Agreed. Great for Progressive to step in like this. Eager to hear some "tuned" results on this product.

 

Concerning your reply to my post - I will take you up on your offer for the Cartridge kit to test and will post and share my experience and feed back with everyone on the site.

PM has been sent - Thank you for this opportunity

 

I've done tons of suspension on every bike I've owned just about. I swore I wouldn't with my Harley's! RaceTech said it best, "you only know as good as you've ridden". The hard part for me on the Monotubes would be not matching it up with 970's on the rear. I'd have to make them match with my OCD!

 

When I had my 2013 Forty-Eight I put on the monotubes for the hell of it. I felt like they would be best used for racing applications. They are significantly stiffer and you could feel just about every bump on the road. I would say your better off with stiffer spring or replacing the fork oil with some more heavier oil. Not worth the money I think. I have since sold her and the my Dyna rides smooth stock, she handles real well.

 

Really.. Well that is a nice gesture. It is too bad that I did not get YOU on the phone when I called there the other day to discuss a monotube setup for the FXSB Breakout. I was "entertained" for a few minutes on the phone, then politely shown the door. No one was even slightly willing to see if a cross reference to your current FXD monotubes would work- And I'm in Los Angeles, so could have rode the bike over if needed.

The Breakout has 49mm by 25.5" tubes, same as the FXD Street / Fat Bob, which you do have kits for. You also have kits for the FXDWG, which run 27" 49mm tubes, and several of the Breakout / Street Bob guys have found these tubes to be a direct swap for the shorter 25.5" tubes. Since there is really nothing offered by anyone for the Breakout, and given the similarity in 49mm tubes across these bikes, it would be nice if at least one mfr would step up and take the time to help us out.

From my initial mechanical investigation, it seems that your 06 and up FXD montoubes should work, although I'll never know if no one on your side is willing to take a bit of time, as you have two or three different part numbers listed - 35-2121, 35-2119, etc. You have an FXS listing, but it says "Not Breakout".

My end goal is to put together a writeup here and a "package" that other FXSB CVO and non-CVO owners can follow and replicate. We need something, the stock front setup blows and we're pretty much limited to buying springs and emulators. Even those are a guess, as neither Race Tech or Works has anything listed for the Breakout. Race Tech suggests buying their parts for the FXD Street Bob / Vrod, for the Breakout application, probably because these 49mm front ends are all similar. - But then you're still guessing as to what rear shock will work well with the fronts.

Care to step up and help? I'm happy to use my bike as the test mule, I'm a wrench and do all of my own work, and I have done a lot of parts testing in the past. Sorry if my post seems a bit heated- but it's been a very frustrating and disappointing experience trying to nail down anything, especially when it's plain obvious that the party you are speaking to on the phone is absolutely non-interested. What I like about your FXD monotubes is they are externally adjustable, and a more reasonably priced solution than Ohlins.

 

It's nice to see someone from Progressive step up here. Too little, too late for me. My customer service experience was similar to LA_Dog's. I finally ditched mine last week.

To be fair, for $300, it's not realistic to expect real cartridge-like performance, but mine performed worse than the stock set up. My experience is in one of the threads posted above, so I won't repeat it here. IMO a pair of drop in Ricor Intiminators brings much better performance for half the cost and much less hassle.

 

Interesting- thanks for the info. Yep been looking at Ricor, Race Tech, Works etc. The tough part is finding one company that can set up something matching both front and rear for this bike. For example, Race Tech took the time to explain why the FXDB gold valves / 1.1k springs would be fine in the Breakout, but they don't make any Softail shocks. Same with Ricor, no Softail shocks.

I totally get it with only expecting so much in the $300 range for the Progressive Monotubes, especially comparing to Ohlins at $1600 or so. Even if the Progressives cost $600 and were verifiable decent it would still be a good deal for legit gas cartridge shocks that are externally adjustable. $300 range would be a no-brainer steal. From what I've been reading it sounds like a 'get what you pay for' situation, and that is a shame.

My worst experience came from Works- The guy I talked to was really pissy as soon as I mentioned Breakout. The exact response I got was "we won't make anything for the Breakout, it is an unpopular motorcycle". Ok, really?? I mean, even if that were true, you don't say something like that to a customer and insult their bike. Freaking ridiculous- I wanted to jam the phone through his ear.

So the short of it is, I can definitely figure this out and cob something together for my bike, but my main goal was to hopefully find a mfr that can offer a no-hassle package with part numbers that can be documented / passed on to all other FXSB owners, and one that can actually talk to these owners intelligently about suspension options. No such luck yet.

 

Set up correctly, the cartridge front end performs very well. Like any suspension system, set up wrong it does not.

For the record, we'll have Breakout cartridges later in the year!

We appreciate the input. Nothing wrong with Works, we send folks there all the time for apps we do not produce.

 

Just a quick update -
I did contact Progressive and they have responded that the mono tube's for my Dyna are being manufactured will be shipped out in a few weeks, I will also be purchasing Progressive 444 Series shocks (12" Length - Standard Rate Springs) to match the Mono Tubes - So I will be able to give you all a realistic - honest review of the Progressive suspension updates "hopefully improvements" to my Dyna.
(I will be testing these both as a Single Rider Total weight 170 lbs and with a passenger w/full gear Total weight approx 300 lbs)
and will attempt to supply a full step by step instruction sheet on how to adjust the damping on both of these.

Will keep you all updated as this advances - Until then i will be watching the four feet of snow in my yard melt away hopefully.

 

See? That's exactly the generic, scripted response and minimal help I was talking about, and I never once mentioned actually using Works (they don't make anything for FXSB and do not plan to, and seem rather hostile about it).

FYI, I called Progressive early last year and got the "later this year" story once already. Here I am trying this again a year later. The Breakout has been available for three model years- I hope you realize you do not even have a listing for springs yet. -Although you may actually already make compatible springs or monotube that will fit the FXSB, but impossible to know unless someone on your side actually puts some effort in to check.

Does Progressive actually make their own products or is the design / manufacture farmed out overseas? I ask simply for understanding- If you farm it out overseas, then I understand why you may not have staff that would know anything technical about the workings / design, possible cross-fitment, and I'm probably expecting way too much.