A month ago, I swapped the stock springs on my Low Rider with heavier rate Racetech springs setup for my weight. It made a huge improvement in both comfort and handling, as I feel like the stock Showa DBV dampening internals are pretty good.

Before I bought this 2019 Road King S, I had a 2015 Road King for which I bought racetech springs and emulators, that I never used. Racetech says they haven’t tested their emulators with the new forks yet, so I’m not going to try them. But I have the heavier springs setup for the RK which I expect will make a similar improvement on my RKS, as I got on the Softail.

I had no problem swapping the springs on the Softail, literally took and hour including measuring and cutting new preload spacers. However the RKS is a little more involved, nacelle, headlight and handlebar removal and all, so it’ll take a lot more time. Since it’s going to be high 90’s for the foreseeable future here, there’s no way I’m going to roast in a 100deg enclosed underground garage (I live in an apartment building in a city) for the 2-3 hours it’s going to take me.

My dealer quoted me 2.5hrs to swap the springs. So I’m just going to pay the ~$300 and let them do it.

Hopefully I’ll post happy news once I get it done.

 

You can remove the fork springs without removing the bars and headlamp nacelle. A cut down allen wrench will fit up and into the nacelle and allow you to loosen the top pinch bolt to drop the forks down without removing everything above it.

I did a similar swap with my '18 RK Police -- heavier springs, lighter oil, and I'm satisfied with the ride. The DBV damping is not as good as a true cartridge setup, but for $100 for a pair of springs and $20 for oil it can be made pretty good.

The stock springs HD puts in the touring line are soft and short -- a really long spacer above the springs offering not a whole lot of preload. A real set of springs make a pretty big difference.

 

Thanks. What oil did you use? On my Softail I used BelRay 10w oil, which I believe is slightly heavier then stock HD type F oil, which I think I read was about 7wt?

 

I used Bel Ray 5W fork oil. If I was to do it again, I'd use Bel Ray 7W. I wouldn't go any heavier than 7W.

 

Thanks. In that case, I may just leave the HD fluid in there. It's less then 10w in any case, and the bike only has about 3k miles on it so far so no real reason to change the fluid 17k miles early if i'm not changing viscosity I think. I wanted to tighten up the dampening of the Softail a bit so the 10w is good there, but I don't want to make the King too rough.

 

Not to twist your arm too much, you obviously can do what you think is best....but, when I did mine at 2,000 miles the oil was plenty dirty. You have to pull the forks anyway, it's not much more to drain the forks and put in fresh oil. At least you know it's new and Race Tech may instruct you to use a different oil level.

If it's me, I'd replace the oil just to know it's new and to know that I set the level and the level was right. Oil level will affect the damping and Race Tech likely has a specified level they recommend you run.

 

Good point, thanks.

 

Looking forward to your results. When Ward was modifying emulator valves, I installed those and Race Tech springs on my ‘10 King at the same time and the ride was improved substantially. Handling and feedback, along with less dive on hard stops sold me. Not sure when, but future mods are being researched. I had Legends in mind, but the springs and valves are waayyy cheaper.

 

Yeah, I wish their emulators worked with the new Showa DBV forks, but the new internals are a big improvement over the traditional damper tube forks so I don’t miss them on my Softail. Hoping for the same results on my Road King. Can’t see why it won’t be!

 

The stock m8 RKs have springs that are about 0.66 kg/mm and something like 2 3/4" (70mm) preload. What's your weight and which springs are you planning on using?

I'm about 185 currently running 5wt spectro/Stock Springs/ about 2.3 inches of preload in a 17RK. RT recommends 1.04-1.05 kg/mm which seems kind of stiff with the DBV stuff. I really don't bottom the current setup but can. I've been thinking about going a little heavier on the springs but think that 1.0 - 1.1 might be a little stiff. The DBV stuff has enough damping that I suspect less spring is needed.