[solved]Rear suspension

I find them fine and i am about 15 stone... have not had problem with them...

Coming off the settee soft cb400 I notice the difference, they're ultra soft even on full preload. When I get on the cb500 I notice every bump in the road but I then get use to it after about 5miles. They're about as firm as the front shocks, as stock. 

I like them a lot they're not ultra hard but they're not exactly soft, I'd say they're  more on the harder side of firm but I love them.

If the TECs are so cheap and reliable enough, I might have to move them up my to-do list soon. 

Currently got some minor corrosion on the springs of what I assume are the factory ones, and was expecting to pay out at least £100 to do it, so have been putting it off. £50 is much more friendly to my budget, so hopefully they'll be an improvement on my current ones.

Never changed shocks before, is it possible to do on the centre stand? 
I've only ever seen people do it by jacking up the rear a bit, which might be a bit hard without a jack!!

pendleton_j wrote:If the TECs are so cheap and reliable enough, I might have to move them up my to-do list soon. 

Currently got some minor corrosion on the springs of what I assume are the factory ones, and was expecting to pay out at least £100 to do it, so have been putting it off. £50 is much more friendly to my budget, so hopefully they'll be an improvement on my current ones.

Never changed shocks before, is it possible to do on the centre stand? 
I've only ever seen people do it by jacking up the rear a bit, which might be a bit hard without a jack!!

put the bike on the mainstand and on a bit of wood. Remove the side panels and then the rear cowl, (removing the end can will also help a lot).

Remove both the shocks (tec are 10mm longer than stock iirc) and then just slide them into place, bolt them in and reassemble.

Hi all, I've been reading this forum alot and thought I'd write a post for a change! I've just spent 68 quid on some tec shocks, the chrome is peeling off the piston housing at the top which is a bit worrying! They look fine apart from that. I have an 02 500s with original shocks done 26k miles, they are sooo bad. I have to put them on the hardest setting for them not to bottom out and with a passenger the bike is unridable. Extremely rusty.
The bike handles relatively well when cornering even quite hard, the progressive dampening is OK, it's the high speed damping that's non existent. So I'm guessing that the adjustment stiffens the low speed damping but the high speed damping is probably just a set hole in the chamber that either increases as it gets older or is already a bit too big and the oil is already to light and gets old and basically turns to water. Or leaks! It's nit really adjustable suspension, the preload is adjustable which is the load already exerted on the system. The stock shocks feel like a bit of a weak link tbh. I'm looking forward to some fresh damping.