I called up Howard at Motorcyclemetal to get his ideas on shocks for my 2007 FXD. Most of my riding is solo on the weekends in the mountains near Denver. I don’t commute on the bike and try to stay away from long highway rides. I also let Howard know I wasn’t rich. Howard suggested the JRI “B” shocks. They are the 13” single tube, emulsified, shocks with a single sweep valve. I gave Howard my weight with gear (310lbs, which didn’t help the poor stock shocks). The shocks came to the house just 3 days after paying the invoice (a broken doorbell meant I didn’t get them until the following Monday at the UPS terminal).

It took me the better part of a week to install them. Other time issues kept me from working on it steady but it’s a pretty simple job. I had to arrange for a helper for the measuring process, which was another scheduling delay. The timing issue was why I installed the shocks without calling Howard to guide me through the process. The big caliper from Harbor Freight made measuring the sag pretty easy.

I jacked up the bike, off with the old shocks on with the new. I took a little time to get the spacers right to make sure the shocks were parallel. I have the HD detachable bags which replace the upper shock mount with a slightly wider mount, which meant more spacing on the bottom as well. My helper and I got measurements with the bike on the jack with the wheels off the ground (measurement A) and the measurement with the bike upright on the ground with me in gear and feet on the forward controls (measurement B). Howards site list the JRI “B” as having 3.71” stroke (94mm). I set the sag at 1/3 of that (31mm). To finish the initial setup I set the sweep valve in the middle (about 22 clicks in, I think I counted 45 total). The shocks make the back of the bike sit up a bit more when unloaded. I didn’t measure it before so I can only eyeball it.

The first test ride was down Colfax through downtown. Over some of the rougher patches I noticed bumps that really worked up the front end seemed to go away before the back wheel hit them. On slow speed curves (like the curves right before the Denver mint) the lack of bouncing makes the bike feel much more stable.

A hundred or so miles, up Squaw Pass, Central City Parkway, and down 119 to Nederland showed the same improvements. The front end’s deficiencies show up even more on higher speed corners. In spots where I might have touched down the pegs before it seems like I wasn’t. The tires were put on a few weeks before and hadn’t been fully scrubbed in. After the ride the front was scrubbed up almost to the edge without much peg scrapping. I swapped out the old factory spec Dunlop’s for Metzler ME 880’s so the profile may be different to but I think I have a little more clearance with the slightly longer shocks.

Since then I’ve got about 1600 miles on the shocks mostly on 2 long weekend rides. The first was up I70 to Vail, through Minturn, Leadville, Keystone, (twice) and down through Buena Vista to Cripple Creek and back up through Woodland Park back to Denver. The second was down to Taos by 285 and around Northern MN for a day and back to Denver for the third day. I haven’t taken the bike for any long off road rides yet with the new shocks. I’m guessing it will be better in the dirt but the Dyna isn’t much of a dirt bike anyway (at least not with me riding it).

So what’s my take on the shocks? The only real downside is that they highlight just how bad the stock front end is. I seemed to notice it the most on higher speed turns, especially when the road was rougher. I have a set of the Gold valves from Racetech ready to go in to help the front end. I guess you could say the price is a downside too but for the improvement in ride and handling they’re worth a fair deal more than Howard charges for them. They are definitely plush for upright riding. They eliminate most (and soften the rest) of bumps in the road. They also give a big boost in confidence when putting the bike into turns. The combination of good valving for damping control coupled with springs that hold my ponderous bulk at the right ride height is really great.

I’m real happy with Howard’s recommendations’, surprised by the quick turnaround, pleased with the value for my money, and totally happy with the ride and performance. Why Harley doesn’t offer a decent suspension at least as an option on the big twins I don’t know (a test ride on the XR1200 proved to me that they can do a good suspension on a Sporty). For those that want a better than factory ride Motorcyclemetal and Howard are the way to go.

 

Good post. Good to hear you are satisfied with the shocks. Great when something actually works out the way we intend for a change!

 

I'm about 500 miles into mine and all I can say us wow what a difference. Howard is the man. Great write up!!

 

That's a nice set of shocks and they WILL drastically improve the ride.

Joe

 

Wow! Great write up. Especially for a first post! Thanks for sharing. One detail you left out... How much did they set you back? Thanks!

 

The best bet for current pricing is to check Howard's site at http://www.motorcyclemetal.com/ . I think Howard usually charges less than the listed MSRP including offering a discount for HDforum members. That's a great way to get longtime lurkers to start posting (like me). I've been looking at a new shock for the other bike I've been riding this year(1998 CBRXX) and The JRI's MSRP seem in line with the Penske's and Ohlin's I've seen. With the discounts Howard gives I think the JRI's are a real good deal. In the case of the Harley JRI's you get Howards professional advice too.

 

A short update for the first post. I did get some dirt time on the JRI's. The stretch of road from CO 24 outside of Lake George that goes to Tarryall Resevoir and then on to Jefferson and 285 (CR 77) is about 24 miles of dirt. The JRI's are way better on my backend on the bumps and potholes. I think there's more control too but I'm not very competent on dirt (especially some of the deep, soft dirt in the construction areas of CR 77). I'd like to blame the Dyna's ability as an enduro but my buddy on a 2006 FXD had no problems except for waiting for me to catch up a few times. I did pass a guy on a dresser (slowly) but he had a passenger and probably stock shocks. My take on The JRI's for the "adventure" bike crowd is they'll be an noticable improvement but they can't turn the Dyna into a R1200GS.

 

Thanks again!

 

Get a set of Ricor Intiminators http://store.ricorshocks.com/product_p/049-20-1001.htmfor your front end. Drop them in under the stock spring and your front end will handle so much better. Also get a Tru Track http://www.true-track.com/tt_products.html if you don't avhe one. Then your handling mods will be complete.

 

I've got the Racetech cartridge emulator for the Dyna. I'll do a write up once I get around to installing it. It looks pretty similar to the Ricor unit. I've rebuilt the cartridges on my CBRXX with the Racetech Gold valves (a write up coming to a Blackbird forum near you soon) and I'm pretty happy with them. Paul Thede's (from Racetech) suspension book (http://racetech.com/page/title/Suspension%20Bible) has been the best suspension upgrade for all of my bikes.

Maybe this should be a new thread but I've had a few Dyna wobbles before (usually in long high speed curves) and I've wondered if the True-Track does a good job of controlling them. The wobble comes from the front end and frame being rubber mounted to the engine/tranny and the swingarm? After the front end rebuild with the cartridge emulators I was hoping to tackle the frame issues next.

Would a fork brace be another must have for a decent suspension?