Originally Posted by 1004ron

Your review has me looking at installing the 422's or 422 RAP's.

I ordered the monotubes and installed them this afternoon - the dive on applying the front brake most certainly appears better - I feel it's a fair improvement all round, but haven't used it long enough to give an honest review.

Progressive Suspension 31-2503 Monotube Fork Cartridge Stock Height Kit for FXST $158.42

Originally Posted by Bluraven

Since I'm no longer debating whether or not to pull the trigger on the 422 RAPs for my 09 Heritage, I thought I would start a thread on my review of them.

On Saturday I found that jcmotors.com had them on sale and as a first time buyer, you get 10% off your first order and free shipping.

With the sale, my total cost was $500.84 delivered.
Now how could I pass that up?

Not only was the price the lowest I've seen, but I got them delivered in three days.

I went with the heavy duty model due to my primary desire is to better the ride while 2-up.
I've always felt the stock ride solo was acceptable.

After I figured out how to read, it took me around an hour to swap my stock shocks out with the 422s.

The instructions were rather straight forward and the swap rather easy.
I can't think of any need to explain how to install these. If someone has problems installing these 422 RAPs then you probably should pay someone to install them for you. That's not to say I didn't scratch my head a few times and I did leave a little knuckle DNA on the garage floor.

With the 422 RAPs you can set your ride height from stock to 2" lower.
I read somewhere online that you get the best range of dampering if you keep the ride at stock height.
Seeing that I already scrape my boards at stock height I don't have a desire to lower it anyway so I set the ride height at stock.

There is a pre-load calculation that you can do, but my Wife is at work and we both need to be on the bike while someone else takes a reading, so I decided to just jump in and play with it.

As for the pre-load, from the least amount to the most I measured about 80 twist of my wrist on the adjustment **** which I figure is about 30 or so complete turns of the adjustment ****.

There's a road nearby that is by far one of the worst roads around so I decided that is the road to test run on.

I started out with 0 turns of the adjustment **** (minimum pre-load) and the ride felt like it was bottoming out.
I then turned the adjustment **** the maximum turns (max. pre-load) and it felt like I was riding on a board, pretty stiff. (of course I'm solo at 240 .lbs.

I then went half way or about 15 complete turns of the **** and that's where I figured the stock suspension is about, however I did notice that the "bumps" didn't feel quite as sharp as with the stock shocks so there is still some dampering.

I then adjusted the preload to about 10 complete turns of the **** or about 30% preload and I have to say the ride is absolutely better than with the stock shocks.
It's not like I'm riding on a cloud, I can still feel the bumps however there is certainly a much noticeable less jarring ride.

I then took the bike on the highway and the ride was a dream.
Again I can still feel the bumps but they are definitely less pronounced.

I've still got some more test riding to do and of course my Wife will be the best judge of the ride, however my initial feelings are that at $500 for me I made the right choice.

I'll be heading to the Black Hills in a couple of weeks for a pre-Sturgis vacation and will update my thread when I return.

Originally Posted by Dieselvol

Great write up, Bluraven. Thanks for doing it. I'm getting close to pulling the trigger on the 422 RAP myself. I have a few questions about the RAP bracket. What does it bolt on to? Are the any limitations as to what sort of add ons you can have and still bolt this on? For example, I have the passenger foot boards, and you'd be amazed at how that has limited my options for further upgrades. Any other issues with install that you encountered? Thanks.

Originally Posted by Bluraven

After about 3000 miles on the 422 RAPs, I'm still happy with the upgrade.

I will say these are not a gift from the softail gods.
They do enhance the ride, but they do not make the ride as soft as a pillow.

As Prw3 commented, not everyone is happy with them.
I appreciate Prw3's opinion because there's not many opinions out there concerning the 422 RAPs either good or bad.

As stated though I'm happy with them and I would buy them again.

Now on to your questions.

The bracket bolts to the inside of the upper left side passenger foot board bolt.
If I recall it comes with a longer replacement bolt.

As you can see from the attached picture, I too have passenger foot boards and it doesn't impact them.

As for installation issues; just read the instructions and dive right in.
After I read through the instructions and figured out how to mount the RAP and route the braided line, it only took me about an hour to install.

I did turn the adjustment **** all the way to it's lightest setting and put a white paint mark at the 12 o'clock position so I could more easily know how many turns I rotated the ****.

If you look closely at the attached picture you will see the white fixed mark that doesn't rotate with the ****.

You might want to try my adjustment as an initial setting;
1- up at 235 .lbs I turn the **** 2.5 complete turns.
2-up at 365 .lbs I turn the **** 4 complete turns.

Of course you will need to tweak it a bit until you find your sweat spot.

Good luck.

Originally Posted by Dieselvol

Still not wanting to bite off the $1250 for the air system, but Prw3 does seem to have a lot of not-so-positive experience with the 422s...