GL650 rear shock woes

[[i]]

My 83 GL650i has a rear a shock that does not hold air longer than a 5 mile ride.

I'm looking to replace the OEM air shock with something with a metal spring, possibly a CBRF4 rear shoock unit:



It will involve cutting one of the mounting holes and fabricate a clevis type mounting point for the unit.

Does anyone have dimensions of the rear chock unit for GL650?

I know the shock length (eye-yo-eye) is about 295mm (11 5/8")

What are the width of the top mounting hole and bottom clevis?

What are the upper and lower mounting point holes diameter and width for the bushings?

Please help.

Thank you

[donlaubach]

The shop I got my 650 from replaced the shock with something like your picture. I don't believe they made any mods to the bike. I can check what shock they used if you would like me to

Don

[[i]]

The shop I got my 650 from replaced the shock with something like your picture. I don't believe they made any mods to the bike. I can check what shock they used if you would like me to

Don

Yes, please check.

AFAIK, the GL650 has a clevis mounting at the bottom of the shock unit, eye-type mounting at the top.

[donlaubach]

I called my guy and he used a shock from an Interceptor. He did have to change the lower mounting

Don

[[i]]

I called my guy and he used a shock from an Interceptor. He did have to change the lower mounting

Don

Does the mechanic remember which model year Interceptor?

In my research, likely from the 87-88 VFR750.

[Sidecar Bob]

The original shock was designed to be rebuildable but I think the seals are NLA. A number of people on CX500forum.com have changed to shocks from other bikes and a few have even bought aftermarket replacements from places like Hagon (but watch what you get - I caught an eBay seller trying to sell twin coil overs that Hagon's catalogue said were correct for the pro-link only GL500).

BTW: The original shock does have a nice steel spring inside the housing where it won't get rusty.

[[i]]

Understood the OEM rear shock can be rebuilt, I'm just not a big fan of air shocks, riding/rebuilding them for years on MTBs, just prefer the ride quality of a metal spring shock with decent damping adjustments.

[Sidecar Bob]

And my point was that the original does have a metal spring. You just can't see it because they put it inside where it won't get rusty.

If you really wanted to and you could source the seal you could put a preload ring inside the original shock, seal the air line port and run it with no air pressure.

But that would be a lot of work and the result probably wouldn't be as good as using the shock from something else. If you get the right one. Like I said before, go to cx500forum.com and ask there. A number of people have already done what you want and some have actually tried several shocks so they can tell you what not to waste money on.