72 XL 250 shocks

[LWC82PE]

can anyone tell me some info on the original honda OEM shocks as fitted to the 72 XL 250 motorsport.

i need to know eye to eye total free length and the shaft travel, so that is the visible section of chrome shaft from the end of the body to were the shaft enters the mounting eye , including the area covered by the bump stop.

also what length shocks are people fitting to this bike when using the XL350 swingarm?

thanks for you help

[lc4]

Roughly 340mm and 100mm can't help with the 350 conversion

[LWC82PE]

i need exact measurements +/- 1mm

[lc4]

i need exact measurements +/- 1mm

Without trying to sound rude or stupid +/- 1mm for suspension,why so exact?

[MX?]

Pretty sure I went for 380mm with 106mm travel.....but i'd have to check it out for certain in the morning.
I'm using the 350 swingarm on the 250.

[LWC82PE]

well because with this sort of stuff you need to be exact. why, because if im given a measurement i like to know its exact and like to work around a set of base measurements i know are correct,so if I vary from that measurement i know im am aware of that. if i am supplied a measurement of say 400mm for a set of shocks that are  really 398 for example well i could think ok going to 406mm is alright its only 6mm, but in reality im really increasing the length 8mm which maybe isnt so good, but i dont know that because the measurement i was suppled was incorrect and i was only going by what i was told. Its kinda hard to explain if you dont understand this sort of thing.

im not necessarily needing shocks the exact original measurements but i need to know if i build a set, i like to know the original dimensions so i know how much i can vary away from those measurments.

thanks MX i will take note of that.

[MX?]

Don't reckon that 380mm can be right,sounds a whisker long when I think about it, and (Oops) I forgot to measure them today. Will do it tomorrow though. I'm sure the 106mm was right....using YSS shocks and I'm positive Walter said that 104mm stroke was allowable by definition of the regs. and that the shocks had 106mm.
I have the original set in the shed and (if I don't forget agian) will measure them as well.

[LWC82PE]

thanks MX. i have shafts that will give about 106mm travel so i think that should be ok, so just need to know overall length of originals.

i highly doubt showa would still have specs for a 72 model. someone one here will have original XL shocks im sure so that will do.

[MX?]

Original shocks were 340mm centre to centre of the eyes. The shocks I used with my set up are 365mm centre to centre.
Visible shaft between shock end and bump stop is 86mm on both..... I was thinking this was the measurement you were after (though I couldn't work out why. ) but I now see you want the length over the bump stop.....makes more sense.
Maybe a bit like pulling teeth but I'd have to re-measure this again tomorrow, got everything tucked into bed now.

[LWC82PE]

i needed to know the distance between shock body and end eye including under the bump stop so in otherwords, the length of chrome shaft you can see if the bump stop was removed. Or the length between body and bump stop and then add the length of the bump stop.Then thats about all i need to know. another source said 13 &3/8 for total length and thats about 339mm so thats good that 2 sources of info match up. Anyway, so far so good.

Also what forks are you running, STD 250 ones?

[MX?]

OK, so I've taken the spring off, and measured from the bottom end of the eye fitting down to the shock body, it's 106mm.
The forks on mine are off a 350....I think, (My 250 ones had damaged hard chrome around the seal area)they have the 3 or 4 depth adjusting marks around under the cap...not that you can slide them up through the top clamp 'cos they hit the bars.  . maybe the model they're off had a different shaped triple clamp? I also had the Race Tech emulators fitted.

[LWC82PE]

thanks for that. looks like the shocks i have will definitely be suitable then. the 106mm was on the OEM honda shock and not on your aftermarket ones right?

[MX?]

Yep! 

[LWC82PE]

ok excellent, thanks for that.