I'm thinking of replacing the shocks on my '82 KZ550A but every maker sells them separately from the springs which need to be mounted. Ok, I can understand that, different springs, different rates. Other than going to a dealer and paying loads of money because then you'll have to buy it from them, and again, understandable, how am I supposed to get springs mounted on my shocks? Is it very difficult to make a spring compressor? I want to buy new, not used. Why doesn't Progressive mount some springs to shocks in popular rates? From my research the Progressive shocks for vintage bikes are only made for a few years applications, ok, so make up a bunch for those years, you'll sell every one of them. Am I missing something cause its been over 20 years since I've looked into shocks for this bike.

Try Hagon
http://www.hagonshocksusa.com/index.htm

I looked at Progressive's site, and looks like the body and spring are listed separately, as you said. Maybe they will assemble them if you call. From what I've found, a 12 Series shock becomes a 412 Series when it's assembled.
Ebay has a lot of KZ550 shocks that are assembled, including Progressive.
denniskirk.com, among others, sells them assembled also. Again, it may take a phone call to locate the correct ones.

Thanks, I figured places like kirk would sell them assembled, I've only checked online, guess I need to make some calls. Thanks gpink, those Hagons are nice, I need some for my Triumph too, now I gotta figure out how many mm's 13.5 inches is!

If you need to compress the springs, a bunch of hose clamps.