OK guys thanks alot for the replys, I will check into the Ohlins right away.

Jay

 

If you do some reading on the subject you will find that a couple of respected forum members have actually given up on their Ohlins shocks to install the ones made by Ricor. The reviews of the Ricor vs. Ohlins seem to end with the conclusion that the Ricors do a great job for a lot less money. Must be something to it if a guy spends that much on the Ohlins and still is looking to change his shocks.
Personally I have installed Ricor Intiminators in my front forks and can testify that the IAS technology they use is amazing when compared to the performance of the original forks on our frost heave damaged local back roads here in New England.

 

Spaceblue, I think some of it may also be that people are always looking for that next big thing. I've read numerous threads on ... "had a 2009/10 bla bla...just bought a 2011".

 

Linking

 

Went with Ohlins. Quality and proven durability. Can be rebuilt almost forever. Spendy, but they come dialed in very close to ideal. If you go straight from Showa stockers to Ohlins, you'll think the roads were repaved overnight.

 

Went with full length bagger shocks, 12.75" oal and they work pretty well, reasonably smooth solo & 2 up, do nothing bad (handling wise) and dirt cheap at $71 brand new take offs.

P/N - 54565-09

 

Did they just bolt on ? Have u aired them up ? Did u used to bottem out before and do u now ?

 

Same results here, fitted a pair of OHLINS to my StreetGlide from MotorcycleMETALS, 40 minutes install, built to fit and were perfect out of the box.

As to the ride it's as smooth as silk, no more bottoming out or bouncing. It has a distinct effect on reducing the whole road vibration on the bike improving overall comfort but adds so much more in the handling area. The cost is offset by the rebuild factor, meaning it should be the last pair of shocks you need to buy.

 

Yes, the bolt right on, remove your old shocks and these fit right in their place......you do have to remove the chrome cover on the top mount but they are otherwise a direct replacment. You will need the lines and union which comes in a kit from HD. The shocks I go were
p/n 54565-09 and are 12.75" OAL fully extended, sorry I dont have the number hand for the air line kit right now. I haven't bolted that down just yet as I wasn't sure I would keep them but all seems well so I need to find a home for the union.

I didn't much like the stock coil shocks so I replaced those with a set of those Ultima (china copy) light weight versions (158lb - there are two) of lowering shocks which measured the same 12" as the coils but these seem to have little spring without a bunch of air and not much damping either. The ride was OK but they are way too soft and ride too low - I had nearly 60lbs in them and they would still drag the exhaust bracket making a RH turn from a dead stop. These ride pretty nice, had them as low as 8lbs and as much as 20 (2up) and the ride isn't a whole lot worse solo even with 20lbs still in them. They drag nothing, and as of yet do nothing bad in the handling dept so I give them a thumbs up. Mind you I will probably put Ohlins on next year because I'm sure they are better and because I just plain like Ohlins but for $71 vs. $1500 you cant go wrong even if only in the short term as they are much better than the stock POS shocks.