'Zoke shock tuning

[brian kirby]

After rebuilding my 'Zokes with one of Rod's kits I am pretty impressed with their performance and their design, they had to have been the best shock you could get in '77. One thing I was especially impressed with is the internals of the shock are essentially a modern "cartridge" type with a shim stack just like the forks or shock dampers on a brand new bike. The one area I would like to work on is damping, I want to go to stiffer rate springs (I've got stock black) but the shocks seem to be a bit underdamped with the lighter springs I have now. Has anyone ever experimented with adding more than the standard two shims? I have some spare ones I could use. This should increase damping just like a modern shock right? Or should I run higher viscosity oil? I used Showa 5W shock fluid when I rebuilt them.

Brian

[Larry Perkins]

Brian,

For moto and aggressive riding try 7W and purple springs in the layed down position or for an MC5.  Never have ridden any that the damping was messed with so I can't give any feedback on that.

Larry P

[joe novak]

I always liked my KONI shocks.  They are dampening adjustable, and easily adjustable, too.   Those 'Zokes were the coolest looking shocks back in the 70's.

[Merlin]

Yes Brian your logic is correct, if memory serves use the "2 light instead of 1 heavy shim" method and you will do fine.

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