What rear shocks do you have?

I'm looking to replace my stockers and want to stay with twin shocks. Did a search on ye ole forum but not much turned up.

There's a lot of brands out there and I don't really know what is good or not, besides Koni and Progressive. So far I found Marzocchi, Red Wing (both the normal and the 'hammer' style), Mulholland, Girling, Paioli, KYB and Sebac shocks?

What shocks do you all have and what's good and bad about them?
- dutch

11.5" Harley Sportster takeoffs. A little stiff and probably not a performer like you are looking for. Look pretty nice though and lowered the bike. Oh they're cheap too, lots of them on eBay.

I have 12" Sportster shocks on my bike. They are a little better than the original gear on my bike, but it wasn't an amazing improvement. I do enjoy the lowered look they gave, though.

Good: Cheap, cheap, cheap. Mine were $20 on eBay. Real easy way to lower your bike while retaining a shock setup.

Bad: No real noticable performance improvement. My old shocks were real tired, which is the only reason things improved at all.

Some KZ's came with airshocks. The Spectre models for sure, and maybe some others. My Spectre rode very, very smooth.

I have HD sportster shocks for my KZ 750. Haven't got the bike on the road, but they are gonna work well. Height is good for me. Bought on Ebay for 20 bucks.
Mark

I have S&W shocks on my '77 KZ650C1. I put them on around 1979 and they still work great. They were the best shocks available at the time, but I think they're no longer in business. However, if I was going to put shocks on a bike today, I would use Progressive. Here's a link:

www.progressivesuspension.com/metric.html

Good luck, Ed

I've had Koni rear shocks on since '85. They work well, have adjustments on the spring preload at the bottom and dampening at the top. They also have a lifetime guarantee, but I had a hard time finding someone in my area recently to ask some questions about them.

If you are willing to spend the $$$, take a look at Works Performance shocks.

I'm running Progressive 412
They lowered my bike about 2"!

Great Shocks.

Hmmm thanks guys. I am not trying to lower my bike, if anything I might go for shocks that are a tad longer than stock - I'm thinking 14" at most. I am looking for a shock that performs better. Progressive might be the ticket, and I'll keep a look out for Koni. Ebay prices are nuts though.
Ed, I'd never heard of that brand thanks. Maybe I'll get lucky. I would not pass up a deal but if I can't find one I might just shell out the cash for a pair of new shocks.
What about the other brands? Red Wing, Hagon etc... Anyone?

Fyi the HD shocks that I mentioned a few posts back for $20 bucks measured 13.5" eye center to eye center.

I had some V & H shocks on the KZ900 - they were not very adjustable, not rebuildable, too short, and worn out, and I don't think any were made in recent history - so cross those off your list. Had some Mullhollands on my Z1A, they were ok - tall shocks built well using 1970's technology and styling - not as good as the Progressives which I have on the 900 now, but the Progressives do not really impress either - basic spring adjustments only (no rebound adjustment) and they don't seem like they are very fast. Disclaimer: Progressive's I'm using have the heavy duty stiff springs (there's still quite a bit of sag two up), and this probably makes them harsher and maybe also slower to react than Progressives with standard springs.

I have a set of older FOX shocks. They are a little stiff I wish I could find some softer springs for them but over all a vast improvement over the OEM shocks.