lucien Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 I am a fairly fast and aggressive rider who loves the lightly patrolled back roads but I also do a lot of freeway and city riding. I am also pretty frugal and and have been known to make a nickle scream now and then. I recently got a great deal on an FJ09. I loved the concept of this bike but absolutely hated the choppiness of the suspension. Bumps were jarring and hurt my back, and the bike wasn't very confidence inspiring in the twisties. I needed a solution if I was going to want to take this thing out of the garage, but no freakin way I was going to spent thousands of dollars making it ride-able. A call to Racetech had a set of springs and a gold valve kit on the way. My mechanic charged me 200 bucks to install them and said it was a PITA. Then an understanding friend gave me a nice 09 ZX10r shock. If you don't have a friend like this you can jump on eBay and some guy somewhere will agree to send you one for less than a c-note. I then replaced the ZX10 spring with the spring from the stock FJ shock. A spring compressor is necessary and the spring only fits correctly one way up as the spring ends are slightly different from one another. The ZX10r spring is 510 lb/in, and too light. The FJ spring is a 560 (corrected, thanks Matt) and just about right. I did no revalving, no nothing. I didn't even touch the adjuster screws. I drilled out the lower bolt hole on the shock to fit the FJ bolt, cut the top tray away a little, bolted the thing in and PRESTO! It's the bike I always wanted! It now sticks like glue, rails through the corners, sucks up bumps like butter, and is great two-up as well. I weigh 205 but my 160lb pal (also an FJ09 owner) loved it as well. Total investment-600.00 and 4 hours of my time. A lot of guys say you need to rebuild and revalve these shocks and buy new, expensive springs. Fiction. I'm here to say that the stock and unmolested ZX10r shock works brilliantly with the stock FJ spring on it. Would a high end shock be better? Maybe, but I'd bet the difference would be marginal. Would setting the adjuster screws make it better? Probably, but I'm happy the way it is. Is this good enough for 99% of FJ riders? Most likely. If I were to do it again I would consider sending the forks out to Matt (Pattonme) just to save my mechanic the headache of dealing with Racetech's crappy instructions and the complexity of the forks. Now if you'd please excuse me I have to go do some wheelies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattonme Posted August 17, 2016 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Glad you like what you put together. So you're saying I should double my 'installation fee' for the aggravation factor? What units are you using for the shock spring? It looks like N/mm but 110 and 150 seems very wrong. I'm pretty sure the '09 ZX10 had a 9.1kg/mm = 89 N/mm = 510 lb/in spring while the '14+ FJ has at least a 10kg/mm = 98 N/mm = 560 lb/in spring. An 09 shock is already 6+ years old so a rebuild is a really good idea. If the OE shock spring is apropos to your weight then sure, it's fine to re-use. I think the comment WRT (with respect to) adapters or aftermarket springs was if the rate (be it OE or ZX10 donor) was not suitable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornetmike Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Any reason not to shim out the FJ09 mount rather than drill the shock? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattonme Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 no, just needs the bushings. Unless you secure and indicate in the shock for drilling it would be pretty easy to drill it cockeyed or end up with offset holes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucien Posted August 22, 2016 Author Share Posted August 22, 2016 Thanks for the correction on spring rates. I'm just saying the way I did it works great for me and fixed the issues I was having with the bike. You guys obviously can do whatever you want with your bikes, but I feel that there is a trend towards over complicating this upgrade. I don't even know what a WRT adapter is and that just might be a good thing because I didn't need to know in order to make this fix happen. Wobble Reticulation Trambooli? Meh. Eff it. I'll do it old school. My goal was to fix the issue as quickly, easily, and economically (hear my nickles screaming) as possible. Drilling the shock mount by hand in a vise using the current holes as guides was done in 30 seconds and worked just fine. In many cases, for me, close enough is close enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adjuster Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 Nice write up. I'm with you, have Matt P. fix the forks the lowest cost way, and swap out a used higher quality, and adjustable shock with the stock spring compressed enough to fit. (Resulting in more preload from what I've seen.) I'm thinking Matt's fork valve upgrade, using a stock right fork cap on the left fork, so you can adjust not only Rebound but compression. Change the valves out so they work better, and have more adjustment. And put in higher rate fork springs. Done deal, and it should result in a nice ride for less than a grand. (Assuming the shock is working, not leaking and has enough range to adjust it to work with the stock spring compressed more than it was on the stock shock...) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattonme Posted August 22, 2016 Share Posted August 22, 2016 WRT == 'with respect to' A quick and dirty way to align the holes is to chuck up a 10mm bit, slide the shock onto the bit, and THEN clamp it in jaws and to the table. retract and replace with 12mm bit and drill. It'll be pretty good even if a "proper" machinist will have a heart attack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papac2000 Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 I did a similar shock swap back in April and am enjoying it. Next up forks.... 2015 Matte Grey Modded stock exhaust, modded stock screen, modded stock seat, OEM heated grips, LED indicators, FlashTuned ECU, ZX10R shock Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucien Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 Update: After extended riding I'm noticing that both front and rear suspension is still a bit harsh over bumps for me. Far better than stock but still beating me up a little. Per my tech's recommendation, going to try 5w oil in the fork and adjust rear settings. More later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucien Posted July 11, 2017 Author Share Posted July 11, 2017 Sold the FJ. Tried to like and love it but the wind noise was damaging my ears (even with earplugs and several different windscreens) and the suspension never made me smile. Back to a Wee and smiling all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vijay Posted July 13, 2017 Share Posted July 13, 2017 Rode my last Wee for 93,000 miles and it still ran like a top. And still sorry I sold it!! Can't fault you for loving it. I may yet get another one to add to the FJ and Super Ten already in the Garage ... assuming Mrs Vijay says "go for it"!! And admittedly unlikely occurrence at least in the next few months. :-[ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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