Rear Suspension Recommendation

[LMS]

I run the RFY 320 with the conical 7mm springs. I sent them to some guy on the interweb that had a good rep on rebuilding them. I have older konis, but like these better. I was the last person to have them upgraded, took forever to get them back, thought he ghosted me. But it was worth it.

[IR8D8R]

These are supposed to be Girling type derivative.
https://njbshocks.co.uk/
$135 the pair.

 I have RFY on on my RD350. A little stiff for most people but I'm ~240 lbs. I don't really like the reservoir type so I may try the NJB. They are available in 320mm.

IR8D8R

[m in sc]

that's a great find 👍

[2t Fan]

These are supposed to be Girling type derivative.
https://njbshocks.co.uk/
$135 the pair.

 I have RFY on on my RD350. A little stiff for most people but I'm ~240 lbs. I don't really like the reservoir type so I may try the NJB. They are available in 320mm.

IR8D8R

Any pics of it mounted on the bike

cost £115when I checked. He will ship also

[IR8D8R]

I also found them on an Italian site for 130 Euro ($142.63). Motorcicliveloce.it.

They only had a photo of their Cerianis mounted. 570 Euro the pair.

This is not a 2-stroke but it's still bike porn.

[quocle603]

Video was made 6 months ago but very informative for those who want to rebuild the RFY shocks.

[Brad-Man]

Savor custom built RFY reservoir shocks for me - I gave him my weight and he got the correct springs and worked his magic.

[chuck norris]

I have no advice on the subject but I might offer a point of interest. I was listening to the cycle world podcast and they were discussing how the Kawasaki triples handled like they were hinged in the middle. Kevin Cameron said that it was common to find no oil in one or both of the shocks right from the factory and simply upgrading the rear shocks would solve a lot of the issues. I can't imagine Yamaha and Suzuki used better quality shocks.

[sav0r (CL MotoTech)]

The RFY's got me quite frustrated in the post Covid world as they were coming in numerous varieties. Some good and some not so good.

There are many tricks to getting then to work the best they can, assuming they have the good internals, which is on par with most dampers on the market. At least for street use. Spring rate being one, proper fill being a close second. Those two things will get you working great. Beyond that, One of the most common issues was that the piston is simply loose on the shaft in many cases. That means the shims aren't sealed to the piston and results in very poor performance. Of course you don't want the piston but too tight either as it will cause deflection of the shim and again cause a poor seal. I didn't watch that video very closely, I will later but I'm visiting family currently. In the comments somebody asked about the large cup seal trapping air. That's a problem solved by real damper heads seals, but since that's not an option one easy trick is to drill a small hole in the side of the large cup seal at about the mid point and this will vent the majority of the trapped air during assembly. It reduces the sealing surface and can damage the seal making it unusable if you aren't careful, it's a sort of risky upgrade. Better is to use a standard depth cup seal but I've not found any that didn't like to leak fairly quickly. The shaft sizes are odd. In between 1/2" and 12mm as I recall. I machined some real head seals for them and they work great, but it's not something worth selling. Beyond that, checking for leaks as leaks from the reservoir to the body happen and occasionally the shock tube to the body leaks. Most don't leak but some do. Some of them don't have the proper bushings in the linear bushing. They are just the pot metal bearing housing, sans a real linear bearing. These usually are too loose on the shaft or are not concentric and that causes many additional issues.

Checking these items and correcting them will get you to through about 95% of all the RFY concerns and produce very good working dampers. With some additional mods you can make them better than the vast majority of even mid grade dampers. Spherical bearings for example take them to another level. But it's best to do the other stuff first.

[m in sc]

in regards to the triples.. yup. and the swingarm bushings and the period tires were not good eaither TBH. ive had plenty of triples that handled just fine with bronze swingarm bushings, fairly modern tires and decent shocks. the myth on them is so over hyped its ridiculous.

[busa1300]

I got some aluminum body Ikons for my last twin shock project.
Not cheap, but the quality is worth it.

[Vintagewannabe]

I love my IKON shocks. My RD is the second bike I have ran a set on.

[m in sc]

i have a set on the CB1100, really good units for the money. i didnt find them overpriced TBH, especially compared to other options.

[quocle603]

Throwing this into the mix.

Stumbled upon these shocks, they look like ohlins clones. Not sure if anyone has any experience or dare to try them out. They seem like you would need to get the adapter for the o style as well

"http://ebay.com/itm/285926580743?_trkparms=itmf%3D1%26aid%3D111001%26rkt%3D8%26mech%3D2%26algv%3D%26pmt%3D1%26amclksrc%3DITM%26sid%3DAQAKAAAAEHdHs9MrGT58JaWsg9RVvnc%3D%26itm%3D285926580743%26noa%3D1%26plcampt%3D0%3A12373977019%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26brand%3DUnbranded%26asc%3D20160811114145%26ao%3D1%26rk%3D3%26pid%3D100667%26b%3D1%26mehot%3Dnone%26lsid%3D100%26meid%3D71eb6a45835f442a8b7264642c11ed41%26pg%3D2334524&_trksid=p2334524.c100667.m2042&pfm=0"

[sav0r (CL MotoTech)]

Those ones look nice but the standard RFY is a better option. For starters, the knobs are fake on those clones.