Having ridden for most of the summer on one of the F4I shocks Jamie upgraded I can say I'd highly recommend the switch to one. Well worth the money for the ride and it looks good too.

 

finished with the shock today. took my time with all of it, did some cleaning while i had the whole tail section off. man it was pretty nasty. rode around a little too since we had a 55 degree afternoon. took it fairly easy. things i noticed in the 40 miles i did: bike is higher off the ground - concerning with the kickstand down, needs to be parked on flat or with kickstand uphill. it is also tough with a 31 inch inseam, but not bad since i'm used to it already. bike lays over easier, doesn't have a huge "pop" kicking my *** off the seat when going from side to side. absorbs bumps like whoa... Keep in mind this was a short test ride in maine, cold temps, bad traction, frost heaves ect...

Installation is simple, if you know what youre doing and have trashed all the extra F4 parts. out of sight out of mind. bonus is you don't spend any time trying to fit F4 parts where they shouldn't be like I did. Resevior placement is all up to you, what i did was put it off to the side sitting ontop of the rear subframe's bottom bar, clutch side. with this placement it was necessary to dremel a cut-out to mate the tail section back on. I like it. it looks sleek. check out the pictures. oh theres one pic in there of the 15 tooth renthal that i put on when i had everything apart, its pretty sweet, comes up nice and easy in second now. no f-ing around anymore trying to get it up (...thats what she said!)

 

It looks great! Thanks for the pictures.

 

WOOHOO, I love coming home to find boxes on the doorstep. Yep, got my shock today. Now I gotta find some garage time at a buddies how to install it.

I hate you for using packing peanuts Jamie, but thank your for the thoughtful packing to protect your product and my purchase.

The shock looks beautiful. I'll do my best to remember the camera for the install. Come on warm weather (after I install the shock).

Thanks Jamie.

Erik

 

I know, I don't like peanuts either. They are an evil of the world. At least I wrapped up the shock first!

Enjoy!

 

I brought the shock into work to show it to the other riders here, so that they could see it before it's installed.

I'm sure I'll have some generic newb questions about the shock when I install it.

 

Awesome, I hope they were impressed!

 

Is a f4 shock the same as a f4 i? What is the total cost for the conversion?

 

All years F4 anf F4i shocks are the same. This is also true regardless of the spring color, that is only done to match the bodywork. The total cost for the conversion is $260. This includes modifications to the CBR shock to make it fit the VTR, a new spring matched to your weight and return shipping.

About half of the shocks that I convert also choose to upgrade the internal valving as well. That would be an additional $175 on top of the coversion. This is what Dan got in his shock by the way. The valving upgrade is not necessary but really makes the shock perform well. That's what I have in all of my bikes!

 

put me on the list for a newer rear shock

 

No need to get on a list! Just shoot me an e-mail and I'll get one going for you. Sometimes I even have donor shocks available that can be used. That would save you the hassle of buying one and sending it to me.

Just let me know when you are ready!

 

Surprising that I got told by a suspension guy that the coil spring is not good for my weight. (Not)

Since Honda supplied the bike with a spring set for a 130# riders on meth...

 

The stock VTR1000F spring is good for riders in the 160lb range. If you tried to run the stock spring on the CBR600F4 shock on the VTR you would be ok.... providing that you only weighed 75lb!

As you can tell, springs are an important factor in proper suspension operation.

 

Being an American , I over power that coil spring.

Yes I need a new rear shock , the bike has a squat and packing problem that the track day clearly showed.

Will Email you soon to get the shock going.

 

Yes, me too!

 

Being German, mine is too stiff.

 

Considering that you guys have a chocolate shop on every street corner I can't believe you stay so skinny!

 

For some reason we were graced with amazing metabolisms. You think losing weight is hard, gaining weight is near impossible for me.