Kosman Specialties had a cool light frame project Dyna.
You might be able to bribe C & J racing frames to make a nickel chrome moly frame, if several of us agreed to sign on for one. I'm up for it.

 

A friend of mine has a front suspension of a Honda VFR800 that also has a 41mm front suspension but those only have adjustment for the preload... How much better would the ride be (or can it be) adjusting just the preload?

 

The most important difference is that your friend's Honda has cartridge type front suspension as stock, so the ride qualities of his bike will be superior, ignoring the ability to adjust pre-load. That is the cherry on the cake, fine tuning pre-load. A heavy or light rider can adjust to their requirements.

Howard's Ohlins will provide the same high quality ride that many Jap bikes like that Honda have. If we buy them custom-built from Howard they will come with springs to suit each customer, so pre-load may not need much adjustment. The Honda forks are not custom built, so have a standard spring for all riders, so adjusting pre-load is more important.

I have Ohlins rear shocks and am still learning to fine tune them for solo and 2-up riding (two different settings). They are so superior I look forward to the challenge of doing the same at the front!

 

they are not set up as time beat me on Sunday. Amy will come over at 9am tomorrow and help with the sag measurements. Been one hell of a week for me. Next will be a real CNC solution to relocate the idiot lights and this job will be done. No problems with the fork stop and made an adapter to use a 2005 fender on a 2006. I will look at the idiot light relocation housing so no wires need to be cut. No one had ever done a for real re-location kit/housing. I will fix that.


This project is not for sale.

 

I'm not sure where you are finding your expert information but I owned a Honda VFR 800 with 41mm forks and it did not have cartridge forks. It did have pre-load adjustments though. I know that to be fact as I disassembled and cleaned them several times during their 56K mile service life. I guess you can't believe everything you read on the internet.

 

I haven't made any claim to be an expert, but am obviously mistaken on VFR forks. The underlying principle remains, that most other brands of bike have superior suspension to Harleys and have had for far too many years.

 

I guess you never looked at of a set of VFR 1200 Showa inverted cartridge forks. They only have spring pre-load, They are 43 mm fork tubes. Just because the forks are or are not inverted does not mean they are much better or not. The difference is what is inside of the forks as well as the weight, materials used, technology, and the tolerances maintaned. The rake and trail play a big part in how well they work. More upright allows the forks to not wear on the one side of the bushing but more in the center, a common problem with a large rake prevelent in a HD.

Did you see the new VFR 1200, 200 hp with 585 lbs wet and 25.5* of rake, how cool is than. It is not a small bike with 60" of wheel base. All bikes are cool IMO.

 

And I guess you didn't read my post or the original post either. We were talking about the VFR with 41 mm forks, the model I previously owned and had experience with. As far as the new VFR 1200 goes it might be cool but for me the VFR lost it's soul when Honda dumped the gear driven camshafts of the 98 - 01 for VTEC in 2002. That 98 -01 model was a hell of a good bike at the time and it took me many places from as far North as Lake Huron to the South of Georgia, and a lot of points in- between. All on stock suspension BTW