I study this last night...looks all I need is a bushing for the bearing side and a long shaft bushing for the other side.
Going to have a friend that works at machine shop make several sets.



Also since the arm is a lot wider the shocks do not line up straight. Will also have some new upper shock mount studs made and will be relocating the mount forward.

New guy here.Been a member since I started to partially restore my 83 L3 that I bought in July.Managed to put on 3000 miles on before winter.40,000 miles on the bike so I thought it USD some TLC.I have most of the parts except some small things.Stripped bike,pulled engine and blasted to bare metal,painted all the small parts from bike.Here's a list of parts I ordered zrx shocks,fork seals,dyna coils and ngk wires and caps,wisco 810 kit with bored cylinders,brake pads,new decals.and a bunch of smalls parts.I could use some jettig advice.Still has stock jets in it.Running a kerker with a D&D slip on with a modded airbox that I found on kzr.Do I need to go up on the primary's and secondary s.Also have a foam airfilter.Great forum.

DoctoRot wrote: I would figure out what your rake and trail numbers are with the new front end before you buy shocks, that way you can tweak your numbers by going longer or shorter in the shocks. I lost fork offset with my ZRX swap so i got 2" longer shocks in the back to get the trail down.

That was exactly my thinking once I knew what trail looked like once the new fork is on. Am I correct that stock trail is 4.2"? I have a feeling I'll end up with a 19" front just to get the most ground clearance I can. Also thanks for the link to the frame bracing, the visuals are really helpful.

my 1000 has 18 x 2.50 front 18 x 3.50 rear rims running BT45's 110/80/18 front and 140/70/18 rear

Since you are loosing quite a bit of height with the USD fork i would be inclined to go with a 19" front wheel. I would figure out what your rake and trail numbers are with the new front end before you buy shocks, that way you can tweak your numbers by going longer or shorter in the shocks. I lost fork offset with my ZRX swap so i got 2" longer shocks in the back to get the trail down.

heres the frame bracing thread.
kzrider.com/forum/5-chassis/294594-frame-bracing

if you don't want to swap the swingarm you can brace it. easy cheap way to stiffen the rear up considerably. heres mine

Kidkawie wrote:

redhawk4 wrote: I like the look of the ZRX shocks on the KZ's and I'm sure they are a good unit, but all the ones I see for sale are $250-$350 a pair, that's a lot to pay for used IMO. Also they don't fit with the stock bushes do they?

I quite like the idea of going with something that has that obvious "not stock" look if I'm not going with a stock or regular replacement, something that looks like a performance upgrade .

I really like the ZRX shocks on my Z1. I still need to address the forks, but it's Suspension 101 to improve front and rear for best performance. But the ZRX shocks (freshly rebuilt) ride nice and plush.

There IS an Achilles Heel to the ZRX shocks and that's finding replacement parts. I didn't try KYB direct but looked everywhere for replacement bladders. I found one like 15mm longer, used on some MX bikes, fit fine so I went with it. There are some suspension shops that specialize in these shocks and I would recommend using them if someone needed a set rebuilt.

I also lowered modified the upper spring preload to accomodate the Z1.

Jamie over at Daugherty Motorsports rebuilds those ZRX shocks. I believe a full service for the two including respringing and revalving comes in at a little over $300. I had my full suspension done by him for my ZRX and couldn't be happier. $800 total, less than a set of worn used Ohlins shocks.

redhawk4 wrote: I like the look of the ZRX shocks on the KZ's and I'm sure they are a good unit, but all the ones I see for sale are $250-$350 a pair, that's a lot to pay for used IMO. Also they don't fit with the stock bushes do they?

I quite like the idea of going with something that has that obvious "not stock" look if I'm not going with a stock or regular replacement, something that looks like a performance upgrade .

I really like the ZRX shocks on my Z1. I still need to address the forks, but it's Suspension 101 to improve front and rear for best performance. But the ZRX shocks (freshly rebuilt) ride nice and plush.

There IS an Achilles Heel to the ZRX shocks and that's finding replacement parts. I didn't try KYB direct but looked everywhere for replacement bladders. I found one like 15mm longer, used on some MX bikes, fit fine so I went with it. There are some suspension shops that specialize in these shocks and I would recommend using them if someone needed a set rebuilt.

I also lowered modified the upper spring preload to accomodate the Z1.

I like the look of the ZRX shocks on the KZ's and I'm sure they are a good unit, but all the ones I see for sale are $250-$350 a pair, that's a lot to pay for used IMO. Also they don't fit with the stock bushes do they?

I quite like the idea of going with something that has that obvious "not stock" look if I'm not going with a stock or regular replacement, something that looks like a performance upgrade .

Almost quit riding because of progressive shocks. They absolutely SUCK! I would rather ride with an old set of stockers with no oil in them then those. Every time I got on the bike it rode hard and bounced over bumps . This was after buying them new and having them custom set to my weight. I had the standards and air shocks.
I now use ZRX shocks on my 2 KZ riders and LOVE them.

I'm using YZF600R cartridge forks, Yamaha monoblock calipers, a Zephyr 750 swingarm, ZRX1200 shocks, the stock KZ1000B4 front wheel and a KZ police rear wheel.
The forks are longer than stock, Race-Tech makes parts to tune both shocks and fork. I had to make axle and rotor spacers. There was a small amount of trimming done.to the swingarm pivot area. The YZF triple clamp will work. And the whole thing looks very stock.

Kidkawie wrote: Thanks for the info.

I'm going to start with just springs. If I want to go any further I'm going to source a set of spare forks or damper rods first.

I was just finishing up modifying a set of ZRX shocks and found a bad bladder, so I'm trying to source one of those now.

If you go with springs and emulators, you could run into problems, because the emulator and adapter stack will put too much preload on the stock springs. shorter length springs at the same nominal spring rate that require longer spacers for this very reason.