REAR SHOCKS upgrade

[SurfKingCali]

hello all:

my first post....

Recently bought a 2011 PCX 125 and have modified the air box and snorkle delete so far....stupid scooter only goes 57 mph top speed..

rear shocks are horrible on this ride...So....last night I bought a kawasaki KX65 rear shock..(SHOWA)..and just finished removing both stock shocks...(pogo sticks)..I am 195 lbs.....KX65 shock is now on the muffler side of scooter..piggyback reservoir hits plastic underseat "carriage"..

so i trimmed it a little....then went for a ride.....WOW....what a difference...stiff as hell, but glued to the ground and it swallows up bumps big time....now you see how bad the front suspension is when you fix the rear..!

this shock has the spring preload on the softest setting and compression setting is set also @ softest setting....

I think I could be the first to do this..? Shock cost me $ 20 on Craigs list...

[Mel46]

Wait. I am confused. Did you only replace one shock? That sounds strange. Most shocks come as sets. Various manufacturers make specific types of shocks for the pcx. The most popular seems to be the yss. Good luck with your makeshift set up. Hope it doesn't cause any frame problems.

[SurfKingCali]

this shock

kx65.JPG (12.39 KiB) Viewed 2304 times

my honda elite 80 had one one shock.....

then my honda ch150 elite had two....


"makeshift"....i guess...works quite well....just got back from another ride....

2---kx65 shocks would have no absorption capability.....WAY ROCK HARD...too strong.....ONE alone is Very strong....even @ softest setting.

[PingGam]

Quite a few types of scooters here have one shock, but they were designed that way.
The PCX was designed with two, I doubt the swingarm is designed strong enough for one shock.

Sent from my m2 note using Tapatalk

[SurfKingCali]

The PCX was designed with two, I doubt the swingarm is designed strong enough for one shock.
that is a valid engineering point and observation.

[Jge64]

This is a bonehead move.......(IMO) you are torquing welds, bushings and steel that was never meant to be torqued… Let's hope it doesn't let loose at 50 mph.....

[SurfKingCali]

no issues yet...rode again yesterday....

rear end is planted to ground like glue and swallows up the bumps..

this shock is for a childs mini motocross bike.....typically set up for a 80 lb. boy to 105 lbs.

been riding scooters and 400 lb rice rockets for 40 years.....this is not my first rodeo

here is a picture to criticize and dissect.....( image won't upload)

I guess I am a HUGE BONEhead...$20 used shock as opposed to $400 for a pair of NCY or YSS shocks..

[fish]

Too Stiff ride with new shock....and this is better than stock ride? !?
One shock instead of two.
Makes no sense.
You need to buy a bigger scooter that gets the speed you want - but no scooter rides like a Buick.
It is a s c o o t e r!
You want lots of suspension travel buy a French car or a dirt bike.
Fish

[wojtek_pl]

Well... Not exactly true. Big scooters can be quite comfy.

But that's definitely not PCX or 125 class.

[dasshreddar]

hello all:

my first post....

Recently bought a 2011 PCX 125 and have modified the air box and snorkle delete so far....stupid scooter only goes 57 mph top speed..

rear shocks are horrible on this ride...So....last night I bought a kawasaki KX65 rear shock..(SHOWA)..and just finished removing both stock shocks...(pogo sticks)..I am 195 lbs.....KX65 shock is now on the muffler side of scooter..piggyback reservoir hits plastic underseat "carriage"..

so i trimmed it a little....then went for a ride.....WOW....what a difference...stiff as hell, but glued to the ground and it swallows up bumps big time....now you see how bad the front suspension is when you fix the rear..!

this shock has the spring preload on the softest setting and compression setting is set also @ softest setting....

I think I could be the first to do this..? Shock cost me $ 20 on Craigs list...

Welcome SurfKingCali
I might have done this "mono shock" thing on the pcx before you, but you can take the credit...
I currently on my "pcx" parts bike (off road use only) have a YSS vino 125 shock(mono) on just the cvt side and it works awesome.
I think you might be okay with the mod, BUT i would not be surprised if the frame bends or swing arm cracks...
please report back if you have any problems with this mod, i'm very curious to know if it will last.

FYI: many Ruckus owners with a GY6 engine swap do just fine with a mono shock on their cheap Chinese engines(originally meant to have a pair of shocks...)

[SurfKingCali]

cr80.jpg (9.69 KiB) Viewed 2174 times

biggest stress will most likely be the upper shock mount stud...
swingarm will take any abuse..far stronger than the upper stud.
I like the hard / firm rear end..as opposed to those 2 joke , useless pogo sticks included on this $3500 scooter.
My last scooter was a 1987 CH150 honda..also had 2 horrible little shocks......I replaced those with Showa shocks from a SL350 Honda motorcycle...preload adjusters only (set on hardest setting)..those shocks were a decent improvement....

but nothing like this KX65 shock....I may remove it for a CR80 shock with remote reservoir, so I dont have to cut into plastic sub seat "carriage"...

[honkerman]

You will have to keep us apprised of how it holds up. I'm more likely to stick with design over tinkering simply because I can't afford to have stuff break because I did something stupid to it to try to cut corners.

I leave the experimenting to other people

[SurfKingCali]

update...

shock still works fine...no issues...

looking to get new stiffer front fork springs..

this guy did it...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UtGWZGX1jk