I've seen a lot said about these shocks from what I assume to be "average"weight riders. Well, I'm not your average size rider, so this may help those of you who are a bit above the norm. I weight 275, at least, that's what I weighed this morning, and ride an 07'1200 Roadster. I took the recomendation from Progessives web site and bought the "Standard Duty" type, chrome. They look really good and are a bit more beefy than the OEM shocks, so they do make the rear look a little different. I wanted the Black ones, but they were out of stock at both of the discount sites I buy from, however, the chrome ones do have quite a bit of black and they do look good.

On the street, I first set the preload to 3, but that felt a bit stiff for my liking, so I dropped it down to 2. I was pretty surprised at how good that felt. I took the bike into an industrial park that is under development, so, being Sunday, I had the place all to myself with lots of different conditions to run through. I did catch the security guards on the way in and told them what I was up to, and they told me to "have at it".The first thing I noticed was thereduction ofrear-end diving on hard acceleration (even on #2), so power was transfered a little better, or at least, that was my perception. Cornering was pretty good and I didn't drag anything that I normally would drag, even when accellerating hard through some pretty steep, flat curves (no banking to the curves), setting 3 was the ticket in the curves. The bike did track a bit better and I cought myself pushing it a little harder than I normally would. There is one stretch that has some pretty good whoopty doos (dips and humps) that I took at varying speeds up to 70 mph. It felt pretty damn good, and I stayed solid in the saddle. I hit every crack, manhole cover, dip and crease in the place that would normally makethe OEM'sbottom out and I never did. I never had to go above the #3 preload setting.

I'm under no delusion that these are premium shocks, but for the money, they are hard to beat. They look good and are much better than OEM. I'm sure I've left something out about these shocks, as it was a busy day of riding and putting them through their paces. Please feel free to ask questions, and I hope I've helped some of the other bigger riders that are thinking of upgrading, but are on a budget.

-Andy

 

glad you like them. I like mine as well. A bit surprised that progressive recommended standard weight shocks at your weight... everything I read on their site said that anyone 230 or over should be using the heavy duty shocks.

oh well, who cares if it works for you, and clearly they do.

I put on 11 inch 412's and I went the opposite way. I got the heavy duty shocks even though I weigh 165. My indie thought they would be better to prevent bottoming out since they are so short. A few folks on this forum also recommended the heavy duty shocks when going with the 11 inchers.. I can't say that I mind the stiffer ride, and I don't think it's all that noticeable. I love em.

I also got the front fork springs as well. Huge difference.

Rob

 

Rob, I just put these 13.5"440 standards on my 2007 1200C, I weight about 185.I have the progressive fork springs comming in a couple of days. How was it changing the fork springs?

 

I'm also interested on where you found the info that standard duty shocks were recommended for 275 lbs. Every thing I have seen says 225 lbs. I never understood why Progressive uses a single weight limit for selecting their shocks. It seems like the shocks should be listed in min & max ratings and that there would be an overlap between the max range on the standards and the min. range on the heavy duties.

 

What's the size of the stock rear suspension on a 1200C- 11"?

 

1200cdriver--- I have no idea how easy or difficult it was to change out the front. I had my indie do both the front and the rear. sorry. Though from what i've heard, it's not rocket science.

3power - i think it's 12inches.. maybe 11.75

cHarley- I couldn't agree more. There should be a min / max, not one set number.

Rob

 

11.75", so I went with the 1200R length.

 

Stock is 11.75" so in Progressive you can use either a 11.5" or 12". Progressive recommends 11.5" but if I had it to do over again I would use the 12" to get a bit more shock travel. Since the shocks are mounted at an angle, the 1/4" longer or shorter from stock makes little difference in the rear end height as measured at the rear axle. Your talking + or - 3/16" in ride height.

 

good info, thanks. I don't want to alter the rake or ride height at all if possible.

 

Thanks for the report, I'm having 412 standard duty 11 1/2 inch installed on my XLN. The rep suggested the extra half inch over standard because I do ride two up maybe 20% of the time. I figure they have to be better than stock!