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You should have ridden one with the old air shocks. Harley should be embarrassed they put those on a $25000 motorcycle. I recently switched to Ohlins... What a difference!
I did ride one with air shocks which was part of the reason I went with the 2017. M8 not withstanding.
Everyone says don't lower your bike but I went I inch lower front and rear on my "10RK with Ohlins in the rear and Axeo's in the front and the ride is superb compared to the stock height Harley setup.
I found the same with the premium hand adjustable at 160lbs no matter how I adjusted them they were HARSH and I ended up with a JNR air ride.. SOOOOO comfortable now
ALSO I know some people don't like the HD air shocks but honestly I never had a comfort of ride issue with them..
My partial but good solution was to switch my 19 in. Enforcer wheel to the 17 in. Impellar Contrast Chrome wheel which is stock on the Ultra. It made a huge difference in the ride. That low profile tire may handle a bit better, but the better ride is what was more important to me.
I switched from air shocks to Premium ride and love them. Only paid $225. Never
bottomed out, have the 12" and 1" lower blocks. I would never pay $900 for ohlins or what ever.
I'm about 225 and my wife is a buck ten so we're not large by Harley touring standards. I've always been happy (and, more importantly, so has she) with my air shocks on my '11 RKC set at 40 lbs. We rented a 2017 when we were in Texas and I did not like the suspension. It bottomed out a couple times over relatively small dips in the Hill Country. In fact, when I took the bike back to the dealer I told him that I thought they should have set it up for 2-up riding since my wife was with me and he said that they had! If that's the new shocks, I'll keep what I have, thanks.
I switched from air shocks to Premium ride and love them. Only paid $225. Never
bottomed out, have the 12" and 1" lower blocks. I would never pay $900 for ohlins or what ever.
And you don't have to. The price quotes like this breed mis-information. Do they offer shocks in that range? Absolulty. Do they offer much more affordable options? Absolutly.
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