If you want a better ride, replace your's with after market shocks. There are many out there. I've always ran Works. Don't waste your time changing oil in the OEM air shocks, because no matter what you do, they're still the cheap oem shocks with different oil.

 

This is true if you are talking about the 2009+ model years.

The OP bike is a 2006 model year. If I'm correct, older year (2008-) used a different shock that required less air then the newer model bikes.


YB

 

I'll be curious your results. I run solo on my 04 rk. I'm currently using 15 motul fork oil in the stock 13" shocks myself. No additional air, and I don't bottom out on rough fire roads and the like. But it's only me, and I weight 160-170 lbs. I'll be very interested in what you experience two up loaded with gear.

 

I realize the 04 and my 10 have different shocks but I changed my rear to a 10wt and seems I have to run as much or more air now to keep from bottoming out. Just a theory but in thinkin once the dampener passes thru the oil on a bump, the oil isn't passing back thru and causing me to bottom out at lower pressures. Any thoughts????

2010 Limited with some stuff

 

I have resigned to the fact that an oil change in the shocks is just a little more time. I will be buying new shocks probably this coming winter.

 

I will never own a bike without aftermarket shocks, it is night and day. I am on the fence about doing business with Howard though, but that's just me. I have a pair of ohlin #3#3 on mine and love them, they were built by him

 

I went thru the oil change process on 06EG and went with heavier oil 7.5wt I believe. It was better but still could not stop the bottoming. I bought Progressive 412's. Significantly better than stock air ride and not a lot of money. No doubt a better Progressive would be even better.

 

Good thinking. Though the design is such that as long as there is enough oil in there, the piston is fully submerged, so it wouldn't be in air.

If the oil is too thin, the piston moves too freely to dampen the wheel motion enough. Hit a bump and the wheel flies up, bottoming out with a slam. I rather suspect this is more the case. Especially with your bikes higher weight load.

The standard oem "fix" is to pump up the air pressure. That works to prevent bottoming out by making the spring stiff. Effectively making the bike a hard tail. No bottoming out, but the bike rides like a buckboard. In my case, the rear end would flip me off the seat on bumps. There was almost no give in the suspension with the air pressure high enough to prevent bottoming over bumps.

A 10 weight shock oil worked pretty well for me on my bike, but that's a Road King, ridden solo. About the lowest weight load on the rear wheel of any of the baggers. But it could still bottom out occasionally, and I wanted to keep on playing. A 15 weight oil was the sweet spot to me. Now the damping matched the spring rate, and the bike rode like silk (well, almost), and did not crash along over fire roads and such.

I would speculate that your bike, especially with the higher weight load on the rear, could use an even thicker oil in the rear shocks. Were it mine, I'd experiment with going thicker. Since the oil specs are not universal, I would try to stick to one brand and go up and down in their product line. For a 10 weight X-brand oil might well be thicker than 15 weight Y-brand oil.

You still may very well need increased spring rate (air pressure) for the increased weight. The top bag weight, a passenger, camping gear, all these things are going to weigh the bike down and compress the spring, bringing it close to the bump stop. So increasing the air pressure and thereby the spring rate would likely be needed.

Might also mean that a thicker oil would be called for as well, but no one would want to go changing shock oil to have a passenger ride. Though a shock that had a click adjustable valving for that purpose, that would be nice. If you can't change the oil but can change the size of the holes, that works comparably.

 

Thanks foxtrapper I'll give the 15wt a try. I was about ready to give up on em and try the Corvette shocks. I changed my buddies 08 UC at the same time I did mine. 15wt on the front and 10wt on the rear and his will out ride mine by a long shot.

2010 Limited with some stuff

 

Good and susinct article on motorcycle suspension damping here: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ho...nsion_damping/ I'm just going to lift the authors words about compression and rebound, and having too much or too little of either. I suspect a number of folk will find their own ride dissatisfaction within a few of the descriptions.

Lack Of Rebound, Fork
* The fork offers a supremely plush ride, especially when riding straight up. With higher speeds, however, the feeling of control is lost. The fork feels mushy, and traction feel is poor.
* After hitting bumps at speed, the front tire tends to chatter or bounce, and the fork has a wallowy, loose feel.
* When flicking the bike into a corner at speed, the front tire begins to chatter and lose traction. This translates into an unstable feel at the handlebar.
* As speed increases and steering inputs become more aggressive, a lack of control begins to appear. Chassis attitude (sudden changes in pitch) becomes a problem (front-end wallowing), with the front end refusing to stabilize after the bike is steered hard into a turn.

Too Much Rebound, Fork
* The ride is harsh. Rough pavement makes the fork feel as if it's locking up with stiction and harshness.
* Under hard acceleration exiting bumpy corners, the front end feels like it wants to "wiggle" or "tankslap." The tire feels as if it isn't staying in contact with the pavement when on the gas.
* The harsh, unforgiving ride makes the bike hard to control when riding through dips and rolling bumps at speed. The suspension's reluctance to maintain tire traction through these sections erodes rider confidence.

Lack Of Compression, Fork
* Front-end dive while on the brakes is excessive.
* Rear end of motorcycle wants to "come around" when using front brakes aggressively.
* Front suspension bottoms, with a solid hit under heavy braking and after hitting bumps.* Front end has a mushy and vague feeling, similar to lack of rebound damping.

Too Much Compression, Fork
* Harsh ride, especially when bumps and ripples are first contacted by the front wheel.
* Bumps and ripples are felt directly; the initial hit is routed through the chassis instantly, with big hits bouncing the tire off the pavement.
* The bike's ride height is affected negatively; the front end rides too high in the corners; bike may want to drift wide in corners.
* Brake dive is reduced, though the chassis is upset significantly by bumps encountered during braking.

Lack Of Rebound, Shock
* The ride is plush at cruising speeds, but with increased speeds the chassis begins to wallow and weave through bumpy corners.
* Poor traction over bumps under hard acceleration; rear tire starts to chatter due to reduced wheel control.
* Excessive chassis pitch through large bumps and dips at speed; rear end rebounds too fast, upsetting chassis with pogo-stick action.

Too Much Rebound, Shock
* Harsh ride; rear suspension compliance is poor and "feel" is vague.
* Poor traction over bumps during hard acceleration due to lack of suspension compliance.
* Bike wants to run wide in corners since the rear end is packing down; this forces a nose-high chassis attitude, which slows steering.
* Rear end wants to hop and skip when the throttle is chopped during aggressive corner entries.

Lack Of Compression, Shock
* Too much rear end squat under acceleration; bike wants to steer wide exiting corners (since chassis is riding rear low/nose high).
* Hitting bumps at speed causes the rear to bottom, which upsets the chassis.
* Chassis attitude affected by large dips and G-outs; steering and control become difficult due to excessive suspension movement.

Too Much Compression, Shock
* Ride is harsh, though not quite as bad as the too-much-rebound situation; but the faster you go, the worse it gets.
* Harshness hurts rear tire traction over bumps, especially during deceleration. There's very little rear-end squat under acceleration.
* Medium to large bumps are felt directly through the chassis; when these are hit at speed, the rear end kicks up.