2014 FZ-09 Shock

First I would like to thank Holios551 from the FZ09.org forum for the donation of the shock for testing purposes.

The shock is able to be rebuilt/revalved providing you find a decent place to install a nitrogen charging valve, I am currently working on a location for that and will be testing it shortly. The valve itself has a fairly restrictive port area as you can see from the compression damping image below, Notice how it rises at the end of the curve. Anyway the shock does have a nice rebound adjuster that has a very good range of adjustment. It does lack a compression adjuster but you could always valve for that or install a Racetech rebound separator valve that will make the rebound/compression through the center of the shaft asymmetric so you can get more compression damping without affecting the rebound. I will be updating this info as I finish up the shock and return it for testing purposes to Holios551.

Tmod

Image below is stock spring and shock body as well as adjuster and lower spring seat.


Image below is the shaft assembly as well as valving and bump stop as well as a few other items.


This image is a comparison of the Racetech G3-S compression damping and stock FZ-09 compression damping.


This image is a comparison of the Racetech G3-S rebound damping and stock FZ-09 rebound damping.


We have some feedback from Holios551 on the performance of the NorWest revalved stock shock and he was very impressed with the performance of the revalved shock. Here are his words,

So, I've been sitting on a stock rear shock that has been reworked by Norwest suspension. In the past week I have finally swapped out the ebay zx6 shock for the modded stocker. First ride was yesterday and very brief. Initial thoughts are "damn this thing is nice". From the limited experience thus far it definitely performs better than stock, and much better than my experience with the zx6 shock. So far the ease of installation, no plastic to be trimmed or funky maneuvering to get shock in place is a plus. Hard acceleration squat is not an issue now and it isn't the "pogo stick" that it once was.

Details compared to stock so far, is night and day difference. I haven't gone for any longish rides yet, just some rough nearby roads and the shock is no longer trying to buck me off as it was before the mod.