I've been looking at this task lately and it looks like its going to be simple. I have seen people jack the bike up using blocks of wood on the headers. If your careful I dont think your going to hurt anything. A how to from one of the wrenches on here would be great

 

i did some work on a honda 900 i used to have and will be changing the raer shock on my r1 the same way.
i went to lowes and got a bike jack (about 100 bucks) i looked at it real close when i unpacked it. i jacked it off the ground by putting it on the header pipes. then in put a rope from each passenger foot peg to the ceiling to help hold it if it fell. i did the work i needed then i packed the jack back into the bock and returned it to lowes and got my money back. works like a charm. good luck

 

just use jackstands under rearsets or under pipes inserted into the motor mount holes in frame on each side of bike.

 

Go here: http://www.r1-forum.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=146507&highlight=shock

PM me if you have questions. Mine's all back together and will be taking the maiden voyage tomos.

 

stick a steel rod through the swing arm bolt and use jack stands under the rod. Works great.:thumbup

 

stick a steel rod through the swing arm bolt and use jack stands under the rod. Works great.:thumbup

Yup. Best way to do it. If you have aftermarket rearsets you can do that as well.

 

Yup. Best way to do it. If you have aftermarket rearsets you can do that as well.

Forgive my ignorance, but what swingarm bolt?

 

Forgive my ignorance, but what swingarm bolt?

He means the bolt that connects the swingarm to the frame. However, the inside diameter of the bolt on the right side is pretty small. For an extremely easy way to go about removing the shock, see my post above. I used it when I took my shock off and it worked great.

 

Thanks for the tips guys. I have Gilles rearsets on the bike. I put the front and back up on a pair of Handy stands. I put the jackstands under the rearsets and then let the rear gently down so that the weight was supported on the pegs. I unbolted the top of the rear shock and then used my free hand to gently apply a little lift to the tire and then wiggled the top bolt out. I just needed to replace the upper collar for the shock so I just put it in and reinserted the bolt. Took me about 10 minutes from start to finish. I'd probably do a more secure method if I was doing something more involved like removing the swingarm, but for my needs this worked very well.

thanks again.

 

Get an Abba or NWS stand.Best money you will ever spend.