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Its official... GSXR SHOCK IN GLADIUS!!

145K views 550 replies 115 participants last post by  moarmoto 
#1 ·
#2 ·
yep thats right,

just finished fitting a 06/07 gsxr750/600 rear shock into bumblebee's gladius.

very straight forward and quite easy to do, couple of little pitfalls, but nothing to cut up and nothing to modify on the bike. basically a direct bolt in.


so what do you need?

1x gsxr600/750 shock (showa) 2006-2007 the reserviour comes straight of the back of the shock 90* to the shaft.

1x high tensile m10 nut and bolt. 55mm long. i couldnt find one at a shop that would be open on a sunday, so i bought a 70mm item and cut it down, no biggie.

tools needed.

12, 14, 17mm spanners
12,14, 17mm sockets and ratchet
6, 4mm allen keys

my supervisor...



firstly remove the entire exhaust system.
remove seat.
remove the left side frame covers in its entirety.
now you can suspend the rear of your bike off the ground, or leave all bolts in place and pull the bike up onto the stand and have someone to remove the bolts and change shocks etc...i had my wife as my helper so i used the lift onto the side stand method

undo the dog bones nuts



loosen the top and bottom shock bolts (14mm spanner on the throttle side, 14mm socket on the clutch side with mid extension bar



have your shock and your bolt and nut laid out and ready nearby.



heave the bike up onto the side stand with the back wheel off the ground brace the bike against your hip and lean over the bike and pull the rear wheel up to unload the bolts, have your friend, remove the dogbones, the standard shock bolts and then let the wheel hang down, then pull the shock out thru the gap between the foot peg assembly and the frame, this takes some patience as it is a tight squeeze getting the shock out.

lower in the new rear shock, now the only pitfall in this is the rubber flap that lives under the battery box stops the shock going all the way up to allow the bolt to pass thru, just lift the rubber flap up and have it sit on the frame rail instead your shock will happily go to its new home now.
ive pointed out the new position for the flap.



use the orginal top shock bolt and nut.
and now use your m10 55mm long bolt on the bottom, ensure the nut you use is no more then 10mm in overall thickness.

clearences are tight but everything does clear safely.

theres 3mm between the bolt and the dog bone and 4mm between the shocks reserviour and the frame rail.







re-install dog bones lower bike tighten everything up, reinstall exhaust, frame covers and seats, set sag, GO RIDE!!!

job done.





all up less then 2 hours work. and less then $50.00 USD to totally transform the bike. it is 200% more planted and settled on the road.

enjoy.

cheers.joe.
 
#3 ·
yep thats right,

just finished fitting a 06/07 gsxr750/600 rear shock into bumblebee's gladius.

Well goodness me Deb and Joe ( and supervosor lol)..where to start?:eek:

Thanks for such a comprehensive and cogent step by step procedure, its a great post and real resource for those contemplating the mod. Your mods are getting me so restless haha. Love the pink spring too Debbz!:D

PS.. I cant tell in the pic..are your dogbones the same thickness as the oem ones?( thinking of the 3mm clearance you mentioned.)
 
#4 ·
the dogbones are the same thickness as oem. it wouldnt change the clearance if the dogbones were of different thickness tho, as the room given is dictated by the width of the suspension linkages.

i experimented with spaces behind the dogbones it give a little more room, but in the end stuck to the KISS method and kept it to as few parts as posible, there is NO latitudinal movement or loads on the components so they wont even come in contact.

cheers.joe.
 
#8 ·
What kind of paint did you use on the shock? Will it crack and chip after some use? Considering a shock flexes, so would the paint.
Was wondering the same. I have ordered a shock as well, but not really diggin the yellow paint, would much rather paint it black.


And thank you very much for the write up. The front suspension of the bike doesn't bother me too much. But I'm a healthy 225lbs and the bike does get a little soft in the corners.
 
#22 ·
ok, so to answer questions,

changing the shock does raise ride height a little. (approx 10mm at the back of the bike down to the back of the swingarm so seat height is raised only by less then 3mm

the gsxr rear shock is 320mm long VS the 317mm length of the gladius item, so nothing in it.

the 750 and 600 shocks are identical items.

as with sag, for general street riding 35mm is the go, that is, measure the freelength (bike weight taken of suspension) then measure the difference when your sitting on the bike..

front sag should be around 30mm

for hard road/track riding i set 25mm sag rear and 20mm sag front.

cheers.joe.
 
#26 ·
bumblebee, I'd be curious to know how many miles you put on the gladius rear shock before swapping it out, if it was fully broken in or not. whats the average mileage lifespan of a gsxr shock from 06/07? was the gsxr shock fully broken in when you got it?

just some random curious questions.
 
#27 ·
bumblebee, I'd be curious to know how many miles you put on the gladius rear shock before swapping it out, if it was fully broken in or not. whats the average mileage lifespan of a gsxr shock from 06/07? was the gsxr shock fully broken in when you got it?

just some random curious questions.



You do no need to break in a shock... It works best when its freshly serviced...

When racing and doing a ot of hard practice track days... You want to service them ofthen... About once a year... Now for street use, yuo want to service them every 4-5 years...

Luis
 
#35 ·
For you techies here... Which is the low speed and which is the speed adjuster on these here shocks. (06 and newer)

Is it the outside 14mm nut or is it the inside blade screwdriver adjuster on the inside?
I am not mistaken the small screw driver adjuster is the high speed compresion... It is not for the speed of the bike... It the speed the shock is being compressed... For example if you hit a speed bump, the sock will compress really fast... That is high speed compresion...

The larger nut is the slow speed compression... This is for hard acceleration anti-squat on the rear shock... Hard braking anti-dive on the forks... Or going very fast between rolling hills... Or hard cornering... Unlike a speed bump, cornering will slowly but progressively compress the suspension... This is slow...

A word of advise is to turn the slow speed compression all the way counter-clockwise and forget it is there... The reason why, is because: Unless you are pushing the bike hard to load it this way, it will give you a harsh ride...

The initial suspension movement of a high speed bump resembles the beginning of slow speed compression... There is where you get the harsh ride... When the valving builds pressure to a high speed movement it does switch over, but by then, you already felt the hit of the bump...

Play with it if you like, and you be the judge... If the ride is harsh, it could be the slow speed compression valving working poperly...

Luis
 
#32 ·
very nice 'rite up.

i know MadJohn tried the GXR front and it didn't work.

did you modify or replace the front suspension on the BumbleBee?

thanks

doc
 
#36 ·
to be honest, i didnt think the 06 gsxr range has hi/low speed compression adjustment. infact IIRC neither did the 07/08 models either.

feel free to correct me if im wrong, but im certain they never came with the dual compression adjustments. however, they certainly had the single compression adjustment.

cheers.joe.
 
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