Originally Posted by JamieDaugherty

Ok, you guys asked for it - here it is. I pulled out a couple of shocks to give you an idea of what to look for.



Here are the key points to observe:

F3 - The hose is long, that's probably the biggest giveaway. The orange arrow points to hose.
F4 - The hose is short as seen by the green arrow. Also note the type and orientation of the reservoir fitting (pink arrow).
900RR - The hose on this shock is short like the F4, but the best way to tell that it's a 900RR is that the spring preload adjuster is above the spring and not below it like the 600's (blue arrow). This spring adjustment will be gold on the later 900RR shocks like what is shown or will be black and look like the others in the picture - but it will always be above the spring. Also note that the 900RR's have the hose going straight into the reservoir without a banjo bolt (pink arrow).

Something to keep in mind is that the 900RR shocks, especially the later years, are just as good as an F4 unit. When it comes to converting to fit the VTR, the 900RR actually makes just a good a candidate as the F4 units.

Enjoy!