Front SUspension Help FXBB
Thread Starter
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Intermediate
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 41
Likes: 23
From: San Diego, CA
Front SUspension Help FXBB
Hi guys:
Hoping you can help me out. I've got a 2018 Street Bob that I'm picking up next week from my engine guy whose bumped my baby up to 124". We've done TTS cams, a Screaming Eagle throttle body, RB Racing pipes, and an S&S air cleaner.
I've already done an RWD rear shock to help increase the ground clearance and improve the suspension in the back. i'm also in line for an alloy swing arm from Trac that should pick things up a little more and decrease the weight.
I know I need to address the front now. I've seen everything from $8000 upside down set ups to just doing some longer Ti Nitride coated lowers and some new internals. I certainly need to increase the axle to crown/fork length at least a couple of inches to account for what we've done in the back- I'm really happy with my brakes so needing double discs isn't a requirement right now- but I'm not adverse to doing that.
Anyway- I want good performance and increased ride height- what do you guys recommend? i'll be sticking with the stock wheels for now.
HELP!!!! Personal experience counts for a lot...if you guys were trying to build the most bad *** canyon carving Street Bob and were in my shoes what would you do? All things being equal I'm psyched to pay 25% for 90% of the performance if cartridges and longer stanchions make sense- and I'm not adverse to going whole hog and doing upside down forks with fancy stuff either. I just don't know!
As some back ground- my Aprilia RS4 is the base model RR without the Ohlins stuff because I don't really adjust stuff and I'm not chasing the last second on the track- but I did buy the best handling sports bike I was able to test ride and I do appreciate handling!
Thanks guys! You're the best!!!
Hoping you can help me out. I've got a 2018 Street Bob that I'm picking up next week from my engine guy whose bumped my baby up to 124". We've done TTS cams, a Screaming Eagle throttle body, RB Racing pipes, and an S&S air cleaner.
I've already done an RWD rear shock to help increase the ground clearance and improve the suspension in the back. i'm also in line for an alloy swing arm from Trac that should pick things up a little more and decrease the weight.
I know I need to address the front now. I've seen everything from $8000 upside down set ups to just doing some longer Ti Nitride coated lowers and some new internals. I certainly need to increase the axle to crown/fork length at least a couple of inches to account for what we've done in the back- I'm really happy with my brakes so needing double discs isn't a requirement right now- but I'm not adverse to doing that.
Anyway- I want good performance and increased ride height- what do you guys recommend? i'll be sticking with the stock wheels for now.
HELP!!!! Personal experience counts for a lot...if you guys were trying to build the most bad *** canyon carving Street Bob and were in my shoes what would you do? All things being equal I'm psyched to pay 25% for 90% of the performance if cartridges and longer stanchions make sense- and I'm not adverse to going whole hog and doing upside down forks with fancy stuff either. I just don't know!
As some back ground- my Aprilia RS4 is the base model RR without the Ohlins stuff because I don't really adjust stuff and I'm not chasing the last second on the track- but I did buy the best handling sports bike I was able to test ride and I do appreciate handling!
Thanks guys! You're the best!!!
Thread Starter
|
Intermediate
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 41
Likes: 23
From: San Diego, CA
No one has any advice? Do you guys know who I should reach out to?
I think if I asked what color grips to get I'd probably have five page thread to look at now. No one other than me has contemplated what to do to address the limitations of our bike's front suspension?
HELP guys! I don't wan to spend 6k if something like a $700 cartridge and some longer stanchions will get me 80% of the way there.
Or maybe another way to put it- who is making our Softails handle the best?
I think if I asked what color grips to get I'd probably have five page thread to look at now. No one other than me has contemplated what to do to address the limitations of our bike's front suspension?
HELP guys! I don't wan to spend 6k if something like a $700 cartridge and some longer stanchions will get me 80% of the way there.
Or maybe another way to put it- who is making our Softails handle the best?
Stage I
Joined: Apr 2020
Posts: 1
Likes: 0
From: Canada
Black grips, get black grips with a diamond pattern...
Hey man, I just stumbled upon your post and I am in the same boat as you, unless you have decided what front end to go with seeing as this post is from last summer? And in that case, what did you go with?
I just read your post about the RWD RS-1 Rear shock and am glad you enjoy it; I am about to order the same shock. I have been looking at everything and anything regarding front and rear suspension as I have found them to be wanting on this bike. I was going to do OHLINs or RACE TECH, but it seems everyone is loving RWD and is great quality/well priced in my opinion. I come from a sport bike history as well, albeit small (only have been riding for 3 years now). That being said a performance minded, a Club Style HD is what I am chasing as well. That being said, I am trying to build it with a purpose and not just purely all performance (i.e. not a track bike); I want to throw some T-Sport bags and travel on mine as well.
As for front ends, I was considering the following (again, I don't have a lot of riding experience yet and have made all of my deductions based upon research and general physics, so take it for what it's worth!):
Are you still enjoying your RWD RS-1? I think I read one of your posts talking about getting the Trac Dynamics swingarm, did you get it yet? Enjoying it? Speed Merchant is making one as well I think.
Cheers
Hey man, I just stumbled upon your post and I am in the same boat as you, unless you have decided what front end to go with seeing as this post is from last summer? And in that case, what did you go with?
I just read your post about the RWD RS-1 Rear shock and am glad you enjoy it; I am about to order the same shock. I have been looking at everything and anything regarding front and rear suspension as I have found them to be wanting on this bike. I was going to do OHLINs or RACE TECH, but it seems everyone is loving RWD and is great quality/well priced in my opinion. I come from a sport bike history as well, albeit small (only have been riding for 3 years now). That being said a performance minded, a Club Style HD is what I am chasing as well. That being said, I am trying to build it with a purpose and not just purely all performance (i.e. not a track bike); I want to throw some T-Sport bags and travel on mine as well.
As for front ends, I was considering the following (again, I don't have a lot of riding experience yet and have made all of my deductions based upon research and general physics, so take it for what it's worth!):
- Complete OHLINS front end from Big Bear, RACE TECH or KRAUS - super nice and super expensive, but as a kit it comes with everything you need to mount the radial brakes, all the lines, etc. I think this would be the way to go if I was building a Harley for the track (like Tony Solima, rad dude, check him out on IG, Shred Moto Co.). I just can't justify the price for ripping the twisties or touring on the bike.
- Stock Trees, +2" over tubes, Alloy Art 49mm Fork Lowers, Drop in Cartridges
- Trees - there are a couple companies making 49mm triple trees for our bike (Speed Merchant) and some that are saying you can apply the ones they made for the Dyna to ours (KRAUS). This is great but they could not tell me what it would do to the rake and trail; if I am going to swap trees, I want to know what it is doing to the front end geometry of my bike - full stop. I will wait and see what comes out in the future, but for now GPR just released a stabilizer for our bike with stock trees (no drilling, or frame cutting) and the 30 degrees of rake seems quite good so far; I was looking to achieve 28 degrees like the new FXLRS but will wait for now.
- Tubes - same with tubes, lots of companies making them now. I was looking at Top Line Tubes, Diamond Lane Cycle, or Pro One as they seem to be the most reputable ones I could find. I want to do +2" over tubes to get more travel and lean angle out of the bike - I will also be honest and say that I have a bias for this look of bike. What I have been told with this style of bike is that more travel is good travel. With raising the front and the rear (RWD-RS1) I think this will raise the centre of gravity of the bike to make it a bit more flickable, especially sticking with the stock tire size. I think about how a Super Moto bike is tall and takes less effort to dip into corners - no experience with super motos, but I know my YZF R6 is considered a bit taller for sport bikes and widely and I like feeling a bit higher up - I know, totally different bike, totally different seating position, but just trying to connect the dots in my head with some anecdotal evidence. One shop warned me against +2" over tubes as they said it would make the bike unstable and that I would NEED a GPR stabilizer and fork brace to account for the extra torsion in the forks seeing as they will provide a longer moment arm for rider input to cause flex when cornering. Other shops I questioned about this said not at all and +2 is good to go, your suspension just needs to be dialed in - but same thing with stock length tubes anyways. In my opinion stabilizers and fork braces are used by some people as a bandaid for worn neck/wheel bearings or incorrectly tuned suspension. Bottom line is lots of people do +2 with no issues, so I am confident it will be just fine. Also I have been told that getting the longer tubes and the +2" springs/cartridges is better than just longer stanchions/dampers.
- Fork Lowers - a couple companies like KRAUS and Speed Merchant make radial mount brackets for front brakes on HD's for bikes. This is nice if you already have a dual axial brake set up like a FXDL, but for us we are stuck with one brake. Given the weight of these bikes and the direct correlation in performance married between braking and suspension, I was going to maintain the 49mm front end setup but swap the OEM lowers with the Next Gen 49mm Fork Lowers from Alloy Art USA. I think dual disc brakes are a must on these things, especially when do future engine work - brakes and suspension first, right? These things are both beautiful and very functional but they do have high price tag as well but, cheaper than a complete USD fork set-up. For my vision for the bike, I want to maintain the traditional fork setup with black DLC coated forks but I want the dual disc brake setup, so these will be my choice.
- Drop In Cartridges - ok, now here we enter another hotly marketed aspect in the performance HD scene... I think next to bar risers, seats, exhausts and moto pegs, drop in suspension cartridges is definitely another category filled with lots of hype and people trying to take advantage of the surge in this scene. Yes, I am new to this scene as well, but from what I can gather listening to podcasts (definitely check out The Fast Life Garage Podcast with Jayce (rad painter too) and Shooting the **** with Steve from Speed Kings (rad site)) and talking to shops there is a lot of hype. Having never ridden any of these systems, I can only base my opinion on those of others, what I am seeing used the most and just my intuition. To be honest, I still undecided here, and we can may be talk more about stuff we have heard in a private messenger as I don't want to talk bad about any brands here: 1. I don't want to talk **** about people in general because they are trying to make the best product and 2. I am NOT a suspension expert, nor have I tried any of the products yet. I only think those who have tried the products or are a suspension expert can really give an unbiased opinion. But, I will say that I have closed in down to a few brands: RWD 49mm cartridge system, GP Suspension 25mm cartridges; I see these endorsed the most by some of trustworthy shops out there. Big Bear makes a 30mm OHLINs from an inverted front end fit in 49mm forks by machining a piece, but I haven't been able to find any reviews on them. I looked at LEGENDS, but I am not sold on their product because I heard that the company transferred from making air bagged suspension for big wheel baggers one day and then were marketing themselves as performance suspension very quickly when the industry went that way. But maybe they are good? Their marketing is great by giving their product to a bunch of stunt riders to endorse.
Are you still enjoying your RWD RS-1? I think I read one of your posts talking about getting the Trac Dynamics swingarm, did you get it yet? Enjoying it? Speed Merchant is making one as well I think.
Cheers
Club Member
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 10,734
Likes: 3,755
From: SWFL
No one has any advice? Do you guys know who I should reach out to?
I think if I asked what color grips to get I'd probably have five page thread to look at now. No one other than me has contemplated what to do to address the limitations of our bike's front suspension?
HELP guys! I don't wan to spend 6k if something like a $700 cartridge and some longer stanchions will get me 80% of the way there.
Or maybe another way to put it- who is making our Softails handle the best?
I think if I asked what color grips to get I'd probably have five page thread to look at now. No one other than me has contemplated what to do to address the limitations of our bike's front suspension?
HELP guys! I don't wan to spend 6k if something like a $700 cartridge and some longer stanchions will get me 80% of the way there.
Or maybe another way to put it- who is making our Softails handle the best?
Last edited by Mchad; Apr 4, 2020 at 07:52 PM.
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