I bought a pair of 13" air shocks in almost new condition with a few hundred miles on them. What I would like to do is soften them up as much as possible. I'm not running any air in them right now so if I had to put a few pounds in when riding 2 up that would be fine. (I have a Harley air pump) They are a night and day improvement over the shocks you see in the pic below. This is with me riding solo and I weigh 210#. Is 5 weight oil the lightest oil I can put in these? Or is there a better way than what I'm thinking?

And no I don't want to buy new shocks.

Thanks.

 

The springs that are in the shocks are designed for a 700 lb bike carrying a 200lb rider, I am not sure speeding up the damping will compensate for that spring rate. Redline makes , Like water wt, extra light 2.5wt,and light 5wt if you think that will help.

 

I guess thats the million dollar question. I think LOL.

I don't know if the 2.5 would make a difference or not I was hoping you did. I think 5wt is stock

My bike is about 525, I'm 210 and my wife is 115. I know the specs of the shocks, and they are still way better than the oem shocks.

 

I myself would not think the vis change will help plus being over sprung and now(with lighter oil) underdamped shocks may bring about a rodeo effect , think being bucked off , shocks extending too fast, when encountering larger bumps at speed.

 

So it the oil is for rebound, then maybe going to a heavier oil then?

 

Oil weight controls both compression and rebound speed in your shocks.

 

I see. Well thanks for the insight.