How-To: Swap the Rear Suspension

[Mgalutia88]

Pcx125, 310mm is the stock length and 280mm is the Takegawa length.

[Mgalutia88]

Also as an FYI, Racing Planet UK does not ship to the US. The Racing Planet USA site does however carry YSS shocks.

[pcx125]

Thanks for the infor

[Mel46]

Except for the Takegawa lowering shocks, which are 265 mm.

[depthman]

maddiedog~!
you saved my butt with this generous tutorial... my neighbor works on bikes and ATVs, said he could replace my shocks for $40... then he got halfway in and wanted to blow me off! Didn't know how to get the pan out, but I printed out your instructions and he did it really fast. Cost me $80 instead but way better than dealer price ($230!) and the guy is right across the street
THANK YOU (already sent support to forum!)

[maddiedog]

No problem, always glad to help.

[you you]

What fender eliminator is that?

[maddiedog]

What fender eliminator is that?

ERMAX undertray.

[you you]

What fender eliminator is that?

ERMAX undertray.

Want one

[Urbanfreestyle]

This came in really handy to lfit my airfilter.... Shame it didn't fit! :-(

[dem0nk1d]

Just a heads up the springs on the stock shocks are replaceable. If you wanted a lower shock you could cut 6 coils out to get the same height.

[Mel46]

Just to let everyone know, I decided to go ahead and tear down my bike in preparation for Dave and I putting the same type shocks on my bike. Thanks to this How-to I have been able to fully tear down my bike and install the new shocks without having to inconvenience Dave. I have all of the equipment I need in my semi- finished basement. I even have an I-beam (actually 2 I-beams hold the house up) in the basement that I used with a ratchet strap to take the weight off of the shocks. Dave made that recommendation. It worked quite well. Luckily, every time I had a question that was not discussed in the How-to, I would call Dave and he would walk me through it. The only real question I had was what the size of the exhaust bolts were that were connected to the block, since they are chromed and had rounded tops. I finally got a large mirror and a small clip on book light to actually see what was up there. (Its a 10 mm with a long head on it. Strange looking.) So once again, thank you Dave for all of your help and your GREAT How-to!!

[Mel46]

Hopefully everyone can see this picture. This is what the exhaust area at the block looks like after the exhaust is removed. It is not easy to reattach the exhaust though. I had to have my wife block the front tire, weigh down the handlebar area with some tools, and use ratchet straps to raise the bike high enough for me to actually see up into the area where the exhaust connects to the engine. Then I had to use my knees to raise the muffler enough to align it. What a pain! It worked though. That is all that matters.

IMG_20140815_083457.jpg (22.25 KiB) Viewed 6877 times

[you you]

Hopefully everyone can see this picture. This is what the exhaust area at the block looks like after the exhaust is removed. It is not easy to reattach the exhaust though. I had to have my wife block the front tire, weigh down the handlebar area with some tools, and use ratchet straps to raise the bike high enough for me to actually see up into the area where the exhaust connects to the engine. Then I had to use my knees to raise the muffler enough to align it. What a pain! It worked though. That is all that matters.

IMG_20140815_083457.jpg

I didn't have this problem. Couple of nuts onto the head and thee bolts to the "swinging arm". 2 minute job.

Have I missed something?

[Mel46]

The 3 bolts were not the problem. That was easy. However, I had to actually see where to insert the exhaust into the block bolts. Without actually seeing where to insert it, trying toget it aligned correctly was difficult. I would get one in and find that the other was beside its bolt. Then I would have to start all over. When I finally was able to finally look at it while inserting it, I had no problems at all. Definitely a 2 minute job then. There is probably a secret to doing this easier, but I don't do this often enough to learn about it.

[djcat]

The wall of tools:

img01.JPG

It's not the most impressive, but gets the job done. It's functional at least!

I have dozens of floorplans I've made for me and my wife's dream house one day. She always says that if I spent as much time designing the rest of the house designs as I did the garage, I could have become an architect.

What a nice garage!

I am always impressed by the amazingly large garages my mates and colleagues have in the US. Some of them are larger then many central London flats that cost 2000+ Pounds to rent...am lucky to have a house with a garage half the size here.

[Jge64]

Mel-

I am doing this mod is soon as I get the bike in a week or two. I want to because of the preload feature and on a very shallow note, I like the red springs. LOL My question to you is for a person who is going to ride just through neighborhoods, weighs 225 pounds, will the lowered position sground me out on some turns? Or will I BE OK. I ride very slowly due to a back injury, no sport riding at all.

[ONTWOWHEELS]

Congratulations for a very good <<how to>> !

[Mel46]

To answer the question asked earlier, the lowering shocks are adjustable, so I set mine to the middle setting, which works well for most bumps. I have a bad back also, with 6 back surgeries under my belt, (who really wants to count back surgeries??). When I ride I have a wrap that I use around my mid-section and back to give my back some support. The shocks work quite well in combination with the wrap, and in fact held up nicely when I had my accident.

Speaking of the accident, my bike is coming back together nicely. I ordered the replacement parts and they arrived within a week or two. I use Dave's how-to to take it apart and put it back together. Thank you Dave.

[Scarlett]

Hi- I am mainly a reader, not a poster on this forum-mainly cause I am never at a computer where I can type easily. I have a question, though, and I hope someone could answer it for me. I bought my 2016 pcx 150 about a year ago and have to ride about 3 miles over a very rough road just to get out of my neighborhood. The road is very wavy and I cannot ride over 20 mph or I get whiplash and a sore back. Also, I ride on less than pristine country roads on my way to work so that is not too comfortable either. I am hoping to improve my ride by purchasing the Takegawa lowering shocks I have read about here. Okay-here is my question. When you put them on, do you have to remove your side stand or buy a shorter side stand? I really don't want to give up the stand but may have to. I like the idea of "lowering" the bike cause I am only 5' 2" tall and I think I would have better control over the bike. I also see that the shocks seem to only be sold on web bike now. Does anyone know of another place they are sold? (Thats two questions, but I appreciate the feedback in advance!) Thanks!