Minor updates. I installed some 11" shocks (aftermarket Harley Sportster, Dyna, FXR, type). These things are crazy stiff, so I'll need to back off on the preload. I like the stance, and that the swignarm and lower frame rails both sita bout parallel with the earth, but don't like what the lower rear has done to the look of the muffler angle, which used to be closer to parallel with the ground. I don't have a ton of room to angle them back up, as the fit near the frame and oil pan is very tight.
The pipe 'sag' doesn't actually look this bad in person, but I was trying to get the viewing angle that would make it as obvious as possible.
To get these to fit, I swapped the rubber and steel bushings from the stock shock over to these. Also, the lower eyelet cylinder needed to be ground down to fit the female swingarm mount. No big deal, but it took a few minutes to get it all to fit right.
Comparative photo with stock shock length:
Very short travel shocks. Probably only about 1.5" of functional travel, but who cares. I'm not building a touring bike here.
All of the tight sports should still clear, even if these things bottom out.
NEXT UP: I plan to 'properly' lower these forks via internal spacers, and increase the spring preload while I'm at it, because the front end is WAY too soft. I was going to use this method:
http://www.xs650chopper.com/2009/06/mulligan-machine-lower-your-xs650-forks-low-buck-garage-tech/
Any concerns with this? I'll cut maybe 1/2 less from the springs than the amount of spacer added to help stiffen it up. Has anyone out there done this to a KZ750 twin? They look to have all the same guts as the XS650 model shown in that link.