So many great custom ideas here. I'd like to see someone with a Hard Candy Black Gold Flake give it the gold/brass accessory treatment. That would be rich. Brass is an unholy PITA to maintain though.

Saw the Hard Candy Black Gold Flake at a show recently. "Love at first sight" !

 

Hey guys great thread but please make a video of how to accompanying texts instructions.

Thank you.

 

^ LOL seriously? I have an idea- do the upgrade and make a video of it.

 

 

Yesterday I got the chance to do a 2 hrs ride after I got my Progressive Suspension fork springs installed.

I chose a bumpy and twisty country road to test the improved frontend.

Of course a 2 hrs ride is hardly sufficient to give an in-depth review but it's quite ok to give a first impression. What can I say....it's too early to call it fantastic but it sure is a significant improvement over those mushy stock front springs.

1st thing of course is that the bad tendency to nose-dive when breaking is gone.
2nd is that the overall impression of the front suspension is quite a bit firmer now w/o being too stiff.
3rd is that the steering feels more direct than with the stock springs. The bike reacts much less hesitant on any steering impulse of the rider.
Last but not least the whole frontend feels significantly more stable and less wobbly in turns and curves. Especially in long and fast curves if the road is a bit bumpy the bike now feels like it would ride on tracks.

After all I am quite happy and impressed already after this short first ride. The new setup not only adds to the fun riding the bike but also improves safety by quite some amount, IMO.

 

EagleRay - Awesome. Yeh no more "religious" feeling hitting a bump in the corner, and no more massive brake dive. you'll also be able to push it deeper into the turn without scraping pegs. The downside is it makes you realize just how crappy the OE front suspension is. How could HD get that so wrong on the BO, and not by a little bit. Upside is it's relatively easy and not overly costly to fix

 

^^Dog, you're absolutely right. I don't have a clue either how the MoCo engineers could get this so wrong. Would be interesting to know what kind of springs they equip those significantly heavier baggers and touring bikes with.

 

Makes you wonder if they don't put the same **** in every fork in every model and then just mess with the pre-load. Surely that can't be so, but I could see it being an attractive method as far as "production" is concerned.

 

i can guarantee you they are still dual-stage springs of some type, and not even progressive rate. many of the bagger guys toss those for the race tech setup or the progressive monotube cartridges. IMO one of the worst things to put on any motorcycle front end is progressive rate or dual rate springs. a correct single rate spring (or cartridge) is always superior.

HD does this because the dual rate design and stock damping system covers a much wider weight range of rider, and it is indeed a blanket cost saving approach- makes sense from a mfr standpoint. can you see HD custom fitting front springs and dampers to the buyer? lol.

 

OK, spring has sprung in the Great White North and I've put about 100 mi on my BO since doing the Ricor / RaceTech front suspension mod. Our Spring pothole situation up here is just excellent proving ground for testing suspensions :O.

1) Nose dive and rear tire chirp on aggressive braking,, gone !!!

2) Turn initiation improved.

3) Impact with pothole edges, while still unpleasant, is far less tooth shattering an experience. The downside in this is that now the rear suspension is more noticeable as an issue but, as I haven't touched the "as delivered" stock shock adjustment yet, I think I can adjust some of the "hardness" out.

As a side issue,, I've dropped the cold rear tire (Dunlop 250) pressure to 37 psi from 42 psi. Cold tire pressure is now 37 and hot tire pressure stabilizes at 42. Stock front tire is still at 36 psi.

I'm a bit heftier than LA, ( 6' and 235 lbs) and the RaceTech site put my spring selection midway between 1.0 kg and 1.1 kg. I opted for the 1.0 as I'm not an aggressive rider. I have no way of knowing if the 1.1 would have been a better choice without actually trying one but I'm super satisfied with what I've got now. Based on my current experience, I'd suggest anyone making a spring selection from the RaceTech site ought to opt for the next heavier spring set if your criteria places you within 20% of it. Otherwise the lower wt. set should suit you and your long wheelbase BO just fine. My ride stays 100% flat (no dip at all) on all but the very most aggressive of stops yet the cruising ride remains comfortable. One thing is for damn sure, particularly if you're a big boy, you'll be well impressed with the improvement you get over the stock front suspension.

I followed LA's choices and installation methods to a "T" except for 2 things:

1) I did not torque my fork caps to 60 ft-lbs. (I'm going by the *** of my pants on this, the manual says to torque to 60 ft-lbs). It is my opinion that the manual is wrong.

2) I have ABS brakes so indexed the spacer / sensor according to the manual. This is simple and takes 2 seconds. Just don't forget to do it if you have ABS brakes.

"Hope this helps gang".