First, a little background. The bike is a 2007 Superglide (FXD) with a factory stage 2 103, and stock mufflers. I bought it used a couple years ago, and really disliked the factory suspension. The front was waaay too soft, and the rear so stiff it was painful. I would literally bounced of the seat when I hit the man bumps on the LA freeways.

First, I added Works triple rate front springs in the front which seemed to help quite a bit. Subsequently, I add the RICOR Intiminators, which made the front even better. Then it got interesting.

I still hated the rear suspension, and bike didn’t really seem to turn in well, and also has limited ground clearance. So bit the bullet and got the Ohlins model PRCLB (model HD215)
http://www.ohlins.com/Our-products/M...ruiser/HD-215/

in the 13 .2’ length (the stock shocks are maybe 12.2 or so). These babies retail for $1450 a set, but Hardracing was having a sale, so they were less than that. Raising the rear with a quality shock made a huge difference. These have adjustable everything, which really helped. Now I could ride on the bumpy freeways without being bounced off the seat.

However, with the addition of such nice rear shocks, the front end seemed lacking somehow. Difficult to describe, but somehow loose and/or imprecise. I actually posted this observation on a couple threads re: the front Ricor Intiminators.

Then a series of events happened:
1.Mud posted a very interesting thread on this forum re: his experience with the same Ohlins I have versus Ricor’s new rear shocks. https://www.hdforums.com/forum/dyna-...6-shocked.html

2.A very good friend with a Road Glide bought new Ohlin shocks from a vendor on this forum. After quite a bit of changes, they worked good…until he tried the Ricors. He sold the Ohlins! His post is here https://www.hdforums.com/forum/touri...omparison.html

3. Bryan at Ricor read my post re: my observation that with the Ohlin rear shocks the front end seemed deficient. He e mailed me offered to help trouble shoot, if I was interested.
Ricor is in Henderson, just outside Las Vegas…I am in Los Angeles, so a road trip was in order. My buddy Marc was planning on trying their rear shocks, so we rode tother.

I arrived week on a Thurday morning, a couple weeks ago. First thing, Brian rode the Dyna, and agreed the front end was “wrong”. Then he asked if, after we fixed the front end, would I be interested in trying a set of their new rear shocks. Duh!

So, we pulled the front apart, and checked out the internals. Brian suggested two changes, one was with the Intiminators, which I can’t explain, the other was with the springs. He wasn’t a real big fan of Works triple rates, and had a set of Race Tech springs which we used instead. After the reassembly Brian rode it, and we concluded it was “much” better. The looseness and/or vagueness was gone. Now, he thought the rear might be deficient.
First, he spent time checking and adjusting all the settings on the Ohlins. This did help some, my settings were close, but not surprisingly, his were better. I was pretty impressed than since he wanted me to try his shocks, he would first try to make sure the Ohlins were as good as they could be.
I had seen pictures of the prototype Ricor rear shocks in Mud’s thread. OK, but not great looking, at least in my view. The one’s I tried were much better looking, actually beautiful…I have attached a couple pics.

I didn’t ride the bike much while at their shop. Time was short and I am not an expert. However, I rode a couple hundred miles last weekend in the Malibu canyons, riding 50 miles over some of LA’s worst freeways to get there. Overall, the bike is way better, all the loosenes in the front end gone, the rear feels even better than before. Plush, yet firm. Planted, precise. My FXD now rides great. Both on the super crappy hugely bumpy LA freeways, as well as the backroad twisties.

Are the Ricors better than the Ohlins? Tough for an amateur like me to say, however, I currently have no plans to put the Ohlins back on. Plus, the Ohlins retail for $1450 a set! I think after a couple months, I will try the Ohlins again, and then decide. I have a strong suspicion I will have some Ohlin’s for sale.

greg

 

Greg,

There is no substitute for custom built shocks fitted by the maker! It doesn't - cannot - get any better. What you have described is much the same as tuning the motor. We can all fit the 'best' parts, but an expert will fit them better. Look forward to your impressions as the miles roll by.

 

I got to see a set of Ricor's this weekend. I was impressed from what the last ones looked like and these. Can't wait for Mud's opinion on how these work...

 

One thing I have observed on here is Ricor goes the extra mile to really get the rider dialed in - I am very unhappy with my stock suspension, and once i have some coin in my pocket for this, Id like to see what they can do for sure!
Glad to hear your dialed in.

 

Mud's initial thread is what got me thinking. I am 61, and although I ride primarily in the twisties, Mud rides a lot harder than I. Plus, he is far more eloquent than I re: describing his opinions.

Anyway, I think Ricor has a couple of real winners here, both in their front Intiminators, and now their rear shocks. Their inertia valve system really makes a difference.

 

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Damn Greg. I didn't know you were such an old fart.

I'm a lot younger fart.

Just turned 60, so I've already lived almost half my life...............

As for being ilickkunt,
yours is a damn nicely written posting.
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I'm with you on this one Greg.

I rode on factory stock HD suspension for 45 years before upgrading
to the same Ohlins you picture above.

The 0s work great.

But, they don't do anything better for me than the Ricors.

I rode the Ricor Research Shocks for two months or so,
7-800 miles in the Texas Hill Country.
Some, very challenging.

Excellent.

Then I put my Ohlins back on for 2-300 miles, to refresh my memory.
Again, on the same Hill Country Roads.

Took the Os off and installed the Production Ricors in the pix below.
13 1/2" eye to eye with a 3 1/2" stroke.

Extremely satisfied with the performance. I couldn't ask for more.

and yessir, the final production shock is way nicer looking than the Research tooling.
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You guys need to stop this. I don't have a job and can't afford a set of those shocks. I'd really like a set.

To the OP, I'm sure you could recoup some of the money spent on the ohlins. I'd think if you're more than happy with the performance of your bike now.....why fix it (by reinstalling the ohlins) if it ain't broke?? Especially after having Brian@Ricor set it up for you. Just sayin...

 

SCL, you are right...and if it wasn't so easy to do I wouldn't bother. My thought is to wait until the "Crest" is reopened (Angeles Crest Highway, a 60 mile stretch going from Los Angeles to my cabim in the mountains...elevations to 7900', no stop signs/lights) just to give it a final go. Hopefully the weather in the mountains will cooperate soon.

greg

 

Those Ricors look real nice.

I recently purchased a set of the Ohlins HD 219 (S36PR1C1LB), for well under retail, but still expensive. (Don't know what the Ricors are selling for). Plan on installing them this weekend. Hoping for a big step up from the Progressive 440's which I've had on the bike for the past 8 or so years, which were a nice improvement over stock.

It's good to read how they compare to the Ricors from those who have ridden both and taken the time to swap back and forth to compare.

 

BD, I think you will be very happy with the 219s. I think they are the same shocks I have, only 12.0" versus 13.2. I wanted the extra stroke, ground clearance and reduced trail. I have tried the Progressive 440s twice, and for me, after the placebo affect, they weren't that much better than stock. The Ohlin's should be a much bigger jump. Post what you think after you get them.

I believe Ricor is selling their rear Dyna shocks at an intro price of $630/set (per their web site). Although the Ohlin's list for $1450/set, I got mine at from HardRacing for $980/set, maybe a year ago.

What's nice about the Ricors is they have a 30 day money back guarantee. A lot of vendors "guarantee satisfaction" but often that does NOT include an actual refund. Potentially a big issue.