I hate posting questions, especially shocks but here goes. My 17 Road Glide has bottomed out the front shocks at least twice now and dimpled my wrapper front fender. A few thousand miles ago during service I had a heavier shock oil put in so looks like I am gonna have to spend some money on front suspension. I also have a 21" front wheel raising the front end an inch from the stock 19" so lowering would be a consideration. Any help appreciated.

 

Would a little more oil volume help?

 

I would seriously look at Ohlins front end cartridges. They can be adjusted so the bottoming out would stop. I don't know if the are available for touring bikes yet but some models they have can be adjusted by the rider with a couple of wrenches. You could ask Howard of motorcycle metal what he thinks.
I just installed Ohlins on the back of my Roady and am very impressed with their performance and they also helped the feel from the front tubes. I am going to change out my front suspension out maybe this summer but for now I'm happy.

 

dyna rider is correct in as much as the FKC 102 can and should be re-Valved before you receive it from whom-ever you purchase it from. The compression side needs to be "Fattened Up" some as the Europeans do not seem to have enough bulk unless you look at so the payload as the Americans, they are less.

 

 

 

maybe just try changing to 20w oil first

 

yep..i run a mixture of 15/20w and have had no issues and I've hit some rim bending bumps.

 

Howard contacted me and I will be reaching out to him. Can't argue with so much positive testimony and zero negative that I have read here,

 

This is what I said. Using stock forks which you have, you have 29 inches/ 736.6 mm from the top of the triple tree to the center line of the axle. The tubes are flush with the top of the triple tree with only the caps extending beyond the top of the upper triple tree. This is with the motorcycle jacked up with the front wheel off the ground.

Shorten the front forks mentally by removing the fork springs (in your mind) and stroke will be 4.6" and you still need the 1/2" clearance for the beer can bolts (see picture).

Put 1/2" hose on top of tire and place your fender on top (remove the fender bracket bolts from the sliders to allow your fender to go down in position.

With your wheel on the hang, measure 4.6" from top of fender to bottom of the lowest thing. If your measurement hits something (4.6") than your fender will get creased again in bottom out.