Hey all, was interested in replacing my stock shocks on my street bob with the black progressive ones......Question, is it difficult to take off the shocks? And secondly for those who have the progressive shocks can you tell much of a difference in the ride? Also was going to pull off the rear fender struts to have powdercoated, anyone have any luck with replacing these parts? Thanks for the help.

 

I replaced mine last weekend. Took about 30 minutes. I went out and bought a new motorcycle jack so I most of my time was spent lining the stupid thing up correctly under the bike.

 

Did you buy progressive shocks?, and if so how do you like the ride?

 

Swapped by crappy stock shocks out for the black heavy duty 11" Progressive 412s and their front springs last summer - HUGE positive difference, a lot stiffer (ok by me but perhaps not for everyone as you really feel every bump), really planted in corners now and much more controllable. With the stock suspension I always felt I had to adjust to what the bike wanted to do in corners, now it goes where I want it to! One of the best performance mods you can do IMHO next to stage 1 upgrade w/a fuel management system, and a Lyndall brake pad upgrade.

 

They're easy to replace and you can do it on the kstand. One side at a time. Ride improves. I only weigh 160lbs so their standard shocks work great for me.

 

I found it ncessary to tighten up the stockers and that alone made a big difference. I was touching the lower pipe down in twisties. Chipstah...would you say there's another big jump going to the Progressives? (I'm assuming you experimented with settings on the stockers first, but maybe you wanted a lower shock and didn't.)

Something else I'm wondering: did you have the fork brace before or after adding the front springs? That's a mod I've been thinking about to address the wobble I get sometimes when on fast sweepers when the road has some irregularities. Guess I'm curious about difference with just fork brace versus fork brace plus springs.

 

Actually you are correct - didn't experiment too much as I planned to go to the lower 11" Progressives from the git go - always planned on lowering the stance. And did the SE fork brace at the same time as shocks and springs (and powder coated the fork slides all at once to save time), so hard to tell which contributed the most or in what way. Figured by removing front fender, a little more fork bracing would be a good thing. All I really know is that the combination of shocks, springs and brace really did make a huge difference. I'm sure the stock shocks can be tweaked to some degree, and if it works for you, all the better.

 

Cool...thanks for the info.

 

I have noticed that the bike seems to ride a little better after putting the shocks on. The stock shocks were a little "squirrelly" when I would hit corners hard. The Progressive shocks are definately stiffer but the bike seems to stick to the road better.

The only drawback that I have seen so far is that I have scraped my pipes a couple of times when I turn right. I guess I will have to slow down a little. NOT!

Maybe I will get shorter pipes.

 

It would be best to do strut covers and shocks at the same time, if possible. When removing the shocks you're part way to removing thecovers. Plus, if you were thinking about any rear turn signal changes, it would also be the right time for that as well, for the same reasons. I plan on doing the strut covers and shocks myself this winter. Once you go black...