Norton Motorsports Yamaha R3 Ninja 650R Shock Adapter Kit

ADAPTER KIT: NINJA 650R SHOCK TO YAMAHA R3 2015+ (OEM NINJA 650R SHOCK NOT INCLUDED)

This simple adapter kit will allow you to mount an OEM shock from a Kawasaki Ninja 650R (2006-2015) to the Yamaha R3. This inexpensive modification is an amazing value to raise the back of the R3 and improve it’s handling. The Ninja 650R shock is 290mm long, 13mm longer than the OEM Yamaha R3 shock. This raises the back of the bike almost an inch for improved ground clearance and cornering characteristics. The OEM shock on the Yamaha R3, with it’s 862 lb-in spring and very light damping, is notoriously soft and bouncy when ridden aggressively on track or in the canyons. The OEM Ninja shock has a much stiffer spring (972 lb-in) and compression and rebound damping to match and works surprisingly well as a direct replacement for the Yamaha R3. From my suspension testing, the 972 lb-in spring is ideal for street riders up to about 180-190 lbs, or racers up to about 140-150 lbs. So it’s still a little soft for a lot of racers, but it’s WAY better than the stock R3 shock in every way and a pretty darn capable solution for very little money.

The Ninja 650R shock only has a basic preload adjuster, and since proper preload setup is related to the installed spring rate and rebound damping, and these are not adjustable, I recommend setting the preload setting in the middle setting (there are 7 adjustments) and leaving it. As long as your Ninja 650R shock is relatively new and working well, I found the middle preload setting to be the best balanced for the bike.

*Any Ninja 650 shock from 2006-2015 will fit, but I recommend buying as new and low mileage one as you can since they can’t be serviced.