LEFT : It takes a while to get this little bugger out of the bike .
RIGHT : You can use a sharp chisel to remove this , I decided to use some Torx keys as they fitted perfectly .
gassing the shock . There ’ s an official GasGas lowering kit for the ES700 that drops the seat height by 40mm , which includes new springs and spacers for the forks and rear shock , as well as a shorter sidestand . I ’ d have liked to gone down this route , but there was no forecast availability at the time .
SHOCK SPACING So , this Zeta option appealed . Zeta ’ s shock reducing spacer is 10mm thick and reduces the shock extended length by 10mm , and therefore 30mm of axle travel ( the linkage ratio is roughly 3:1 ). Thinking it ’ d be something I ’ d have to order from Aussie or the USA , I was stunned to find one on the shelf at my local shop Nelson Motorcycles . Turns out they ’ re a WP service
centre too , so could re-gas the shock for me . What started as merely a thought experiment , with the shock spacer in my hand , the day turned into a mission to drop the seat height . Talking of missions ... getting the rear shock out is pretty involved . Wheel out , upper and lower shock mounting bolts removed ... and the fuel tank stops the shock dropping out because the reservoir hits it . I have no idea how it ’ s meant to be done , but I got it out by removing the lower tank bolts and pivoting the tank / back end upwards until the shock dropped out .
DELVING INSIDE-ISH I ’ ve seen the inside of motorcycle suspension many times , and stripped lots of sets of forks , but this was going to be the first time opening
LEFT : The gas is let out of the shock under this rubber bung ...
RIGHT : Don ’ t undo this to get the gas out - you ’ ll get an oily surprise .
KIWI RIDER 41