I have an 05 bagger with about 45K miles on her and she needs new rear shocks or I need a new butt. I was wondering if anyone had a recomenddation for rear shocks before i go and replace the exsisting with OEM. I ride two up, I'm about 230 pounds and my wife would kill me but she is about 147 pounds.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Ride safe.

 

JRi A are in the $500+ range and excellant shocks , call Howard at Motorcycle Metals and talk to him

 

many many opinions about shocks here. But bottom line is dont go spend $ to replace them with the stock shocks there are many out there better for the $. Almost any replacement will be better than the stock HD air shocks, they are over sprung and have little and poor dampening or travel.

You are on the light side so be careful that you get some that are not over sprung. A lot depends on how you ride, many riders will not appreciate or need the difference with a 500.00 shock over a 1200.00 shock because of riding styles, weights etc.

use the search to get loads of info. IMO from worst to best in general and the most common replacements and also based on $ are

Stock
HD Premium Hand Adjustable (400.00) these are on the CVOs
Progressive 944 or 444 (450.00)
Terry Cable (500.00)
Ohlins or JRI (550.00 -1000.00)

For excellent info on the better quality shocks Howard at motorcycle metal is a great resource and vendor. For the mid priced stuff and questions call Terry cable or progressive Suspension they can all help you make a decision. Im running progressive 940 and am happy with them, if I had a > budget Id have JRI on the bike. Ive also heard good stuff about terry Cable they are hand made and tailored to your weight and they offer a money back satisfaction guarantee so you can try them and return if not happy. I dont think anyone else does this.

 

+ 1 on JRI A shocks. Have them on my Street Glide, like night and day difference, no more sore butt.

 

You might also want to consider draining and refilling the fluid, before replacing them. Particularly if you thought they were ok when new.

You'll want a mightyvac or similar (~$35), and a quart of shock/fork oil (~$15). The job isn't hard to do, and there are several threads on doing it.

 

I got JRI-B and love them. I figure that I spent $800-1000 for an exhaust system and air filter, why not spend an equal amount on the ride and handling?
Joe

 

Plus 1 on this I did mine with 7ozs in each shock + replaced the air hose fittings with a pair tank valves from napa all for less than $20.00 and they work much better than they ever did before.

 

I spent an indecent amount of time reading through old shocks threads (there are thousands of the darned things - almost as bad as oil threads!) and came to a number of simple conclusions:

1. the majority of members who comment on shocks never mention a passenger,
2. I don't recall a single comment by a passenger about shocks comfort,
3. some members have spent a fortune on many sets of cheap shocks and never found nirvana,
4. there is no such thing as a good cheap shock,
5. quite a few members mention Howard (more frequently of late), our proven shocks guru,
6. some of the members at 3 above only found decent shocks after calling Howard.

So I called Howard and bought a set of Ohlins (JRI weren't around back then) and for the first time in 40 years of Harley riding I have one that does not routinely bottom out.

I suggest you contact Howard and take a short cut to combined comfort and save yourself a lot of time and money - good quality shocks are not expensive, if you avoid buying cheap ones first!

 

a lot of great info, lot to think about