lame Braking System) Car think for motorcycles dont work.

My shock cost me $600.00 sixteen years ago. I sent it back to Fox for a full re-build once. If your gona keep the bike for a while, maybe you want to think about it.

 

I've got a Jamie Daughtery 929 shock that's just been converted for a 6th gen and easily changed over for a 5th gen, has a stiffer spring and upgraded valving. It is listed in the Ads section. May be just what you are looking for.

http://vfrworld.com/classifieds/sho...ts-929-rear-shock26quot-3bnew-26quot-3b&cat=4

 

the way i got rid of the LBS is swapped a super hawk front end so easy to do the forks slide right into the triple then buy you some 97 VFR brake lines and your good to go! as far as the rear 929 shock with the correct weight spring should do the trick nicely contact jamie daugherty he'll set you up nice and for 3/4 the cost of a fox or ohlins. I've had mine on the bike for over a year now and recently done a track weekend on it its a pretty sweet upgrade for cheap.

 

Running separate brake lines and using your Gixxer master cylinder should take care of the LBS.

 

What are you using instead? never mind, read your classified.

 

I wish I was putting something else on! Maybe later I'll be able to to it again?

School really put a hurt on me this year with four kids needing supplies.

 

Thanks all for the advice! And Ripper thanks for the offer, I'll think about it, but realistically that's more than I can afford right now, I'm thinking around $200.00 max for the rear shock and maybe close to the same for the front... at $425, it's getting pretty close to the price of a used Ohlins or Fox but good luck with the sale, it seems like it should go pretty quick.

Running separate brake lines and using your Gixxer master cylinder should take care of the LBS.

In a nutshell that's pretty much the plan... I have a friend that can fab me up brake lines, and I'm also looking at moddying a set of Brembo's from one of my CBRs and seeing if I can get that to fit also but I think the offsets are off and not sure there is enough meat to drill new holes for the mounting on the calipers...

I decided I'm going to try and fab up a upper bracket for my 929 and see how it works out. If it is still too sloppy I'll consider new spring \ rebuild but for now that's just too pricey, I had a rough year on the track and still have to pay off a bunch of medical bills from some spills and get some more goodie for the CBR1k, so many bikes so few bucks

So this weekends plan is to strip it to the frame, install the 929 shock, install some Oxford heated grips and also try to fit in a Stebel Air horn, and if they get here in time, installing some mirror extenders as well. And of course flushing the fluids and brake lines. And while I have the fairings off I'm going to give them a good cleaning and going over with rubbing compound to hopefully bring back some shine and then waxing them. It's going busy weekend, but it's all going to be worth it I hope, this should bring some life back to her!

 

929 conversion is NOT a bolt on affair my friend. It's too short. Jamie modifies them to fit.

 

Right, the upper mounting bolt needs to be longer, from the upper clevis bolt i need to remove the old bolt and I should be able to weld in a longer bolt, center bore a 1" round bar stock of aluminum and tack weld that to upper clevis mount over the bolt and grind as necessary with the Dremel, and adjust to fit with washers... is there something else I am missing?


Thanks!

 

no, that'll do it. Just wanted to be sure you were aware of it.

 

Hey Steve, have you considered revalving your stock rear shock? While it doesn't have the reservoir and external compression adjustment of the 929, many people are surprised at well it can perform. I can get your stock shock setup with a spring and valving for around your budget. Shoot me an e-mail and I can work up a quote for you!

 

Great, thanks! I'll see how the 929 replacement works and if it doesn't work out, I'll be considering that one as an option.

 

Maybe you already know this, but the 929 shock will require a decent degree of modification to work on your VFR. The length difference is significant enough that fabbing a spacer in the upper mount is dangerous (in my opinion). The spring also needs to be changed as it is the correct rate for a newborn baby but not anyone heavier!

Assuming the spring rate is correct in both cases, a revalved VFR shock will perform better than an otherwise-stock 929 shock (from my experiences). The only way to get the 929 to perform better is to revalve it as well. The conversion process to make the 929 shock fit your VFR costs money, I guess from what I read in your origial post is that you are looking for the biggest gain with the least money output. A properly setup 929 shock will perform like an aftermarket race shock (better in some cases, again from my experiences) so it's a great value if you are looking for most outright performance. I still say the best bang-for-the-buck comes from upgrades to the stock VFR shock.

 

Jamie modded a 929 shock for my 2nd gen last year and I am happy with the work. I think he cut almost 2" off to fit my older style bike.

 

I've replaced the rear shock on my 5th gen. with one from 6th gen. VFR. It fits perfect without any modifications needed and is performing well. I think it is stronger than the original one from 5th gen.

 

The 02+ shocks are 10mm shorter than the 98-01 versions, but otherwise not significantly different. The 02+ valving has different shim stacks, but considering the pistons are the real problem the overall performance is just as crummy.