Suspension setup query
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Tourer
Joined: Jul 2019
Posts: 408
Likes: 103
From: Chesterfield, UK
Ahhh... that's the rub...
A common complaint, after replacing the OEM rear shocks with a quality replacement is, "I now notice how bad the front suspension is...!"
Once you get a good rear shock, the shortcomings of the OEM front suspension design is magnified...
The good news .... there are several ways to upgrade the front suspension that run the gamut of easy & cheap to more complex & expensive.. as suspected, the degree of improvement can increase with the amount of the investment... All are better than OEM, ranging from changing the viscosity of the shock fluid to a front cartridge install...
I put Ohlins on the rear a little over a year ago... I know the front cartridges I want, just haven't been able to save up for them yet... I hate it when life gets in the way of my Harley mods...!!
A common complaint, after replacing the OEM rear shocks with a quality replacement is, "I now notice how bad the front suspension is...!"
Once you get a good rear shock, the shortcomings of the OEM front suspension design is magnified...
The good news .... there are several ways to upgrade the front suspension that run the gamut of easy & cheap to more complex & expensive.. as suspected, the degree of improvement can increase with the amount of the investment... All are better than OEM, ranging from changing the viscosity of the shock fluid to a front cartridge install...
I put Ohlins on the rear a little over a year ago... I know the front cartridges I want, just haven't been able to save up for them yet... I hate it when life gets in the way of my Harley mods...!!
The post above me pretty much nailed it on the head what happened to me with my 03 Bagger many years ago,
As soon as I did the rear shocks, the Showa front suspension showed me what utter crap it was
I resolved the issue with progressive front fork internals.
For my 13 I have a spare set of forks set up with Progressive internals and a set of Bitubo's from @DK Custom Products waiting to be installed as soon as I get back to Florida this fall.
It should not be a surprise to anyone that HD used the cheapest suspension parts they could on the bike, leaving us to address that weakness along with the rest of the penny pinching from the bean counters.
I have people who have ridden both my baggers that will not ride the 13 Ultra Stage 4 after riding my 03 police bike cloned into a FLHTCI,
That is how much better the aftermarket suspension is, and I did not spend a lot of money on it, imagine of I went top shelf!
As soon as I did the rear shocks, the Showa front suspension showed me what utter crap it was
I resolved the issue with progressive front fork internals.
For my 13 I have a spare set of forks set up with Progressive internals and a set of Bitubo's from @DK Custom Products waiting to be installed as soon as I get back to Florida this fall.
It should not be a surprise to anyone that HD used the cheapest suspension parts they could on the bike, leaving us to address that weakness along with the rest of the penny pinching from the bean counters.
I have people who have ridden both my baggers that will not ride the 13 Ultra Stage 4 after riding my 03 police bike cloned into a FLHTCI,
That is how much better the aftermarket suspension is, and I did not spend a lot of money on it, imagine of I went top shelf!
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 14,210
Likes: 11,336
From: San Diego, CA
Sadly, the vast majority of Harleys don't get ridden far enough or hard enough for most owners to notice or care about the poor suspension.... so the MoCo has never had much pressure to do anything about what some believe is a substandard suspension on their OEM bikes......
Tourer
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 408
Likes: 294
From: Doggerland
If you do decide on new shocks Hagons are modestly priced or Nitron is another UK shock manufacturer.
Banned
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 4,506
Likes: 2,361
Look into bitubo's. They are in Italy. They set me up with 13" shocks sprung and valved for my weight and were $450.00 USD. I run pro action on my other bike and have run ohlins in the past. The bitubo's ride is on par with them. Should save you some coin over a US import.
6th Gear
Joined: Jul 2020
Posts: 11
Likes: 7
From: NH
road king or road king special? if it's just the road king you have the 13'' shocks which gives you 3'' of travel, not 2''. if you have the special, then you have the 12'' shocks that do have 2'' of travel. and i do have to ask, as you make no mention of it, have you tried adjusting the **** on the left shock?
Last edited by Barric; Aug 3, 2020 at 04:14 PM.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 20,616
Likes: 4,440
From: anacoco, la
it's counter-intuitive, but sometimes if the ride is harsh, you have to load it up more, rather than less.
in any case, any good 13'' shock is going to ride much better than the stock 12'' shock. and with the preload set correctly, the ride height will be just about the same, if not lower, than with the stock shocks.
in any case, any good 13'' shock is going to ride much better than the stock 12'' shock. and with the preload set correctly, the ride height will be just about the same, if not lower, than with the stock shocks.
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