Ok, I have had my Street Glide for 2 years and have never had any issues with the stock rear shocks. Now I'm a big dude, 330lbs, yeah I'm fat... But my wife swears this bike is comfy when we ride 2 up. I rode the Pig Trails in Arkansas last month and it handled just fine in my opinion. Am I missing something? I've ridden other bikes with air rides and thought they were stiff. I just want to make sure I'm not losing out because I hear of people changing their shocks all the time and I want the best ride possible. Any suggestions? I know each rider is different, but any "big" guys have a better shock option that I need to consider?

 

Definitely interested in responses to this. Also over 200night lbs, Street Glide, have ridden the Oig Trail and 3to Twisted Sisters in Texas in stock shocks. With the right air pressure the bike seems to float. And still...I wonder about upgrading before the trip to Sturgis!

 

I would say if you and your wife are happy, save the money you would spend on aftermarket shocks and get some chrome.

 

well, I am in the minority ( and cheep)- I have always found the ride from the stock HD air shocks to be fine...good even.

I am on my 2nd FLHTC ( and have other models too) and I like the ride of the 13" on the highway, I tune them for a floaty soft ride and that makes 8 or 10 hour days easy.
swapping shocks only take 20 minutes...so;
When i am home I use 12" SG shocks- for my weight ( 235#) I find that 7 to 10 pounds works well.
the shocks handle the twists and turns, speedbumps, dips and tar snakes.

I have used the 12" for 6 hour day rides, and they are fine but for the long haul the 13's are it.

Like any shock, that has some tunablility- figure out how they work and use the adjustments to your favor

mike

 

I don't really understand your question. You think the bike handles fine, your wife thinks it's comfy. Could you throw money at it and make it better? Sure. Is it necessary? Apparently not. If it ain't broke...

 

I would say that perhaps you just don't have any real basis for comparison. I'm about 300 lbs and the wife is about 130. I put about 88K on the stock shocks of my 08 RK before I decided it was time to rebuild. I installed a pair of 13" JRI B shocks when I had the motor out last Nov. I have almost 20K miles on them now and the difference in the ride quality is significant. It takes me about 5 or 10 minutes to adjust the preload when switching from one up to two up riding but the improvement in ride quality is well worth the extra work. Much less harsh and no bottoming.

 

Don't change them, stock air shocks work the best, Changing them would be a waste of money in my opinion.

 

I changed to a heavier weight oil in mine and although im sure improvement could be made... Im very happy with mine. And im 300lbs as well.

 

Info from another big boy! I ride a 09 Road King Classic. I have not had the pleasure of riding a SG. Me and the GF two up with gear are pushing 500+. A couple of months ago she said she was not getting back on it till we did something. We were riding with 45-47 lbs of air. She was very frustrated with the bottoming out. I did a good bit of research and decided on the JRI from Motorcycle Metal. We ended up going to ride the 3 sisters the day the shocks arrived in the mail. Needless to say they did not get installed. We aired up to 50-51 in the shocks and hoped they did not pop. She said it was ok and did not bottom but once. 3 sisters is actually very smooth road. It is the bumps before and after the bridges that get us typically. I have since gotten the shocks installed with a little Howard coaching. I need to do a little more fine tuning. I was ok with the old 1up, but very glad I upgraded. It is a much better ride and that is with knowing tuning can help even more. Lots mellower ride. We have not had the chance to get her on and ride since the shocks have been installed. I do believe we will have a much better ride and be able to not worry about bottoming her out. It sounds like bottoming is a lot harsher issue from the backseat. The JRI's are not a cheap upgrade but worth it to me at this point. If I was trying to deal with the bottoming on a low budget I would go with the heavier oil. The bad thing about adding the JRI's it showed how bad the front suspension is. It needs an upgrade now. It really amplified it going to the better rears.

Smitty as I see you are in Houston if you'd like to meet up sometime and swap bikes for a ride let me know and we can figure something out. Unless you have ridden both or a big enough guy to tax the air shocks not sure you have a valid comparison point.

 

Like my 'ol grandpa used to say, "If it ain't broke--don't fix it!"