Brazle
Active Member
My bike used to have a hard tail, and when I started riding again at the beginning of this season, I realized that that just wouldn't do. I wanted something more. Something more soft that is.
The exhaust the PO put on is from a 03-06 Kawi Z1000. It is cut down, but would still interfere if I put the original shocks back on. So to reinstall the original shocks which came with the bike, I cut another 4 inches off the top muffler (the Z1000 has some dual shotgun style mufflers on each side, originally 16-17 inches long). So the mufflers would have uneven lengths, I thought it would look pretty cool.
Here is what it looked like after I cut the mufflers to fit the stock shocks.
I lost one of the end caps, so I left the other top one off. I cut the internal baffles shorter too, and I thought the indentations in the outer pipe would keep them in, but they didn't so I lost the baffles, they are out on the road somewhere.
The shocks were pretty soft and bouncy, not the ride I was looking for. And the original shocks made the bike pretty tall. I'm no shorty, but at 5'8" I was never really comfortable keeping the bike upright. So I started looking for some better shocks that would lower the bike too, I read a lot about the progressives and was looking for some for a while.
I thought I had an ebay auction for some progressive shocks, but I got outbid. So I was looking around for other shocks that would work to lower the bike a bit. Was looking for Vulcan, Virago, etc shocks and found out the Honda Shadow shocks would work too. I found a pair on ebay for a good price, and they came off a Honda Shadow Aero VT750. Had a couple of dents, but I don't mind considering what the rest of my bike looks like
. I was originally looking at some off of a 750 Shadow Ace (2001 I think), but missed the sale. I read somewhere that the Aero shocks are stiffer (and probably shorter) than the Ace shocks. I think the Ace shocks would have been at least 12", the Aero shocks that I got ended up being 11.5" long. Pretty short I know, but they seem to work fine.
Rear shocks from Honda Shadow Aero VT750 (11.5" long):
So I put the "new" shocks on and was very pleased with the ride height, and the way they looked. Without the end caps on the top muffler I was careful not to do any riding because the original shocks had been discolored a bit by the exhaust, and I didn't want that to happen to my "new shocks". I took some ride height measurements too, and will try to post those up later.
Since I didn't want to ride it with the new shocks till I got the exhaust fixed, I was eager to find a fix for the big holes in the top mufflers. I posted several ads on different forums and looked around for some Z1000 end caps, or parts mufflers, but there weren't any. I found an ad for some original complete Z1000 mufflers at www.riderforums.com for a decent price, so I paid for them and waited for them to come in.
I didn't have a chance to work on it till yesterday, and I wasn't sure how I was going to get the cap off, since it has a couple of small welds holding the cap on and I didn't want to damage the cap or the muffler unnecessarily. I used my brother's Dremel tool and after a little, well actually a lot of fighting with the bit and tightening mechanism, I got the welds cut through and got the cap off.
I only needed one end cap for the muffler since I had only lost one and still had the other three that were originally on the bike. So I left the rest of the Z1000 mufflers intact and may be selling them on ebay or something. I thought about taking the baffles out of them to refill the top cans that are empty now, but I kind of like the noise level it's at now, it's a bit loud, but acceptable and if I want to quiet it down later, I can come back and make some baffling pretty cheaply.
Anybody want some mufflers for a custom project?
So I got the caps installed, drilled some holes and put some screws in to keep the caps on so they don't fall off and get lost like before. And this is what it looks like:
I am quite please with everything about this setup. It wasn't too much work, I didn't spend too much money, I like they way the mufflers look with the shorter one on top, and longer one on the bottom, and how they kind of fit around the rear shocks. It's functional and it looks good. It sounds good too, quite racey, not too loud at cruise, but pretty loud at full throttle (the mufflers still have the cats in them I think).
The shocks are awesome. The ride height is great, almost exactly where it was with the hardtail, I thought it would be taller, but it's pretty close, maybe a half inch higher. Very comfortable for my riding position. The shocks function MUCH better than the originals, no more bounce, much better control over bumps. The bike feels a lot more stable and a lot more planted. I am still getting used to curves since I am much lower and I may have to watch out that I don't scrape anything which wasn't a problem with the ZL shocks. The shocks hardly compress, maybe 1/2" when i sit on them, and when I'm riding around, I feel like there is less than 1" of travel even going over decent sized bumps. I thought I might have to worry about it bottoming out, but that definitely doesn't seem like it will be an issue. I weigh 220# and my girlfriend weighs 115# or so, so we'll see how she does riding two up, but after riding on it today, I'm really not worried about it, the Shadow shocks are really stiff and have very little travel.
It feels like a new bike and the ride is much more comfortable. I like the looks of the covered shocks, though I wasn't too keen at first. Actually I saw the progressives with the black shocks, and was set on them, but when I found these they started growing on me, and I really like the way they look now. I thought about getting the shocks powder coated black or something, but I don't know if they would come apart or not, I am guessing you can't just powder coat a whole shock like that.
I may clean up the exhaust a little bit too. One guy had a Z1000 with original mufflers that he had cut down, and then used some aluminum polish so the exhaust was silver instead of gold colored.
I have thought about getting the muffler end caps painted/powder coated black, probably satin black. I think that would look cool with the shiney silver polished muffler cans. black-silver-black, I like it.
The exhaust the PO put on is from a 03-06 Kawi Z1000. It is cut down, but would still interfere if I put the original shocks back on. So to reinstall the original shocks which came with the bike, I cut another 4 inches off the top muffler (the Z1000 has some dual shotgun style mufflers on each side, originally 16-17 inches long). So the mufflers would have uneven lengths, I thought it would look pretty cool.
Here is what it looked like after I cut the mufflers to fit the stock shocks.
I lost one of the end caps, so I left the other top one off. I cut the internal baffles shorter too, and I thought the indentations in the outer pipe would keep them in, but they didn't so I lost the baffles, they are out on the road somewhere.
The shocks were pretty soft and bouncy, not the ride I was looking for. And the original shocks made the bike pretty tall. I'm no shorty, but at 5'8" I was never really comfortable keeping the bike upright. So I started looking for some better shocks that would lower the bike too, I read a lot about the progressives and was looking for some for a while.
I thought I had an ebay auction for some progressive shocks, but I got outbid. So I was looking around for other shocks that would work to lower the bike a bit. Was looking for Vulcan, Virago, etc shocks and found out the Honda Shadow shocks would work too. I found a pair on ebay for a good price, and they came off a Honda Shadow Aero VT750. Had a couple of dents, but I don't mind considering what the rest of my bike looks like
. I was originally looking at some off of a 750 Shadow Ace (2001 I think), but missed the sale. I read somewhere that the Aero shocks are stiffer (and probably shorter) than the Ace shocks. I think the Ace shocks would have been at least 12", the Aero shocks that I got ended up being 11.5" long. Pretty short I know, but they seem to work fine.Rear shocks from Honda Shadow Aero VT750 (11.5" long):
So I put the "new" shocks on and was very pleased with the ride height, and the way they looked. Without the end caps on the top muffler I was careful not to do any riding because the original shocks had been discolored a bit by the exhaust, and I didn't want that to happen to my "new shocks". I took some ride height measurements too, and will try to post those up later.
Since I didn't want to ride it with the new shocks till I got the exhaust fixed, I was eager to find a fix for the big holes in the top mufflers. I posted several ads on different forums and looked around for some Z1000 end caps, or parts mufflers, but there weren't any. I found an ad for some original complete Z1000 mufflers at www.riderforums.com for a decent price, so I paid for them and waited for them to come in.
I didn't have a chance to work on it till yesterday, and I wasn't sure how I was going to get the cap off, since it has a couple of small welds holding the cap on and I didn't want to damage the cap or the muffler unnecessarily. I used my brother's Dremel tool and after a little, well actually a lot of fighting with the bit and tightening mechanism, I got the welds cut through and got the cap off.
I only needed one end cap for the muffler since I had only lost one and still had the other three that were originally on the bike. So I left the rest of the Z1000 mufflers intact and may be selling them on ebay or something. I thought about taking the baffles out of them to refill the top cans that are empty now, but I kind of like the noise level it's at now, it's a bit loud, but acceptable and if I want to quiet it down later, I can come back and make some baffling pretty cheaply.
Anybody want some mufflers for a custom project?
So I got the caps installed, drilled some holes and put some screws in to keep the caps on so they don't fall off and get lost like before. And this is what it looks like:
I am quite please with everything about this setup. It wasn't too much work, I didn't spend too much money, I like they way the mufflers look with the shorter one on top, and longer one on the bottom, and how they kind of fit around the rear shocks. It's functional and it looks good. It sounds good too, quite racey, not too loud at cruise, but pretty loud at full throttle (the mufflers still have the cats in them I think).
The shocks are awesome. The ride height is great, almost exactly where it was with the hardtail, I thought it would be taller, but it's pretty close, maybe a half inch higher. Very comfortable for my riding position. The shocks function MUCH better than the originals, no more bounce, much better control over bumps. The bike feels a lot more stable and a lot more planted. I am still getting used to curves since I am much lower and I may have to watch out that I don't scrape anything which wasn't a problem with the ZL shocks. The shocks hardly compress, maybe 1/2" when i sit on them, and when I'm riding around, I feel like there is less than 1" of travel even going over decent sized bumps. I thought I might have to worry about it bottoming out, but that definitely doesn't seem like it will be an issue. I weigh 220# and my girlfriend weighs 115# or so, so we'll see how she does riding two up, but after riding on it today, I'm really not worried about it, the Shadow shocks are really stiff and have very little travel.
It feels like a new bike and the ride is much more comfortable. I like the looks of the covered shocks, though I wasn't too keen at first. Actually I saw the progressives with the black shocks, and was set on them, but when I found these they started growing on me, and I really like the way they look now. I thought about getting the shocks powder coated black or something, but I don't know if they would come apart or not, I am guessing you can't just powder coat a whole shock like that.
I may clean up the exhaust a little bit too. One guy had a Z1000 with original mufflers that he had cut down, and then used some aluminum polish so the exhaust was silver instead of gold colored.
I have thought about getting the muffler end caps painted/powder coated black, probably satin black. I think that would look cool with the shiney silver polished muffler cans. black-silver-black, I like it.
