Okay, so I'm leaning away from the air shocks. Can't afford the Ricor, although they seem pretty good. I guess what's left is the 412 progressives. In looking at them on ebay, they seem to be pretty much what I already have. Is the only difference between them the heavy duty spring? I know things age, especially in 13-14 year old stock bikes, but is there anything other than metal in these? In looking at and adjusting mine, it seems like it's mainly just a spring. And the listing on ebay says it's for riders over 200 pounds. I know I need to improve my suspension, but I'm wondering how much improvement I'm going to be buying for $220. I'm going to look on this site's classifieds also.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Progress...item5d3077ad63

 

This is an amazing thread with alot of useful and personal information which is really helpful when determining which investment path to take.

 

Don't mean to offend with this comment, but you could do your suspension and yourself a favor by dropping some weight...guessing at your height (6' 2" @ 300lbs), you could probably drop 50 or so pounds. It'll help ya healthwise in the long run also.

 

Big boned? Yeah, I need to lose some fat. 50 pounds would be good. But my bike is still going to bottom out with me at 250 and my wife at 150. Hell- that's a hundred more than it's bottoming out at now. Can't imagine- good thing she won't go for a ride with me :-) My kids are right around a hundred. I have to take the bumps really gingerly. I know most of you who will read this are riders of newer bikes, and you have them tricked out with all kinds of mods and customizations, so I'm wondering how many are familiar with an older bike like mine. I'm curious to know if mine degraded with time, or was the suspension of a 98 just that poor? It doesn't make sense to me that 330 lbs of load would cause that much bottoming. Oh well- thanks for the info.

 

I can make you a pretty good deal on a pair of Progressive 440HDs with the Heavy-Duty Spring. New in July with only 1,200 miles under a 165lb butt for about 75% of those miles and 285lb two-up for the other 25%.

I'm thinking something like $350 + shipping: MSRP is around $600.

 

I've got Progressive Suspension's 412's and Fork Spring Kit on my 08 Street Bob. Only marginally better than the originals. Just my 2 euro cents.

 

I might be able to take you up on this offer come January- the eagle flies, and hopefully it drops some tax money on me. If you still have it, maybe we can talk.

 

why would air shocks act any different on a dyna then on a dresser?

 

It has to do with the wheel rate and or leverage ratios.

In laymen terms the shocks on the dyna are mounted farther up the swing arm and are at more of an angle requiring the shock to work harder.

Brian

 

Perfect timing on this thread. I just swapped out the rear fender on my O9 Street Bob for the original full fender. I originally wanted a slammed/bobber style bike but now that I've put some miles on it I realize that I ride much harder than that style will allow. The next step is a suspension upgrade so I can stop scraping pegs and pipe everywhere I go.

I'm 260 lbs so it's no surprise that the stock shocks are bottoming consistently. I've been back and forth between Ohlins and Works and this thread has been pushing more towards the Ohlins (looks + performance); however, I've been looking at the Progressive 970s with the Piggyback reservoir. Anyone who has installed these have any feedback? Pricing and technology seem competitive to the Ohlins and Works shocks I've seen people using on their Dynas. They look clean and I believe they come in 12.5" only, which is .5" over stock. This may be the direction I go if I don't start hearing horror stories before Christmas. I figured these new 970s might as well be part of the discussion. There doesn't seem much point comparing any other Progressive shock with the Works or Ohlins. Any input is much appreciated. I'm trying my best to do things right the first time.