SV650 shock

[nr]

Hello all,

I'm not sure if this is common knowledge, but while I was looking around for a replacement shock for my rebuild, a friend of mine took a look, and said "mmm, that looks about the same size as the Ohlins I had in my '99 SV650 racebike. Let me check...". It's pretty much a perfect fit, lengthwise (about 1mm longer than stock), and the top and bottom mountings fit perfectly. I suspect that the spring rate may be a little harsh, but I'll find out when I get the thing on the road/track. For now, the shock has dropped straight in, and buttoned up nicely.

More details, including a photo at https://nronketti.wordpress.com/ - I've got an image of the original Ohlins Specification Card too if anyone's interested - it gives all the details of the components that were used to build this unit.

Quite happy with that. Plan A was to find an R6 unit and work with that, but it seems this could be a genuinely lucky find.

[bagmaker]

nice find NR!

[jjmoto]

Interesting, I've had a quick look on a couple of sv forums & it seems zx10 shocks are a common upgrade, also 03-06 z1000, zx14 & various gsxr. Been trying to weigh up shock rebuild vs replacement so I found Cobbas list of similar length shocks, the zx7r seems the closest in length has anyone tried it?

[cobbadiggabuddyblooo]

SV 650 ... 99-02 has a 63mm stroke so pretty close to what you need.
Ohlins spec Length = 337 + 12 adj height 63mm stroke
Later models have a 70mm stroke and 330mm +12mm adj height

[Overlord Neil]

nr, how did the shock swop work out? Is it a street or track bike?

[nr]

Fitted just fine. Still rebuilding other bits of the bike, so not ridden it yet. Bouncing it up and down feels OK-ish. Sag is, well, maybe a touch more than I'd like, but I may be able to dial that out with preload as it's set very low at the moment. Ride height feels pleasing. Hose to remote reservoir is way too long, and needed a bit of imaginative routing to get it all tied up out of the way. But if that's all I've got to complain about, I'll be a happy.
The bike is an ex-race bike that's been put back on the road, and will hopefully be heading back on to the track for the odd trackday when it's all together again. I suspect that the outrageously noisy Renegade system will need some modification before it passes either an MOT [1], or some of the circuit noise tests. I'll be repacking the cans with acousta-fil, and probably investing in some db killers and hoping they don't strangle things too much. I want to spend some time on the dyno anyway, as I have two systems - one with 46mm headers, and one with 42mm headers. I know that in theory, I should see a couple more bhp at the top end with the big system, but I'm curious to see what it does to the midrange. We'll see.

[1] One of the previous owners ground off the "competition use only" stamp on the end caps. I thought this was a bit pointless, as they really are offensively noisy. However, it turns out that if the cans are stamped as for race or competition use, it's an immediate MOT fail. If they're not stamped, it's up to the tester. I can only assume that the previous owner(s) had very accommodating MOT stations.

[Overlord Neil]

It also works to put a piece of tape or sticker over the 'for race use only' stamp. Sounds daft but if the inspector is sympathetic to loud cans he can't fail it for being a race only system and he's not allowed to 'tamper' with the bike to remove the tape... nor for that matter are the rozzers.

Curious to see how it works out as SV/ZX10/blah shocks seem to be in abundance.

[TRXcork]

Any updates on this, just picked up my first TRX and hey hey surprise, knackered shock

[nr]

All seems good with the shock really. As suspected, it needs a bit more preload [1], but the damping feels pretty good. And the spring rate feels kind of OKish too for the pothole infested farm tracks around here.

All in all, it kind of shows up just how crap the forks are. I guess I'll have to do something about those now.

[1] My preload spanner is crap, so I'm putting off trying to adjust it, as I know it's going to end up with skinned knuckles and some intensive use of four-letter language.

[TRXcork]

But you can't have done a job right if you've no bolts/nuts leftover!! Or not lost blood for that matter, my TL used demand human sacrifice, I kept offering the missus but they kept handing her back

on a serious note I may look into this. Just picked up the bike and the shock is knackered, budget says rebuild (€150) but if I can pick up an SV shock less than 4 years old that'll do too till I can swing a Wilbers custom (€400)

[Overlord Neil]

I know it's going to end up with skinned knuckles and some intensive use of four-letter language.

Only four? I regularly create words with waaaay more letters than that.

[NielsJ]

Old post, and I can't really bring anything new, but I used to run an YZF Öhlins 46HRCLS on the back of my 1999 SV650. Worked great

[coxylaad]

My Nitron was originally off a SV650