Not happy with the rear suspension on my 13 street glide. Anyone get rid of their stock air shocks and repace them with something else for a better ride? I still want the stock lower look but a smoother ride on the bumps.

 

Oh Dear God..... yeah. There are endless posts about how crappy the stock 13 (actually 12 3/4") inch air shocks are, let alone the stubby 12 inch shocks that come on the Street Glide. Both Progressive Suspension, and Howard at Motorcycle Metal are HDF site sponsors. Just SEARCH air shocks, and set aside about four days to begin reading. Yeah, the stock shocks suck. If its a problem, money up and upgrade. General rule, longer is better, and custom made are more expensive, but still better than off the shelf aftermarket shocks.


What's your budget???


.

 

there are many many posts on this- there are aftermarkets shock or "custom" shock tuners.

1st I suggest that you alter the air pressure on your 12" shocks- for me at about 235#, 7 to 10 psi works pretty good.

Lots of guys miss this first step

or a budget solution is a set of the 13" air shocks off another touring model - this give you 50% more suspension travel..and a correlating increase in time from stop to stop.
a $25 -1" lowering block set from ebay gives you same ride height.

I have many, many 10's of thousands of miles on 12" and 13" showa shocks- which are, to me, acceptable in ride quality and handling.

so those are the cheap suggestions- stay tuned for $600 options...


Mike

 

I changed out my air shocks for Harley's Premium hand adjustable shocks. (both 12''). Took 20 minutes and they work much better. These are the shocks that come standard on the Street Glide Special, and bolt right on super easy. You just need some sort of jack to hold the rear tire off the ground to unweight the shocks. If you want to know how they work before buying, as you dealer if you could demo a 14 or 15 SGS.

Don't let people try to talk in into the longer (12 3/4") air shocks. Don't ride any better, and you will loose your low look.

Bought the Premium shocks used off this forum, and sold my stock shocks to buddy for $100. Pretty inexpensive upgrade, and really like them.

Next alternative is to contact Howard at motorcycle metal. Tell him what you want to accomplish and he will set you up. Much more expensive, but most say it is well worth the money. Let him know you learned about him on this forum, and he will give you a nice discount.

 

I've got a set of works steel tracker shocks for sale, I had on my Road King, that are way better than the stock air shocks!

 

I put Progressive 940's on when they first come out and were only offered in HD spring rate.


They sucked, spring was too stiff, I weigh 216 and my passenger is not much less.


At Sturgis they changed the HD springs for Standard springs at no charge.


World of difference, we love the ride now.


Now I think they are called 944's and you can get either HD springs or standard.

 

I put the 2014 Street Glide hand adjustable shocks on my Limited. 9500 miles on them now, and they are a great suspension.

 

+1 the air shocks beat me to death until I ignored the Moco pressure recommendations. 7 lbs did the trick.

'Course now I have Ohlins...

 

You don't say if you ride solo or 2-up, which has a bearing on what you should do. A passenger gets a different riding experience to the rider, so if you change shocks and make you happy, your favourite person may not feel much improvement! So if you do dive into the zillions of threads on shocks (don't start out on an empty stomach!) bear in mind that few members say if they ride 2-up, so can be ignored. That will speed up your reading experience.

If you want a quick and certain solution, Mrs B and I can heartily recommend the aforementioned Howard. Do it once, get it right!

 

call Howard and be done with it , I've ran stock , Progressive 940 , Ricor ,Ohlins #3-#3 , JRi B's and Ohlins #6 , most have not tried or experienced the differences in shocks and there is a huge difference . Like Graham said how do you ride ? I ride solo , 2up and 2up loaded down with a detachable tour pak . Stock was not good , Ricor worse than stock , Progressive 940 a good improvement , JRi B's and Ohlins #3-#3 were a great improvement and the Ohlins #6 the absolute best . My recommendations depending on how good you want to go and budget would be Ohlins #2 series around $550 , Ohlins #3 series around $750 or Ohlins #6 series around $1400 . This Ohlins line is built from race technology and though these are not race bikes what this does for you is give you a faster responding shock . The faster a shock responds to change the smoother the ride and better traction. Hope this helps.