Man I don't know where you guys are riding but if you are looking NOT to feel the road, sooner or later you will feel it and you wont be on your bike. I have ridden ironhead sportsters (60's) era, Shovelheads (70's) era and those bikes would jolt you all day but you knew what was under you. The 03 RKC I have now has air shocks and they work fine. Coupled with an air ride police seat, I feel enough of the road to be able to know what and were I am. Anything else is dangerous. I mean come on, are you guys racing these touring bikes or just going for a nice toot. I'm surprised HD doesn't offer the snowflake option. (a hot coco cup holder and warm seats) Come on guys these are Harleys or were. By the way, I'm no spring chicken, I'm going to be 60 years old in a couple weeks just saying.

randy

 

I ran the 13" H-D hand adjustables on my FLHTK with good success until about 27,000 miles, at which point their performance began to degrade. At 28,000 I replaced them with a set of Ohlins shocks. The Ohlins are much better than the 13" H-D hand adjustables were when new.

 

Don't think there's a fussing to not feel the road, just a fussing over how poorly the stock suspension generally works. Harley's are bloody expensive bikes, they shouldn't ride like a cheap bicycle.

 

..and seat... and tires.... and brakes.

 

Randy, you plainly haven't ridden a well set-up Harley! This discussion has nothing to do with not feeling the road, but everything to do with improving ride quality and comfort. I've been riding at least as long as you and can assure you that modern suspension is just great!

 

I'll agree with Mr Brown's post, and would guess that Randy ' s satisfaction comes from his seat, not his suspension!

 

You could be right fellas, but I'm coming from iron and shovelheads so the 03 is as soft as I want. I have a buddy that has a 2010 ultra classic and its a nice ride but boring. soft and manageable, but doesn't feel like the Harleys I like. To each his own, but what I said is the day you no longer feel what's under you is the day you will meet it. And I can ride all day just fine on the 03 with all that garbage Harley suspension.

randy

 

I agree with you, it does seam wired to adjust just one shock.

Let's say your bike has 6" of travel, with no load on it. Then you sit on it and it sags 2" - perfect. Then you add a passenger and it sags another 2" - bad. You now need to raise the bike back up to the point where you again have 2" of sag and 4" of travel. You can do this with just one shock. The whole point of setting sag or pre-load is to get the suspension at the correct height/sag so the shocks have the correct amount of travel left. If you can accomplish that with just one shock, the suspension will have the correct amount of travel and work as designed.

Now having said that, I would still rather be able to adjust all the shocks.

 

Compliant, predictable, adjustable does not mean soft. To the contrary. Better road feel is part of the reason to upgrade suspension. Along with better handling, increased lean angle (maybe you never scrape floorboards), reduced and controlled brake dive with front suspension upgrades. Suspension upgrades make for a better and safer ride. One the passenger notices and also appreciates.

 

Well said Kuma.

randy