Good reasonable priced rear shocks

Ikon
Flattrackers and VMX:

Length: 12" travel 1.97"

Length: 12.5" travel 2.44"

Length 13" travel 2.99"

length 13.5" travel 3.19"

Length 14" travel 3.43"

Length 14.5" travel 3.58"

See the DIY ground flat on the bottom OD of spring below - converts them into progressive springs.

A small trick suggested to me by an ex Westwood racer who weighs 160 lbs in full riding gear.
If the springs are too strong for your weight, you dont need to buy new springs. Just roll them around on the belt sander. A 180 lb spring becomes a 160 lb spring quite quickly.
Something like a 6" x 24 stationary belt sander is ideal for this.

Glen

Bonzo said:

I noticed that your Falcon shocks were black bodies with chrome spring Dave, which are a little nearer to the old original Girlings visually.

Was this a custom build or perhaps they were that way at one time (they now come with black springs)?

Click to expand...

Well spotted Bonzo, though not sure where you saw my bike? Yes I got the (steel bodied) Falcons second hand intended for a trident apparently, the spring rate is probably a bit light for most commando configurations, but I'm pretty light, never ride two up and the roadster is lightened a bit too, so it works well. Apart from the pressurisation valve at the bottom they look fairly "classic" too as you say.
I realised they are an older design as the preload adjustment involves removing the spring to move a circlip arrangement whereas the alloy bodied shocks on their website have a conventional lockring arrangement. The steel bodied shocks they still show on the website look similar to mine but different in detail.
Their price list only lists the alloy bodied variant currently , predominately with black springs but I notice their Honda K4 variant has chrome springs. Have you asked them about chrome springs for a commando fitment?

These are looking very attractive. Available in two spring rates and you would need the heavy one for a Commando. $350 a pair. Rebuildable and revalvable and the 13" shock has about 3" travel. Endsmay be 1mm too wide needing to be narrowed down on a grinder.

worntorn said:

A small trick suggested to me by an ex Westwood racer who weighs 160 lbs in full riding gear.
If the springs are too strong for your weight, you dont need to buy new springs. Just roll them around on the belt sander. A 180 lb spring becomes a 160 lb spring quite quickly.
Something like a 6" x 24 stationary belt sander is ideal for this.

Glen

Click to expand...

Basically what I did but started with a regular grinder and only grinding the lower 1/2 of the spring, tapering the grind so nothing was taken of the top half of the spring giving it a progressive rate.

wavey_davey said:

Well spotted Bonzo, though not sure where you saw my bike? Yes I got the (steel bodied) Falcons second hand intended for a trident apparently, the spring rate is probably a bit light for most commando configurations, but I'm pretty light, never ride two up and the roadster is lightened a bit too, so it works well. Apart from the pressurisation valve at the bottom they look fairly "classic" too as you say.
I realised they are an older design as the preload adjustment involves removing the spring to move a circlip arrangement whereas the alloy bodied shocks on their website have a conventional lockring arrangement. The steel bodied shocks they still show on the website look similar to mine but different in detail.
Their price list only lists the alloy bodied variant currently , predominately with black springs but I notice their Honda K4 variant has chrome springs. Have you asked them about chrome springs for a commando fitment?

Click to expand...

Howdy mate.

Actually I played the dangerous game of assumption. I've read a few of your previous posts and putting 2 & 2 together (and for once in my life making 4!) linked you to a great set of videos for bike appreciating cake yammers* such as myself.

I did communicate with the incredibly helpful & friendly Robin at Falcon and asked him about the chrome on black look and he told me that he only powder coats the springs now due to costs as well as reports of some of the high revving Manx Nortons having cracks to the wire on the springs.

Don't know if this has changed now (most things have gone up in price) but at the time of enquiry (my email tells me - 8 months ago) they were £416.40 aluminium and £276 steel bodies - inc vat and delivery. Not over priced at all.

In the end I took the cheaper, but well regarded, NJB option. On reflection, I wish Id've gone with Falcon. The NJB's foul my chain guard.

* I'm from Wolverhampton

Bonzo said:

Howdy mate.

Actually I played the dangerous game of assumption. I've read a few of your previous posts and putting 2 & 2 together (and for once in my life making 4!) linked you to a great set of videos for bike appreciating cake yammers* such as myself.

I did communicate with the incredibly helpful & friendly Robin at Falcon and asked him about the chrome on black look and he told me that he only powder coats the springs now due to costs as well as reports of some of the high revving Manx Nortons having cracks to the wire on the springs.

Don't know if this has changed now (most things have gone up in price) but at the time of enquiry (my email tells me - 8 months ago) they were £416.40 aluminium and £276 steel bodies - inc vat and delivery. Not over priced at all.

In the end I took the cheaper, but well regarded, NJB option. On reflection, I wish Id've gone with Falcon. The NJB's foul my chain guard.

* I'm from Wolverhampton

Click to expand...

What part fouls the chain guard? The spring? Whats the OD?

jseng1 said:

What part fouls the chain guard? The spring? Whats the OD?

Click to expand...

Yes, just at the bottom collar.

OD? Hang on, I'll report back....

Though the issue isn't the OD of the spring, it's the distance between the bottom bush and the lower spring collar...



Vs the original..

All good food for thought regarding shocks. Do consider the type of riding you do and the road conditions of where you ride most; are you a foot peg grinder or do you like the opportunity (when safe) to enjoy the scenery that surrounds you?

Purchasing the best set of shocks you can afford is decent advice, but may be unnecessary. Keep in mind, if you haven't already, that suspension is an integral part of safety; in a situation where you need front and rear suspension to be on the same team a set of Olins on the rear may be happy as a clam while the forks turn your front wheel into a 10,000 year old wagon wheel. Purchasing any set of shocks can easily tilt the safety equation in the wrong direction if you don't match the fork's characteristics with the shocks.

Safety requires balance. When I change brakes, tires, shocks or fork characteristics I go to my favorite test site and do a few "laps" at the posted speed limit, if that passes than I add 5 MPH and reevaluate, I keep adding speed until I feel an unbalanced slide starting or a lack of turn-in and start making adjustments. Once done I have a good idea of what limits I need to live with. I have never gotten close to Mach 1...

Best

When you carry a pillion passenger, you need a different spring rate to the one you use when solo. If you have soft springs on the shocks and put someone on the back of your bike, you will notice a strong change in the way the bike steers. But for normal riding, you need soft springs, or the bike might understeer when you accelerate while on a lean. It is normal for a bike to under-steer as you brake, and over-steer as you accelerate. When the bike understeers, it becomes more difficult to turn. With neutral steering, you sometimes need to counter-steer to get the bikev to tip into corners.
When I buy something to use on my bike, I pay as much as I need to, to get something which does the job reliably.