I just installed a pair of Ohlins #2's from Motorcycle Metal on my wife's 05 Dyna, right before we rode from NJ to Atlanta and back. She is absolutely delighted with them. "If I had known all I had to do was have new shocks put on to be that much more comfortable, I would've done it years ago!" That was her comment to a friend we met up with in Atlanta after the 900 mile trip. She was put off by the price before the trip, but since I have a set of #3's on my Road King, I already knew the results would be outstanding. After the trip, her attitude is that they're expensive, but totally worth it. I feel the same way about them.

I did a little fabrication for the installation. She has big leather bags with hard back on the bike. The stock shocks rubbed the back a little bit, but they're smooth and tapered at the bottom where they touched. The Ohlins are a little smaller overall diameter but not tapered at the bottom and contacted the bags in the same place. So I moved them inboard a little bit by modifying the top mount:




Here's the stock upper mounting stud





On the left are 2 of the 4 spacers supplied with the shocks, which together weren't enough to get the shocks absolutely aligned when installed on the upper mount. The spacer on the right is the one I made to fill the space between the lower shock eye and the swingarm before I modified the upper mount.





Here's the modified upper mount. Note the reduced shoulder on the hex and shortened stud for the upper shock eye.





Here's the stock upper mount with shock installed and one of the provided spacers for the acorn nut to tighten down onto. Without the spacer, there aren't enough threads, as the Ohlins shock eye is about half the thickness of the factory shock eye.





Here's the shock installed on the modified upper mount. This moved the shock inboard about 5/16" and I can now use the stock acorn nut with just a washer, no spacer.





And here's the resulting clearance between the shock and the bag at the bottom, using the provided spacers, which are stainless, instead of my fabricated spacer, which was aluminum.

 

It would have worked without the modifications, though the bags would have been getting rubbed, and I didn't want to have damage to the bags. The stockers have been rubbing for 10 years, so maybe nothing would have happened anyhow, but I didn't like it. I'm very happy with the results, no unwanted contact anywhere, and like I said, she loves the ride! Another satisfied Motorcycle Metal repeat customer!

 

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Running a set of S36PL's on my dyna that I picked up from Howard as well. The improvement in comfort and handling is well worth the money. I wish I knew what I had been missing all this time.

 

Hard to beat a set of good Ohlins! Did you properly align the shock spacing at the top based off the swing arm (using a straight edge)? Pretty important and I'm sure Howard told you about that.

 

Yes, I sure did. Careful measurements before machining and after. They work flawlessly!

 

I am in the market for shocks on my street bob ive used works and progressive in the past. If you have any experience with them how do you think the ohlins compares to them. You seem to be very happy.

 

Ohlin's are pretty much regarded as top shelf. I have no experience with Works Shocks. Progressive are typically regarded as "budget" shocks. I have the Ohlin's and couldn't be happier with them.

 

I had a pair of Progressive's on an Ironhead. I'm sure thise aren't in the same category as some of the performance oriented Progressive's available these days. But those were not impressive AT ALL. Besides the stockers, I've only had the Ohlins on my bike, so can't speak from experience comparing. But I'm so happy with mine that I didn't look anywhere else for my wife's bike.