I have heard of some people changing the stock F3 rear shock to the stock F4 shock. People have mentioned that it raises the back of the bike up about an inch or so, wich I think will be bettter anyways. My local mechanic has one off his old race bike, he upgraded that shock to a fox shock and later sold the bike. He said he would sell me the shock for $50 and since it does not seem to difficult to change it out I am just wondering if it will be worth it. The real question for me is: Does it change the way the bike handles in a good or bad way? What do you guys think?[sm=feedback.gif]

 

humM raise the back up a inch.. i kinda like that.. will it work.. i was thinking about that to day.. thanks

 

If you're gonna do that, just go on ebay and get an F4i shock. I put it on mine. It was a straight up swap. Probably raised up the rear a good couple of inches. It's a GREAT cosmetic mod, IMO.

 

Nice, but how did it change the handling?

Also, what effect would raising the rear have on the handling?

 

Having the rear of the bike raised is just a visual bonus...I am more concerned w/ how it will affect the handling of the bike just cuz it looks good does not mean that I am going to want to do it. Just like putting something bigger than a 160 tire on the back, sure a 170 or a 180 might look better to most people. On the F3 I am convinced they slow down the handling through the corners and I never believed it till I put the 160 on it. Now I stand by it! So anyways not to get off my own topic, I just want to know how swapping that shock affects the handling of the machine.

 

first off, i have ZERO experience with swaping suspensions from bike-to-bike. but i think that it would have a negative effect on handling. just like lowering a bike: you have to lower both ends the same for the bike not to be off balance. i believe it would be the same when raising the rear end. and there is no way to raise the front. but i have heard of racers raising the rear to enable a firmer feeling front end and produce more dive in the corners. i would check and see what the f4 shocks are selling for on ebay. if its close to what you can buy this particular shock for, then i would say go for it. if you didn't like it you could pass it on to someone else to recouperate your loss. my $0.02 worth.

 

I have an F4i shock on my bike.. I believe that the turn in is a bit faster, and it raised my rear about 1.5 inches.. You'll have to mod ur kickstand, or get one for an F4i, cut the spring nub off, and have it rewelded 180* from its original position. It takes some rake and trail from the bike, but its still pretty stable at higher speeds, and i haven't ever had headshake. Im also running a 180 rear tire and a 120/60 front. Im still working on getting the front set up a bit better, since i think something is misadjusted... It seems like if I really dive into a turn, the front wants to wash out sometimes.. I know its not from the rear shock, but since my fork seals were replaced, i've had this problem.. preload is the cause in front i think..

 

I'm buying an '01 F4i rear shock for my '95 F3. how do i make this shock change by myself? would it be easier to have a shop do it for me?