My 12" ricor shocks arrived on Wednesday. I installed them the same day. When I took them out of the box the preload adjuster was all the way out with no preload set. For you that have gotten yours has the preload been set at all or did you have adjust all the way from the lightest setting? Mine are the 12" and were tuned for a 220 lb rider with gear.

I had the opportunity to put put some miles on them this weekend. I put about 800 miles on them and rode them over the beartooth. I started out with two complete turns on the adjusters. The only instructions in the box say to set preload ant 25% of travel. OK it doesn't say anywhere in the box what the travel is. I have read here that it is 2" for the 12" shocks. With this setting I bottomed them out easily. I kept adjusting them one turn and then would ride and test. I have 7 complete turns now on them and today on the way back I did still bottom out a few times. Now keep in mind when these bottom out it is not a severe jolt like the stock shocks and I did have about 20 lbs over the 220lb weight i said I would have with gear. I am trying to get them to 9 full turns and one of them seems to just stop at 7 turns like the threads are messed up. Has anyone else had trouble with the adjusters after you put some miles on?

With the exceptions of the few times I bottomed out they ride nice.

My previous shocks were road king shocks that had been lowered to 12" by phoenix customs. They rode nice in the corners but there was certain bumps that would throw my but off the seat and I would get occasional bottoming out with 40 psi in them. The ricor shocks seem to have resolved the butt in the air at least.

With them at 7 full turns and the crude measuring I have done I am getting about 1/4-3/8" of sag. I do say I am a little disappointed with that little amount of sag that they would still bottom out. Maybe I need to have them revalved already.

Anyone that has these shocks if you have any tips on how much you had to adjust the preload I would appreciate it.

Are my expectations just to high for a 12" shock?

 

I just installed mine today (12.5 inch shock.) My experience was the same as yours. The box had six Ricor advertising stickers and not a lick of documentation. Preload was not set. Each shock had a blue tag on it that showed a picture of the shock and said "This way up" with an arrow next to the picture. I made the assumption that it meant the blue tag was on the "up" end of the shock. Not true. After I torqued 'em down I stepped back to have a look and one was piston up and one was piston down. D'oh! So I fixed that and went out for a test drive.

Like you, I assumed that since I had to specify the load with me and my gear, the shocks would come with the preload set. The first good bump I hit nearly shot the spine out of my back. So I pulled over and put in some preload and the ride got better so I drove around occasionally pulling over to put in more preload. The same blue tags that don't indicate the top of the shock offered the advice about setting sag to 25%. Like you, I didn't find a thing offering a hint as to what 25% might be.

Now it's feeling OK, though I don't have as much preload as you've put in. For what it's worth, the ride isn't comfortable but the bike is feeling better in the turns. I think once they're set up they'll be good.

I'm a little disappointed in Ricor. I loved their Intimators that came with detailed instructions. These (expensive) shocks should come with some instructions as well. And since they took the time to ask about how heavy I am, they should either come with a reasonable starting preload or a warning that there's none set at the factory. (And maybe a statement about why the hell they asked if they weren't going to do anything with the info...)

 

I thought my tag mentioned to set the preload, implying none was set, and which end up was clear to me. I put quite a few preload turns in, over an inch. I didn't get a wrench, did you?

Adjusting sag is a common procedure that suspension guys know like the back of their hand. It would have been nice if Ricor put a few paragraphs about what sag is in the box and the best way for a backyard mechanic to adjust it.

Your weight and riding style go into the valving, I don't think they use different springs for different riding weight. I still get thrown off the seat at one "special" highway bridge, I may have to go from sport to touring valving as the sport is a tad stiff for my old back The shocks seem to soak up tiny imperfections just fine, however.

 

I've been reading so many glowing reviews on Ricor lately and now these two. Doesn't sound consistent with Ricors posts on the forum either. Did you try contacting customer service yet? I for one would be interested in how they handled it and what their explanation was.

 

Hmm, maybe they will have some reply back on the forum today to answer some questions. I'm sure confused though, I got a set that Brian said was shipping out to me mid week this week and I assumed they were pretty well set for the rider weight and style, if any fine/hair tuning needed to be done then instructions would spell it out, but it sounds like no instructions are in the box and then you guys mention a wrench, don't tell me there some special wrench (like the stock shocks utalize), that you gotta buy seperately too.

 

Custom and high end shocks require a ton of tuning. You have to loose the "bolt on" mentality. The Penske shock on my Buell didn't take a few turns to set up, it took MANY, MANY days just to get it close to what I wanted. That shock had over 30 adjustments. Preload, rebound, sag, height ect...And god forbid I wanted to put the wife on back. Then the whole process started over. You install, ride, adjust. Thats how your going to get the shocks dead on. Its the normal and needed process when you buy the good stuff. And once set up to your specific pleasures, you'll be more than happy with the results. Heck, I must have stopped on the side of the road with my wife and adjusted my 440's over 15 times so far and all they have is a preload.

 

There is no wrench. They are suppose to adjustable by hand, but mine really start to get hard to turn around 6 turns and one of them seemed to be stuck at about 7 turns. I went out this morning and was able to get a couple more turns on it with some gloves on but it is still really tight. I know my shoulders were sore from a long ride yesterday so maybe thats why I am having a hard time turning the adjusters.

I realize the 25% which from the limited info I have should be about 1/2" is just a starting place. I have less than 1/2" it is close to 3/8". I think I will need to adjust it to less than 1/4" to help prevent bottoming.

I have not contacted them yet. I will email them today with these questions and hopefully I will come up with more:

What is the 25% measurement suppose to be? There is nothing in the box that indicates what the actual travel is. Is the travel 1.5"? 2"? 2.5"?

Should the preload adjuster be really hard to turn starting about 6 full turns? How far can I turn the adjusters either by full turns or measurement?

 

Put a floor jack under the bike to take the weight off the shocks. They adjust allot easier.

 

Sorry I should have mentioned that I did have the bike jacked up with the back wheel off the ground. Didn't help much at all. It took both my hands wearing leather works gloves to be able to turn it and still the adjusters were very stiff.

 

Sorry, I'm not following. If you lift the back wheel off the ground isn't it pulling down on the shocks and adding to the stiffness? Seems you should raise the weight of the bike but leave the tire on the ground?