I was lucky enough to repair old shock, and got the valuable help from a frien that’s a seasoned car mechanic.
We (he) dismounted replaced parts and filled old shock to perfection.
Also helped me to no so easily dismount old (“new”) shock and we measured support distance in both shocks that resulted to BE THE SAME !!!
Terribly frustrated installed shock and resulted that bike continues to be very difficult to raise to stand.
Almost every time I need help. Seems I must lift the bike to first floor of the building.
Saw that there’s no way to regulate shock extension, it’s at it’s maximum (~41mm)
When standing on central support I saw that there’s around 4 cm space between tire and floor
Can hardly remember, but I think long time ago I saw tire closer to floor than it look today.
Can any of you measure that distance on your standing bike
I add a terrible draw, I hope it’s enough to understand what I’d like to know.
Thanks in advance and best regards from Spain
Ricardo
Hi bobF,
Thank you very very much.
I’m afraid that maybe mechanic touched something I can’t discover, and he will not remember (Shock was changed 10 or 15 years ago).
All I know is that he didn’t touched the frame, nor cut and solder or whatever other thing, he just dismounted the existing shock and mounted the “new” one.
I’ve been looking all and every connection and link between shock and frame, but unable to understand which part is mounted uncorrectly. I’ve been riding 15 years with such “error”? until age made me weak…
I’ll try to attach a couple photos, if I discover how to do…
Hi again,
Thinking a littled more I believe the only way to change geometry, could have been dismounting shock link and mounting it in reverse position.
Maybe some of you could take photos of their bike shock link as those sent in previou message
I will appreciate if I could compare mounting with my “heavy” Honda…
Hi Ricardo. The shock linkage looks correct - it’s the same as mine. What else could it be? What size rear tyre do you have fitted? 140/80-17 should be the ideal size.
I’m getting nuts with the link, or whatever it is, as you say I remember the tire closer to floor, although never measured it.
I’ve read the shop manual from beginning to end and back to start,
As far as I can see anything seems to be out of place, and I can’t see any point where cushion or links could be modified or adjusted larger or shorter.
Sure it’s a geometry issue, but this is not a spacheshif contraption, so there should be a “simple” unadjustement I can’t find.
Anycase thanks a lot, for the info you provided, It helped me a lot (Still not crazy, but ongoing
I think I have the correct tire size, never tried to change original specs. but will check again tomorrow.
Never sure of doing everything as I should.
Hello again,
Checked tyres, and are original size, unfortunately.
I was dreaming with tiny tyres, so easy to replace and solve the issue, but no luck at all.
Last hope is someone here has had a similar issue and was clever than I am, and found a bolt or nut that wasn’t in his correct place.
Anyway thanks a lot, you saved my head from exploding.
Best regards from a dumb idiot from Spain.
Ricardo
Hi Ricardo! You mentioned that the shock absorber was replaced 10-15 years ago. Are you sure a VF1000F2 Boldor shock absorber was installed back then? When I was looking for an alternative for my VF1000R, I used a VF1000F2 Boldor shock absorber to compensate for the height difference from the 17-inch wheel conversion. The mounting points are identical, but the VF1000F2 shock absorber is a few millimeters longer. Could you measure the length of the shock absorber and compare it to the specifications?
As of today I have two Shocks, the original that was dismounted long time ago, and the “new” one installed so long ago.
Both are same reference, Showa MB3-831 (from memory), in fact I repaired the old one, just to discover that the installed (That works perfectly) is exactly the same, and same dimesions.
By the moment I packed a few bricks under the rear wheel, approx, 2 cm height, I park over them and now I’m able to lift the bike as I remember doing time ago (and 30 years younger
Will continue investigating, as any F2 compatible shock will have same length, so no sense to install any new piece until I discover where is the problem.
Again thanks a lot for your support, although the mistery is still hidden somewhere into the bike.
Ricardo
