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CB900C Air Shocks

12K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  chris68k  
#1 ·
So I managed to find a 1982 CB900C in junk shape for $100 (fully titled too!) and have been swiping parts from it for a while. I noticed that the rear shocks, which are air-assisted, were in great shape, said "why not" and swapped 'em onto my CX. Here's my observations:



They're about the same length as the stock shocks, maybe a little longer. They bolt on with no modifications, although the top of the shock is very close to the frame. The rubber shock mount cushion things are even the same size as the stock ones!



There's no good place to put the pressure lines. I have a homemade seat and ended up having to do some interesting maneuvering to place the pressure valve and lines under it. I ziptied the lines to the frame but couldn't bolt the valve anywhere, so it's just sitting on the plastic inner fender near the electrics.



The shocks are INCREDIBLY comfortable. They soak up the bumps in the road with no problems even at near-maximum pressure, and lower pressures make it seem like you're riding on a cloud. Highly recommended.



A set of these in good shape isn't particularly cheap unfortunately, running about $100 on eBay from what I've seen. That said, if you have or know of a parts CB900c this is an EXCELLENT modification for the CX.
 
#2 ·
I had a CB900C in which the rear air shocks had been pulled out and replaced with standard units of some sort, origins unknown
Image
. Those seemed to work OK.



I did some digging and found out that the stock rear air units and the likely very similar parts from a 4-cylinder Goldwing of the same era (very likely the same or possibly similar) had reliability issues, enough so that swapping 'em out for non-air was common.



As far as I can tell my bike spent it's whole life in Arizona; I bought it in Phoenix and took it to Tucson and it showed all the classic signs of being a "desert rat": more or less zero rust but a lot of dried out rubber. So that might have had something to do with why the air rear system fell apart some time in the past.
 
#3 ·
I've had a pair of cb900c shocks on my bike for at least 5 yrs, had no reliability issues with them, a GL 1100 has the same shocks but has longer air hoses making them easier to tuck inside the frame. The pressure switch can be rigged up for a gauge or warning light.