I have a '12 Street Bob. I am 6-1" and 185 lbs and often have my 9 y/o son riding with me. He weights like 90lbs after a big burger for dinner LOL. When we rode last summer and he was 80lbs or so and we run over bumps I felt my spine being cracked or hit hard on the seat. With the superglide seat it was a little better but some of the potholes or road lines (where two concrete structure come toegther like a bridge) often times have hard bumps and it is a little pain ful.

Looked at the Ricor shocks and have a couple of questions. Ricor states to order with the heaviest weight the bike will be rode on. So if I want to order for my bike should I order assuming my boy will ride with me all the time? That is order for 270 lbs for both me and my son? Dos that mean when he is not riding with me the bike will also ram my spine because of the light weight on a shock set up for 270 lbs? How do you guys figure the weight when ordering Ricor shocks and may or may not ride with passenger or reavel bags etc.

When ordering Ricor shocks should I order the Intiminators too? How easy is it to install all of these parts?

I am stil thinking on this...beause I am in the process of ordering from fuelmotousa the VH Big Shots/PV and their A/C. But I am going to post some questions on this later this evening. Not sure what I should do but I can ride with the standard shocks for the time beinging but sure the Stage 1 will give me a cooler running bike. Dilemma you say?

I would have to look at a Maintenance book but do the stock shocks adjust based on weight? I have never found out but this may help a little bit.

Thanks for all of the input.

 

My 2012 Fat Bob has 5 settings for the stock rear shocks, 1 for the lightest weight and 5 for the heaviest. Your bike should be similar. For 2 up riding you should be on at least 4 if not 5. You will need a cheap shock adjust tool from Harley to adjust the shocks, about $12. The instructions should be in your owners manual.

 

You can buy shocks that have a quick adjust for 2 up.
the intiminators take a little work to install.
I did mine at 500 miles cause I couldn't stand bottoimg out or the hard ride.
To me the shocks took priority over a tuner.

 

if your o na budget, look at the tourign air shocks on ebay, a good set can be had for under $100 and will be easy to adjust for your riding weights solo and 2-up.

 

I can't tell you which upgrade to do first...it's your choice. I did the stage one first and then the suspension. I have ricor shocks and the intimidators and it is a huge improvement. You order the shocks for just your weight and they are hand adjustable if you want to change them for 2-up. With your son just being 95 pounds you probably wouldn't have to change the adjustment when he rides. (maybe after a few more years of chesseburgers, that will change)

I also weigh about 185 and my wife rides with me about 20% of the time and I hand adjust the settings since she weighs in at 150. If were just going for a short ride I don't adjust it any different and have never bottomed out.

Even with the stock shocks you shouldn't be in pain when riding 2 up. Like Alan said...make sure your shocks are on the "5" setting when the boy rides with you. It's very easy to adjust with the 10 buck spanner wrench but kinda confusing to know what number your on...but it does explain it in your owners manual...just reread it a few times.

As far as installing both...the shocks are very simple...a 15 minute install but afterwards set the sag per the ricor directions...Brian at ricor pretty much had mine on the money when I checked mine...but then you'll be fine tuning them to get the ride you like best. Spending the money on shocks isn't easy...the deciding factor for me was when riding 2 up with some friends (and my wife on the back) in some twisty back roads, doing about 60MPH hitting a rut and having her come a foot off of the seat. (that's what the riders in the back told me) Hopefully you use a sissy bar for 2up...saved her *** that day.

The intimidator install you really need a good jack (I use the J&S) and you can do the install without taking your forks apart and going in through your fork caps but you will need a pump (I used a 12v marine pump) to pump out the old oil so you can fill with amzoil. Also if you want a cushy ride, use the amzoil 5w shock therapy instead of the 10w that they recomend. It took me about 4 hours to install the intimidators and will probably go back in one more time to fine tune the front end.

I bought the 12 1/2" sport tune ricors....the 13" will even give you a better ride but the rear end will stick up a tad more then stock.

I'm very happy with the ride and the way it handles in the twistys where I spend most of my time...actually made the bike handle the wind better too.

Let me know if you have any other questions...make sure you buy the shop manual before attempting anything...it's saved me thousands so far.

 

After reading what all was posted I think I will go ahead and get the spanner wrench and adjust to 4 or 5 and test it out. Primarily I wanted to get the Stage 1 first because my bike runs darn hot in the summer...burning my nuts lol. I figured I would ride my bike and do the 1,000 mile maintenance and sort of break it in a bit. (last Summer I flew to Aurora, CO a few times which interrupted my riding a bit but looks like I will not have to this summer.) As many here know...so much to do so little moola ha. But after reading the replies I will get the wrench and adjust to 4 and see how it goes. I got a sissy bar last late-fall and am going to install it but need to get the decocker unit (forgot if that is what it's called) since it did not come with the sissy bar I got here on the classifieds. My boy says I need to get a sissy bar to "hold" him on the bike when we run over bumps so I went ahead and got a used one but in perfect condition. Might as well see how the shocks on the bike now works when I adjust and focus on the Stage 1. I am going to open open another post about the pipes I want to get from Fuelmoto...

To the guy who said to get some air shocks from ebay...I do not mind trying this out but learned once that buying something that is not often recommended may cause grief and probably waste of money if it did not work out. But price wise $100 is a big difference between the $625 Ricors so that may be given consideration.

BTW I bought the J&S jack and they were the cats meow...but at a wallet thumping $500 though.

 

Make you bike run better/cooler
Make your bike comfortable
Make you bike look better.

 

I don't think the stage 1 download will make the bike run cooler.
A tuner or an Xied or similar fuel richener will do better to cool it.
An oil cooler, synthetic oil.
I did it all and my bike runs very cool, no more burning my leg.
I have a Jagg oil cooler with a thermostant adapter to allow it to heat up fast in the cool mornings.

 

I say suspension first. I ride aggressively and the stock suspension sucks (borderline dangerous). I would guess the Street Bob shocks aren't any better. Power is no good without control (IMHO). I got XIEDs and have not had any problems with excessive temps, that I can tell. I run SE Intake and Rush slip-ons BTW

I think #4 on the spring preload sounds too stiff. You have about 3 inches of travel and want to use about 1/3 with preload. I would set the sag at around 1 inch.

Lift the rear off the ground (with your fancy new jack)
Measure the spring length full uncompressed
With you on the bike, have someone measure the spring again
Adjust the preload spring till it is 1 inch shorter that it was uncompressed
My FB was between 2 and 3 for 1up with me being 200#
If possible measure again with your son on and see how much more preload it takes to stay at one inch of sag (one turn at most, my guess)
You can just ride and see what feels best, but this will minimize over-stiff ride/bottoming

 

Yeah I thought a 4 or 5 setting was kinda maxing out...for a 95 lb 10 year old boy. I shuddered to think what my setting should be with a heavyweight wife lol. My wife is 100 lbs and all kids are skinny runts but I still feel the bumps easily. Thanks for the Tech section to the last poster...will try that with my J&S jack ;-) and maybe get to setting it a bit better. Regardless this needs to be experimented some. Thanks for the ideas!