long story short. i sold my bikes because of back troubles and dealt without it. rough life. bought another bike....
18 street bob. its only adjustable with preload. i have it set at 1 tried other levels.
its such a rough ride, my spine wont allow me to enjoy riding.

for those of you with such issues. what is the solution? i dont need racing shocks, wheelie shocks. 2 up 300lb+ shocks.
i'm 155lbs after breakfast. do i upgrade to the other OEM shocks with the resevoir thing?

thanx. i just want the joy of riding bikes again.

 

I just swapped the original shock from my LRS to the HD Tall shock, and it dramatically improved the ride comfort. Now, it's not night and day different immediately when bopping around town at 25 mph, but over 100 miles I noticed my butt didn't hurt, my back didn't hurt like it sometimes does after traveling rough country roads, etc... It also helped the handling.

If you were to invest in a high quality aftermarket shock like Fox ($700), or Legends/Ohlins ($1000+) I'm sure you'd be able to find something dramatically more comfortable and tunable than OEM offers.


Would you ever consider a touring bike?

 

2 Things.
1. Get a set of bars and risers that pulls you a bit forward when riding and straightens your back. This helps a lot with back pain.
2. I'm 131lbs, and I went with the Screamin Eagle Ohlins monoshock. It has Preload, Compression and Rebound Adjustment. This means you can dial in the shock for comfort. I have not had issues with it slamming into my back. Hyper Pro also makes a shock with full adjustment with compression low and high speed and can be made with a linear shock to your weight. If you need to be able to tune for comfort, The SE or Hyperpro may be your best shot.
Oh and a third.
3. Consider getting a kneeling chair. I have a 100$ kneeling chair for my desk at home, and it's legitimately saved my back. I had a back injury that put me bedridden for a few months, and could not figure out what was causing it and so much pain. I turned out to be the office chairs that are straining to peoples backs.
Kneeling chair gave me my back health back.

 

i almost bought a road glide but i couldn't justify the extra expense and i don't ride long distances.
il buy one of those fancy shocks.

 

Back support ( aka Kidney) belt can`t hurt and they`re cheap

 

I can empathize, I shattered my spine a few years ago and when I could ride again, I found every jolt and bump painful.

You've already done what you can with what you've got, spinning the preload to its lightest setting.

Problem is the Street Bob only has about 3.5" of suspension travel. Doesn't take a huge bump to use all that up. My Fat Bob has 4.7" of travel, which isn't a ton but it's better than 3.5 (and way better than the touring bikes' 2"). So you could pick up some suspension travel by using a longer shock, but that will also raise the seat height, so if you have short legs you'll want to balance those factors.

Obvious suggestion so probably doesn't need to be made, but if you see a bump coming, stand on the pegs a bit. Your knees are fantastic road bump shock absorbers. Especially because you have a Street Bob with (I presume) mid controls.

Finally, you might want to consider something like a spring seat or a Hammock seat, both basically provide their own suspension so they may protect you from bumps that might otherwise jar you.

Good luck!

 

What will make a very considerable difference regardless of which shock you get, is getting it set up for you, that is for you weight, your requirements and type of riding. This will give you the best performance out of any shock, regardless of cost!
If you buy and expensive shock off the shelf such as an Ohlins and it is not set up for you it may well not be much of an improvement, where as if you go to a specialist suspension supplier/installer, they will get all your requirements, get the best rated spring for you and set the damping, pre-load and sag to best suite your needs, taking all the guess work or trial and error out and most likely be able to suggest a range of different shocks to suite your needs.
Basically what this means is you will have the suspension set to give you the best travel and damping for your riding.

 

Exercise routine that works your core and lower back can help most people. But degrees of success will vary from person to person.

 

A few ruminations,

The longer the suspension travel, the softer you can have it be, without it bottoming out. So if your legs can handle the height increase, I'd go with as long as possible a travel.

A darn good shock and spring assembly, that lets you dial in the plush ride quality you need, with enough progressive damping to keep the jolts away, is probably one of the best things you could buy. Front and rear. Won't be cheap, but probably the best money you can spend.

Preload and setting sag are the same thing, just a way of making sure you're riding in the range between bottoming out, and topping out. Make sure you're there far away from bottoming or topping out.

A darn good seat, that helps you to not only feel comfortable but helps hold you in a good ergonomic position. Maybe the Harley Sundowner would be good enough, or maybe you need to have Russell build you one, or maybe work with a local seat builder.

Get your handgrips where they will best orient your back. I'm going with Helibars myself in this latest pursuit, but there are other ways. This is a tricky and non-intuitive chase. Straight up and comfortable in the driveway often leads to slouching while riding. Stretched forward and down a little, ala old BMW posture, isn't often comfortable feeling, but hours later you still don't hurt.

 

I found the ride on my 18 Heritage harsh as well. The biggest culprit was the rear swing arm pivot bolt was overtightened which restricted the free movement of the swing arm. I backed it off and retorqued to the minimum 154 ft lbs.

Still found the high speed dampening circuit didn't provide the plush ride I need. Went with the SE Ohlins rear which made a very noticeable difference.