Hey all. Doing my bars tonight, so I'm mainly preoccupied with that, but I noticed something this morning on the ride to work, and wanted to get some input.

I've got approximately 700 miles on my Street Bob after owning it for about 6 weeks. It's a full time daily driver for me. The last couple of days (more noticeable with the lady on the back), and especially this morning, I've noticed on the bumpier parts of my commute, that the suspension is really somewhat soft. The front end, when knocking down some bumps, seems to give quite a bit, and when i'm throttling through curves, sometimes it feels somewhat "hollow" (I know that's not the right word, but I can't describe it any other way).

I've got my exhaust/air cleaner/fuel pak on the agenda next, before I get into suspension mods, but is there a way on the stock bike that I could tighten it up without wrenching until I can do back shocks and front stiffening springs?

 

Rear shocks should have adjustable pre-load. The bottom portion of the shock will have holes in it for use of a spanner wrench. I think they have 4 or 5 settings. Try cranking those up.

 

Love this forum, for quick, accurate advice like this. Thanks WMX124!!

 

Welcome to HD factory suspensions designed for the "average" 165lb rider... (I don't know where 165lbs is an average HD rider...)

The first thing I do to new bikes is rip that crap out and put in aftermarket components. Right now I have good shocks on the rear and Racetech springs and cartridge emulators in the front. It makes a world of difference, though as you said, you have to disassemble the fork.

About all I can think of that doesn't involve disassembly, is maybe changing the higher viscosity fork oil and/or adding some preload to the springs. Preload can be done easily enough with a couple of preload adjusters that replace the fork caps. Basically unscrew the caps (unload the fork and watch out for the spring pressure) and screw in the new ones. Then you can crank in some preload which may help a bit too.

But you're better off getting weight matched springs and emulators. IIR they were about $400 for the set, plus labor to install them - which isn't that hard but I don't have a shop/garage to work in where I live.

You can also crank up the preload on the stock rear shocks which will make a difference as well...

 

I'm going to crank up the preload first and see if that makes a difference. I'm 6'2" and 230, and my girlfriend is 90lbs. We're riding from Austin to FL in March, and Sturgis in August (my first time since riding there in my dad's sidecar of his '90 Fat Boy in 1990). So I want to get it more comfortable the first trip, then hopefully have the shocks done by August.

 

I just did progressive HD springs up front. its a noticeable difference.