Aftermarket or alternate shock for skorpion

[steveweck]

I'm looking to upgrade the shock on my skorpion. This is a low budget race bike project so I don't want a new penske or ohlins. If someone has a used race shock or has figured out that a shock from a new sportbike works please let me know. I've already changed the complete front end to a 01 Yamaha R1 front end. Will consider trades for take offs.

[Bill Jurgenson]

HI, the strut from the Yamaha FZR 750 fits without modifications and is fully adjustable. Try eBay; there should be enug of them around as well as aftermarket used ones like Wilbers. At pesent I have such a Wilbers mounted. Gotten at eBay for all of about 100$.
Then the Sachs strut from the Aprilia RS250 can be made to fit relatively easily and is also fully adjustable. (eBay again; with some luck around 30-40$) The spring is way too weak, hoever and one will need to get a different one. A 135/160 from WP fits and works well. That is the spring for the Skorpion Replica.

[Wonky]

The RS250 shock is a great shock to use with an uprated spring as Bill has stated the standard spring is not quite man enough to put up with the load from the Skorpion. You can also fit the RS250 swingarm to your Skorpion which means only slight modification to the upper shock mount, not too hard to sort out and a great addition to a track/street bike. Inevitably you can also fit the RS250 rear plastics and the RS250 wheels to your bike also, just an idea...good luck!

[Bill Jurgenson]

Hi,
since wonky mentioned wheel upgrades; the most common one over here is to fit the SZR (or TZR4DL front) wheels. They are the same size which is necessary in Germany for registration, but considerably lighter. Where there is no problem with vehicle inspection or for track use (and leaving mag wheels aside), the very best mod is probably the set from the Yamaha TZ250R 3MA which had either a 4.5" or 5" rear rim - if you can get them at all. Perhaps it is easier in England? The 4.5" is the ideal size for the 150/60 rear tire. Or the 5" for a 160 rear tire, which does however need a wider front.
For the front, if one is looking for a 3.5"rim to run 120/70 front, the FZR wheel can be fit, but the width at the braker rotors has to be milled down a wee bit.
Then the last Suzuki RGV wheels (3" and 4.5") are easy to adapt as well and lighter.
With all of these, the speedo drive no longer fits and virtually everyone has fitted either a bicycle or other electronic pickup after market speedo. Even those with entirely stock MZ do this due to the "quality" of the original instruments.
Beyond these wheels which I have fitted - I have certianly not been thru all possiblities! - you have of course Gilles, PVM, Marchesini, Dymag, LightCon but that is getting into real money. I have fitted PVM, Marvic, Brembo.

Personally, I have the 3" and 3,5" Brembo wheels from the TZR 4DL fitted to my Tour just as the prototype did with Bridgestone BT45 110/60 front and 130/70 back. For general riding about town, this is a good combination and has almost the quick handling of a bicycle. I do NOT recommend this beyond such use.
What I do reccomend is running the BT090 140/70 rear on the 4" rim instead of the 150/60. This improves handling and roadholding. THe 4" rim is too narrow, according to the tire manufacturers, for the 150/60 tire. Pirelli for instance gives 4.25" as the reference rim and the Pirelli 150 tire is narrow at 143mm as compared to the 152mm of the Bridgestone for which a 4.5" rim is ideal.

[Bill Jurgenson]

here is a young man in Germany selling a WhitePower adjustable strut that fits the Skorpion:
http://forum.monoconnection.nl/viewtopic.php?t=1013

I have the same one at the moment in my Tour and it works well right out of the box.

[steveweck]

Thanks for the recommendations. I like the idea of using the swingarm, shock and wheel from a RS250. I'll have to keep my eyes open for a wrecked one. The TZ option looks good as well. There are a few other areas that I need to address. I'm interested in alternate rearsets. Any ideas on aftermarket or other make and model rearsets that will bolt on and give better ground clearance. Also, if I end up using the stock rear wheel what is everyone using for sprockets. Do the stock sprockets cross reference with other makes and models.

Thanks again, I realley appreciate any input. As I've stated before this is a low budget race bike project. However, I do want it to function properly. I have several race bikes but this one is a little bit harder to prep because there isn't a lot of information available for them here.

Thanks,
Steve Weckesser

[ZzerO]

hi i was also lookin arround for a shock, and found a rs250 shock.

does anyone know what has to be modified to fit it on the skorpion?

greetz

[steveweck]

Is it from Honda RS250 or an Aprilia RS250. Which one is suitable for adapting to the Skorpion?

[ZzerO]

[ZzerO]

does anyone know what has to be modifed to fit the rs 250 shock? cause i wanna buy one off ebay but i have to know if it isnt to hard for me to make it fit. and how much does a stiffer spring cost?

[Bill Jurgenson]

First, the stiffer WP spring costs over here in Europe from the manufacturer 99€ = ±128$ + shipping and probably duty. Don't have any idea what the US situation is.

To the shock. The top eye is too narrow and the bolt is smaller, so two stepped bushings have to turned to reduce the widith and reduce the bolt size, these are small and easy to make from stainless.
At the bottom, the fork is too narrow: the OEM bushings on the original bearings of the lever need to be ground down, the lever itself milled narrower, and the fork milled ot a bit to fit the reduced width. Of course this can also be filed with some diligence and a proper good file, something not easily obtained nowadays.

The shock is high quality and fully adjustable. I have done these modifications before, first for myself to see if the thing is good enuf and then for a client.

[ZzerO]

hi

would a shock of a yamaha fzr 1000 3LE fit the skorpion and isn't the spring to stiff for the weight of the skorpion? and most important, will it be a good improvement?

greetz

[Wonky]

To be honest buddy you can make any shock fit with touch of adjustment. The important thing is the "stroke" of the shock, measure its length, bolt hole centre to centre. This will give you an idea whether the shock is too long, too much length or being too short can drastically change the geometry of the bike and alter how the bike handles big time. By adjusting forks you can make fine adjustment, sag on shock also, to make up for any "indifferences"! The important thing is to get yourself a spring that is similar or even the same as what you like riding, be it stiffer or softer, whatever the case may be, then fit it and test it! At the end of the day you have evrything to gain and only a few hours to lose fettling and testing. Good luck!