[jfdanie2]

Alright everyone, I know that the ds450 shock swap gets some attention on here but I have found what I think is another possible solution to the crappy shocks on the front of the xx. I found a set of yfz 450shocks on eBay that have been resprung and revalved by gt thunder. They are shorter than the standard xx shock so the stance is quite a bit lower and like the DS shock there is some grinding involved. Here are a few pica of the shocks installed on the bike.

http://m1220.photobucket.com/albums/jfdanie2/Snapbucket/

 

[boost addict]

Looks 10 times better Joseph:tup: Are you going to have your new chain by next weekend?

 

[jfdanie2]

Yeah I should its supposed to be a nice at the end of the week.

 

[boost addict]

Did it turn out to be a 1/4" each side?

 

[jfdanie2]

Yeah between an eighth and a quarter. Also stretched the upper mount on the bike just a little bit.

 

[boost addict]

Thanks. I don't know why Honda made that top mount so thin

 

[jfdanie2]

Me neither I'm ready to test ride it though and see what I run into.

 

[Baxter]

The pics don't wanna show me what ya running. But from what I figure youre running about 7"ish front frame height ?

 

[jfdanie2]

Yeah that's pretty close its between six and seven inches clearance in front. Its a pretty decent setup I think for the money. And to my surprise these shocks are compression and rebound adjustable.

 

[Baxter]

The trx450r front shocks do about the same.

 

[jfdanie2]

Yeah I like the stance that the shocks give the xx. I just need to test ride it and work out the kinks.

 

[jfdanie2]

A little update, today I got my chain in the mail so I got to do a couple test runs with the new shocks installed. They make a huge difference in how the bike handles. Steering is more responsive and lighter feeling in the handlebars, it doesn't nose dive in the corners, and body roll has been greatly reduced. Overall its a nice upgrade from stock and I will test it some more this weekend when I have some more time.

 

[08700xx]

Does the back sit higher than the front now?

 

[traitor08]

I'm curious about suspension travel on those. Do they fully compress before the machine bottoms out or what. Looks like we would lose a couple inches in suspension travel

 

[jfdanie2]

Does the back sit higher than the front now?

Yes the back now sits about two inches higher than the front.

 

[jfdanie2]

I'm curious about suspension travel on those. Do they fully compress before the machine bottoms out or what. Looks like we would lose a couple inches in suspension travel

On these shocks you will lose more down travel than uptravel. Since these shocks are adjustable you can really tailor the ride to your liking. They also have an integrated bumpstop.

 

[08700xx]

Yes the back now sits about two inches higher than the front.

I might have to do this to the front and cut the back like baxter did and call it a day...Oh still need to get the big sway bar at some point too.

 

[jfdanie2]

Mike if you pm me your phone number ill send you some more pics of the bike if you're interested.

 

[jfdanie2]

Did a full ride on the new shocks yesterday and still need to play with the settings it soaks up the hard hits very well but they are still a little stiff in the short choppy stuff. Overall I am very pleased with how the bike launches off the line. The back end gets kinda squirrelly in the curves at high speed and it wants to spin around so I will be addressing the rear shocks next month or so. Gona shorten the back and get a respring and revalve and hopefully this will cure the problem.

 

[Baxter]

Putting the front lower than the rear cures some of the xx handling problems. Honda tried this with smaller front tyres than the rear and making the rear shocks stiffer than the front. Kinda helps in the slow stuff but becomes "naughty" in the fast stuff.
Still learning after owning one for 2 1/2 years.