Gonzo from Hollister CA

Here are the two shocks side by side:



Removing the stock sleeve.



Comparing the Roadie shock bolt to the Goldwing upper mount:



The sleeve in the wing shock has to be removed. I then heated it up to help free it from the material inside the hoop; then punched the Goldwing sleeve out.



It is still a little tight so I used an 11/64 bit to rheem the material a bit using cutting oil....



Sleeve is in with a little persuasion...



Here is where I mounted the pump and motor. I had to remove the hose from the pump and feed it up through the framework where the stock wires go through. Then topped off the fluid with some fork oil and a syringe and resecired to the pump.



Items of note, I had to redrill the aluminum mount at the bottom of the wing shock about 1/2 inch up. Then I couldn't compress the shock to get the sleeve in at the top. I had to grind the pad of the shock a bit to get the final clearence and the sleeve in. I also cut off teh excess (stock hole) on the aluminum shock mount.

Gonzodad wrote:
Guess I should have kept my website up.... I let it go last month after 10 years....

Hey Gonzo, sounds like you're a bit tech savvy. Yes this site is quite limiting when it comes to uploading and hosting images. Best thing to do is use a photo hosting service and link to the image using the (img) tags. There's no file size limits and it allows for larger image size up to 499x499. Anything larger than 499 px automatically gets shrunk down to that size, but it's still better than 50k and 160x120. ...And if you option/control click on the image, you can still view it in it's original full size in a new window.

Little tip: If you use the IMG shortcut button above, to provide the html code, the default size is 150px, but you can change that or remove it all together and it will default to the 499px limit.

Good luck and looking forward to those photos.

Update:
Nevermind, looks like you figured it out while I was writing this up.

It is a total Goldwing solution with a little bit of work.

One other thing, the banjo head was going to hit the cross member above the shock ( I mounted it so the hose would be on the top side). There is a set screw (hex) in that aluminum collar. Loosen it and you can rotate the collar so the bolt clears. Your mileage may vary.

Gonz

Ride quality is?

How much travel is given?

any major differences in compression and rebound?

I know that the GL1800 rides nice and comfy but that bike is heavy.

HAHA there we go. On other forums I've used I could highlight the link and hit the bracket IMG and it would open and close tag it. Didn't work. But you could also hit the tag button once and it changes to a close tag and hit it again at teh end of teh link. This one didn't have the slash. Progress....

Was really thrilled with the ride right off though I have it full on as high as the preload can go. She doesn't give much. Once I have my switch set up on it I can tune it to a comfortable but firm ride. I could never get there with the stock shock and the steering was lumbersome. I felt like it was falling into turns and I had to provide alot of pushback. now it steers nicely into the turns with less imput from me.

My phone went dead so I have no more pics to share. I can get some ride height images if you want. It is a little higher than it was on the soft spring. I need to go find what the stock wing spring rate is for comarison. I am a do it yourselfer and looked at the air ride system but damn man!!.... can't justify swinging $700 for a shock!!

I may try the wing shock on the CB750 I am building too.

Heres the Shadow that I have one on....I called it Vicious Cycle.





And my 76 CB750F called the Cheese. I bought it in Milwaukee off of Ebay in 04. Flew up and rode her back to Dallas in 20 hours!

If you compare the image of both shocks the travel available looks pretty dang close. Guess I could have mic's it but didn't. Goldwing specs are 104 mm travel. Anyone know the ROadstar travel spec?

So I am seeing that the stock Goldwing spring rate is 900lbs and there are many posts about it being too soft. Bring in Progressives upgrade to 1000lbs! lol Not gonna go there for the Roadie, she feels great with this set up. Went two up riding and hit some speed cushions at about 15mph. Never bottomed out. I was bottoming out across intersections by myself before.

Thats all I got.

Gonz

That's a wild looking Shadow. Very nice! I still have my old 750 Shadow but it don't look that good. Also doesn't get ridden much since I bought the R*. Roadies rule!!

Hey Gonzo, from beautiful N/E Georgia.
Enjoy the ride !!