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Congrats on the new ride and welcome to this side of the fence!
I agree on fixing the ABS. It could save your a$$ in a situation.
As far as shocks, I might want to replace them with a reputable shock manufacturer so you have a baseline to start with. I went with Ohlins on my '13 King 'cause I know their reputation and quality. Their US HQ is in Hendersonville NC so they might be close to you and you can take a tour of the facility. I live a couple hours from them and it's a very impressive place. You can take the shocks to a servicing dealer or directly to Ohlins for any service or rebuild.
The exhaust can come later. The motor on my King is stock since new and all I changed was the slip-ons.
I've owned 3 Electras now and he's right about the newer frame design,my first was a 1989 second a 2000 bought new and rode for 20 years/200,000 miles and now I have a 2019 which I'm loving.
The old 2000 was a great bike,obviously she served me well for 2 decades and your 2008 has some upgrades from my old 2000 like the 6 speed and stock 96" motor , mine was an 88" before a big bore kit was installed.
Even my 2019 had crap for shocks from the factory,I upgraded and spent big for Ohlins remote res. on the back and Ohlins cartridge up front.
I can't begin tell you what a difference it made in my bike,it was huge but you may not want to drop $3K on suspension.
The point is there are way better options out there some a lot less than I spent but still way better than an old set of air shocks.
I spent big because the wife and I do long trips loaded heavy and both being 68 this year we need comfort. lol
I'd talk with the folks at Fuel Moto about options,I'm sure they can guide you in the right direction,I was very pleased with working with them.
Getting back to the newer frame,I test rode a new bike in 2019 and I was hooked,not just the frame but the bigger better tires the better lean angle and the wonderful linear pull of the M8 engine so be forewarned if you don't want to spend big on a new bike don't test ride one ha ha ha!
My good buddy bought an '08 new and he's still loving it so I'm sure you'll get many miles of smiles out of her.
what a gorgeous view, i am definitely wanting to get it fixed right. As me and the wife are looking forward to road trips to come, I am definitely gonna check out fuelmoto , but also gonna get this ABS issue corrected before anything on the list. So appreciate all the help so fast on here.
Congrats on your new ride. What all the aothers are saying about the ABS is correct, get that fixed first.
I agree Feul Moto on the tuner. I used a Vance and Hines tuner on my 2012 and it has worked out fine.
There are at least a hundred??? shock threads on this forum. My Street Glide came with air shocks. After a few bottoms outs in which I thought I broke my back, I changed to the Harley adjustable shocks, still 12" but an improvement. My problem is I weigh 170# and I had to set them soft to get a good ride and still experienced bottoming so I just spend the cash and went with 13" Ohlins. Shoulda done that first but live and learn.
I have an older touring bike, '04 Road King. Didn't spend much money acquiring it, so didn't want to over-spend for upgrades. Went with Progressive 412 shocks. They have adjustable preload. That is helpful moving from solo riding to 2-up. I have been happy with this upgrade. Full disclosure, the front suspension is also upgraded with Progressive Monotubes.
Tuner, exhaust and air cleaner is good to do as one project. Fuel Moto, as recommended above, is a great company to work with on this. I managed to find an inexpensive Monster Sucker on eBay, previous owner had installed the FP1 (which is still supported by Vance and Hines) and V&H oval slash slip-ons , and FM helped me with head pipe recommendations. I am super happy with the way this bike runs.
So I got out this morning and found out once I did a diagnostic check only had one code and it was the ABS issue,
so after further looking into it and checking all wires which were fine, the ABS module has been completely bypassed as seen in picture. So gonna get one of those maybe from eBay ,
next the shocks hold 25psi on right side, the left side holds nothing, so maybe a bad seal ? Either way gonna replace these shocks also.
so at least I know what to do, also when I put this module back on, I guess I should also flush all brake fluids ?
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