first ill start out with my review of the shocks.
i bought a set of Ohlins #2~#2 (A) shocks
by far these are the best set of shocks i have had on the SG. I have been through stock HD air shocks, HD air shocks modified by Ron at bitchin baggers, and Progressive 940 ultra tour shocks.

the ohlins are just better in every way period. i have a comfortable, controlled ride. the stability in the corners is perfect, 2 up riding is awesome. Im not gonna lie and say i dont feel any bumps, but the bumps that used to throw me off my seat, dont now. the tire is always in contact with the road, and these shocks havent bottomed out once, and i have hit some major bumps with them. the biggest thing for me is they just give me more confidence in the bike, and the bikes suspension. ill say one thing alot of other people have... it makes wanting more out of the front suspension. and i have changed the front suspension numerous times and i cant find anything that matches the quality and stability that the rear has now. the front end is my weak link at the moment.

another thing.. stop looking around for a different shock, in the end youll go with the ohlins. thats IF your wanting something special out of the suspension. if your not an aggressive rider, stock suspension might suit you well. or if you have become accustomed to the way your stock air shocks ride then you may not have a desire to upgrade. but if you are wanting to get more from your suspension, dont waste your money on anything else. Just go straight to the Ohlins. for the price of the #2 shocks you cant go wrong. i can only imagine how the higher end ohlins shocks ride.


Now my review of Howard - Owner of Motorcycle Metal.
he knows alot.. i mean alot about suspension. and thats a good thing!
but in my perspective he thinks you should already know about shocks. thats not how it works. We all dont know in depth about shocks and suspension, hence why we are on a search for what will work best for us, and some of us are budget minded.

I called to gain some knowledge and find out what he thought would work best for my setup. the answer i received is "well, you need to find that out for yourself"

now im gonna guess about 90% of us guys on the board get alot of knowledge from the board. we heard about the ohlins shocks on here, and there are so many models. what works for us? who knows, all we know is other forum members liked them and they are the holy grail of shocks so to speak.

so it would be nice if howard could point us in a good direction, since we are calling to find out about his products and are in the market to buy.

2nd ive never heard another sales person dog other products as much as Howard. i asked him about progressive products and what his thoughts were, specifically the mono tubes, since id want something to compliment the ohlins. which in reply he stated "i dont know, i dont sell junk" "if your wanting to buy junk your in the wrong place, i only sell premium stuff, youll wont see progressive on the podium on race day"

the first time i called him after i talked to him i swore i wasnt gonna buy shocks from him cause he just had a bad attitude, and was kind of offensive really. In the end i had to look past that, i wanted the ohlins and he is the only one i know of that sells them.

i think he may need some sales/business/communication training or something. if he could have a better attitude towards his customers it would drive his sales through the roof. it was jsut a bad customer service experience for me.

it feels like he belittles you cause you should already know about his product or something.. he refers to his website, all the info is on the website. the website is so hard to navigate through i dont know how anyone could get any good info from there.


good point though.. i put my order in on a monday got the shocks on a wed! 3 days for hand built shocks. thats fast! and his prices were more than fair.


so in conclusion, if you want a set of amazing shocks for a good price buy the ohlins, but just know youll have to take some **** to get them.

 

When I went on the Ohlins USA site and you punch in your bike, it spits out a shock that fits your bike. In my case it recommends the Ohlins HD 022. Does the shocks you have, list a similar mfg. designation? I went on the Hardracing site and they list several different models of Ohlins but only the HD 022 and HD 039 (shock size would indicate a Street Glide, etc.), for the FLH models.

http://www.hardracing.com/Ohlins.htm

http://www.jcmotors.com/p-13885-hlin...els-86-06.aspx

Thanks!

 

Sounds like Howard could use some help. Perhaps you could buy this for him...

 

Yup, your experience of Howard is pretty much the same as mine.

There are a number of problems with the #6s that I have (the ones with the remote reservoir). I offered Howard some simple fixes and was told to stick to my day job.

You gotta take the good with the bad, so it seems. Lucky the good is very very good!

 

Let me reply:

I give you the tools to know about suspension and how they work. You need to put fourth the effort to read on my site where I previously indicated and know what you are buying. If you want just some salesman pointing you to the most profitable invoice, than you have the wrong guy here. I disassemble shock(s) on my site and when you ask questions, I show you how and why. Did you also forget that you called day and also night? How many businesses/people answer your phone calls at any hour? Did you leave that part out in your assessment of bad customer service? I can look up the phone records and indicate how much time and at what hours I invested on the phone with you, providing the necessary information you require.

There is no site anywhere that will educate you to understand what is inside the the suspension and how it works, I expect you to read what is provided by me when asking "what shock is for you". What is best for you is: what you should decide and not the salesman. I gave you the tools that no one else does anywhere, you must provide the effort thus you will be rewarded by getting the best option for you. There is no hard sell, no selling you what you do not need or want as I prove my knowledge to you at all normal hours you required it . You make the educated decision for yourself! There is no wining or crying in baseball or Harley's.

Hoblick had called and it was clear initially that he did not have the information to make an intelligent buying decision. I have spent many, many hours making PDF's to provide anyone the tools to make an educated buyers decision. This is the only way to get what is best for you is through the effort I provide to help you understand your personal buying choice. It is much much easier for a skilled salesman to figure out how much money can be extracted from the customer than to answer Hoblick's questions long after everyone else has left the office.

Hoblick: As for answering questions about other products, if you do not want the truth, do not ask the questions.

In closing, if the effort I make is considered QUOTE: "just know youll have to take some **** to get them." than just go some place else and receive no support and no one there who can answer your questions who actually rides a Harley, higher prices, and lastly do not get the shocks built for you per your specifications.

To those who think my site is hard to navigate, I suppose if you have the need to know than it is easy as it is all common sense. By taking as few seconds to figure out what you are doing, exert some effort, anyone can get there.

To Kingspoke: Unfortunately you do not understand nor wish to investigate what the facts are before posting. The reason why there is no drop down box is because we make any shock (within reason) fit the application. That's right, make them. No shock in the box. You must provide personal detailed information so the shocks you receive can be built for you prior to receiving them.

You may also consider that your aforementioned company only sells the few described shocks (for your bike) that comes in a box. No one there can build or service a shock. Just put the shock in a box and ship it,. no one there that can answer your technical questions, no one there who rides, tests & owns the product! I guess lastly, I support and partly make this site available for your viewing and participation while the company you mention does not.

 

Progressive 11.5" 412HD, awesome ride/handling, $209.95 shipped

 

Howard seems like a good guy to me, he just has the personality of an engineer. If you're looking for a slick, car salesman kinda guy, he's not your man.

I spoke to him a few weeks back, and I'm still trying to decide what shocks I want: #2 or #3, and what length. He basically told me it was my job to figure that out.

A lot of salespeople try to upsell you to their most expensive product, because we're trained to think it must be better, but Howard's not like that.

I do agree with others that the website is very confusing, it's hard to tell which pictures go with what descriptions. Maybe he should trade some shocks for some website work.

 

Thanks hoblick verny nice and apparently appropriate review. I too need some shocks and will more than likely order some from the shock master, I will take some pain meds prior to calling cause I will more than likley get kicked in the nuts as im dense as a an oak tree stump.

 

I work with "People" all the time in manufacturing and at the corporate level , it's pretty simple.

The ones that talk a great game, can dance on the head of a pin, can sell Ice to Eskimos, has an answer for every freaking question, is never wrong and repeats what he hears or reads and really dont know jack ****....The SALE PERSON!

Then you have the guy that gets dirty, leaves a few bodies behind when dealing with customers, knows the internal operation of the product like the back of his D**K, can talk details about it, uses it, could care less about the kind of suit or tie he has in the closet, if he even owns one, is passionate about his work, available to you anytime of the week, often misunderstood, is a great guy once you get to know him/her and let's the product sell itself. Well...that would be a guy such as HOWARD.

From my personal experience this weekend, I can tell you that at no time did he ASSume I knew anything about shocks and we did the Shock 101 on the PC looking at the same information on line. Is it confusing for the average person... Hell Yes, but with a phone call and the ability to talk to Howard with your BIG BOY pants on, you will get the info you need. First meet was a little tight but that lasted about 4 minutes and we both where cracking jokes.

Maybe I'm just fortunate enough to have had the one on one experience. However, I've experienced the same personalities, actually worse in the car tuning world. Try dealing with some of the arrogant SOB's that tune high performance cars. Their motto: Either you want it or you don't. They eventually get a front person to answer the calls. One who is nice, tells you YES all the time, works with you, strokes your ego, upsells you the wrong **** and BAM... you just spent more money....BUT you're happy because they where nice. I actually admire the guy who calls it like it is without the smokey mirrors. At least you know where he's coming from. He even offered to take me out for lunch and to a local bar. Too bad the weather was bad or I would of been right there.

Cheers!

PS: I'm not hanging on Howards nut sac. I'm just giving my personal feedback as a result of first hand experience with him and a lot of experience with people in the performance industry.

 

I think Howard's post says it all. You know right there who you are dealing with. Honest? Yes. Knows his stuff? Absolutely. Great product? No doubt. Wants to take care of his customers? Yup, looks that way, wouldn't doubt it. Friendly, people facing personality? Doesn't look like it. A place for the novice buyer? Definitely not.

You can't doubt his honestly. He basically says this is the way he is, this is the product and service he provides, and if that's not what your looking for or you dont like it then go elsewhere. The poster who said he has an engineer's personality is right on the money. I am a software consultant and deal with these folks daily. Geniuses, but not made to be dealing with the public. That's why they have engineers in the back office developing and doing the tech work, and people like me out with the clients.

Howard, you dont have to give people a sales pitch to lead them in the right direction. Some people aren't good mechanically (like me) and come here to find honest, reliable vendors to deal with who will guide us without ripping us off. Reading and learning is great, and I've done a lot of that, but there is no substitute for real world experience. You have that, we don't, and thats why we ask questions that to you seem basic and stupid and that we should educate ourselves on. That's why I bought from Jamie at FuelMoto. Tons of expertise, great product (just like you), but they will talk to you and answer basic questions and suggest a solution. They don't tell you they wont answer and send you off to a website to get information. He could have sold me something more expensive than a PC-V for $299, but he didnt, because I didnt need more than that. And dude, I have to agree with everyone, your website needs some work, its not at all easy to navigate or follow. Someone who knows website design could clean it up for you pretty easily.

A lot of business pay a lot of money for this kind of feedback from their customers. You might want to listen to what folks are saying rather than justifying how you operate.