Great thread MZB. Your ideas are very similar to what i am working on for my 07FXD.

So far, other than a bunch of Denim black paint and powdercoating, I have installed Works triple rate springs.

http://www.worksperformance.com/html/home.html

Both Progressive and Works are in the Socal area, the main reason I went with Works is the guy I talked with there was REALLY knowledgable about the FXD.

I am also going to get their Black Tracker rear shocks. Probably 13 1/2s as you are doing. The stock shocks just dont have enough travel to work well, imho. Apparantly this is what the old FXRs used, as I recall.

I left the front forks the same height as I want to reduce the trail. For me, he stock FXD turns in pretty slow (compared to my BMW R12GS and Suzuki).

Couldn't beleive how much difference the front springs made

Thanks for the PICs of the bikes with the longer shocks, I was curious how it would look, although that's not my main concern.

I also looked into improving the brakes, either a double disc system like the street bob), or a brembo single disc. Both end up costingover a grand, and, for me, not that important. The guys I ride with use a concept called "the pace", the idea is to ride at a pace in the twisties where you can corner without using the brakes.
(I ride Angeles Crest several times a week). I did find that bleeding them and changing pads helps quite a bit though.

Great project. Keep us posted on results, as well as any issues which pop up.

greg

 

I agree, now that I think about it. I wouldn't mind it turning in a bit quicker too. Maybe I will just leave the front height alone. I can certainly at least button it all up and see how it does before changing the height. I'm really not certain it'll matter much once my *** is in the seat anyway

I'll be updating as parts arrive. I was going to bolt the shocks on today, but the top mount bolt that's stock on my bike is much longer than the ones that came with the FXDX shocks, and I don't have a box wrench that's big enough to remove that top bolt. I'll probably hit Sears tomorrow after work and get the appropriate size.

 

MZB,
You've got an 05 FXDC right? You've got a 39mm narrow glide front end. Before you drop coins on the racetech emulators or Works...why not scour ebay for a take off frontend from a FXDX. I've seen some on there go fairly reasonable. You'd have the best of both worlds then! Sharkey and I talked about this in the past but I ended up selling my 04 and got a 08fxdb. I've got Works in the front and progressive 440's out back. If I had it to do over I would've went with Works in the rear too. In the future I'll definitely go with Works when the progressives wear out.

 

I do, that's correct, 39mm narrow hat's actually not a bad idea. I think what I'll do is just pop the progressive's in for now, hell they're only like $67, and see how it does, and if that still doesn't do the trick, look for an FXDX front end to show up.

 

Great thread. Love what you are doing with the bike. Not a lot of knowledge about the older bikes and am wondering what the difference (both craftsmanship and performance) between aftermarket shocks like Works and the old FXDX. I have an 08 FXD and am looking at moving in a similar direction with my bike as most of you who have responded to this thread. I am planning on changing the suspension and like the 13.5 inch look. Thanks to anyone shed some light to a newby.

 

I'm not sure of the differences, although I'd like to hear also. I went with these because they're longer, and the price is right. I've also heard that the FXDX was/is a great handling HD, so I figured they must be decent. I'm no suspension expert by any means, but I do know that the stock stuff on my bike isn't cutting it.

In case anyone's interested, I just saw another set of shocks pop up on ebay, here's the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Stock...Q5fAccessories

 

I put the Race Tech emulators in my '06 bob and it made a big difference. They add about an inch to the overall length of the forks but I trimmed the spacer down to keep it stock height. It really made a big difference in not only the way it absorbs bumps but it controls rebound too.
If you decide to get cartridge emulators you have to drill six holes in the dampening rods to allow the extreme amount of oil that will be moving about. I don't have a drill press so I took them to a machine shop and he drilled and chamfered the holes for $25.
As someone already said, you can't adjust them externally, but they do make the front end behave like a sportbike's inverted forks.

 

I wish RaceTech and Works would update their damn sites...Race Tech makes it difficult to tell what they actually have available for '06+ bikes, and I couldn't figure out what Works offered either.

Are their shocks adjustable the way Progressives are?

 

I had the same problem with works and called them (it was a while ago and don't remember the guy's name). We were able to discern that the v-rod forks were the right application for the 49mm tubes on the '06 Street Bob.

On another note: Those FXDX shocks on ebay do not look like they will mount to my swingarm or I would buy them in a heart beat. My bottom mount is center of the shock, not offset like the ones for bid.
Those are very high quality shocks and if the bids don't go out of sight, someone is going to get a great deal.

 

To raise the front end you could buy a set of longer fork tubes (usually come in 2-inch incremental length), but probably not worth the additional $150 or so (estimated) ... also, wouldn't do anything about fixing the bottoming issue.

You mentioned going with 10W fork oil ... is that the same as the Screamin Eagle Heavy Duty fork oil? I switched to that about 6 months ago and barely noticeable; although, I had never bottomed my forks in over 15,000 miles since I've owned my Dyna ....

R/
Priest