The work is pretty much all done. Zoë is turning into an amazing amalgamation of parts, a Frankenbandit, but so far the net outcome seems to be very much a positive one.

First, a report on the Z6s: they are a night-and-day difference from the battered old stock Bridgestones that were on the bike before. They feel like they absorb a lot of the road chatter that I used to notice; they feel very solid. My braking distance is down, my corners feel tighter, and even in the rain they seem very stable and secure. Some folks get good life out of these, 10K miles or so, and others burn through them in 5; I'm waiting to see how long they last, but from a performance standpoint they are a definite upgrade.

Yesterday I installed the Hayabusa shock, helped by the fine folks at the Maximum-Suzuki forums. For a second-gen Bandit like mine, this is a very simple exchange; remove the stock shock and bolt the 'Busa shock in. The 'Busa shock is a bit larger, though, as seen in the picture below, and clearance is tight. In order to make room for the big reservoir (or whatever it is) at the top end of the shock, one of the two small plastic tabs needs to be ground off of the airbox cover. Not a big deal, though getting everything disassembled enough to reach the airbox with my Dremel was a bit of a task. Here are the two shocks, for comparison: the shiny 'Busa shock is on top, and the old stock shock is below.

On the upside, the ride with the new shock is significantly cleaner. The front end still bounces pretty hard for bumps in the road, but the rear feels a lot more planted, a lot smoother. I'm not an experienced enough rider that I can really explain the difference, but I feel more in control. Additionally, and somewhat strangely, it feels like the bike is easier to drop into a turn, and also a bit less stable in crosswind. I expect this is an artifact of the downside of this mod; the 'Busa shock is about an inch longer than the stock. That means the rear of the bike is now an inch higher; I would be willing to bet that this has changed the rake and trail geometry of the front end a bit. Also, the centerstand no longer lifts the rear wheel clear of the ground. When stopped, it's a bit more work to balance the bike, and walking it around is less convenient than it used to be. I can still stand flat-footed, but it's a close thing. I may need to investigate the possibility of getting some different dogbones to bring the rear back down to its pre-Busa shock level. I am not 100% positive that I like the new handling; I certainly like the plusher ride, but I intend to do some long tours, and the old pokey Bandit may be less tiring to ride for hours at a time than the new, more spirited one.

I also installed my Scottoiler. This was another simple project; the reservoir itself is in my tailsection, under the seat. I didn't bother with pictures of this, as I basically followed the manufacturer's instructions to the letter. There's nothing I can say about this product until I've got lots of miles on it, but I am looking forward to automating my chain maintenance - especially now that the centerstand won't get the rear wheel off the ground...

I took her out for a quick hundred-mile spin just to get a sense for how everything's working together, and everything seems right nice. My only concern is the ride height, and, of course, the lack of any adjustments for the stock front forks, but addressing that problem will be a very expensive thing to do. We'll have to wait and see.