Wondering if someone can help me out with what might be a problem..I just purchased a new to me 96 Road King... After putting a few Hundred miles on it I noticed a clunk in he front suspension every time I hit a bump... Read the manual and noticed I needed to add air to the forks.. (Checked it had 0 PSI..) Aired it up to 18PSI.. Clunk is gone... Now the question is how often do I need to check the pressure? Is it set it and forget it?

Anhb info would be appreciated.lThanks in advance

 

SpeedJester welcome to the forum!
I just did an upgrade on my front suspension of my '96 Road King and the results are outstanding. Yours sounds like it is toast. Do a search for Racetech. You will get other opinions on the available upgrades like progressive but I liked the idea behind the Racetech single rate springs designed for your weight. It just made more sense to me.
The whole procedure can be done in a day/ afternoon if you don't start getting parts powder coated like I did.

 

What makes you certain the front forks are junk?... I don't know the previous owner ...I brought it on consignment.. Was told bike hadn't been ridden in 4.5 yrs... So not sure if he ever put air in it.... It took the air and it's been holding for About 12hrs and a short 20mile run... Just not sure how long should it hold air?... How often do I check?..

 

Check your air suspension whenever you check your tyres. Shouldn't be necessary to do it any more often, but can't be left forever. You'll soon learn what it actually needs. Assuming you also have air rear shocks, the same comment applies to them. You can adjust pressures in both of them to compensate for adding a passenger or luggage, or to tune it to your liking.

As for whether or not your forks are junk, all Harley suspension is mediocre, to say the least. You will find that it is discussed all over HDF, probably every day. There are ways to improve the ride of your bike, as indicated by Crashone, but get used to it first and make up your own mind. If you ride 2-up often you are more likely to find the ride quality wanting.

 

Thank you...

 

If you aren't using a small air suspension type pump, get one. Even bicycle pumps put out too much air and you risk blowing out the seals in either the front or rear.

Just my $.02...

 

The bike had a small progressive suspension hand pump in one of the saddle bags.....

 

How many miles are on the bike, when was the last time the front end was serviced? that is the question you need to answer. Very likely it may have never been done.

 

my 85 was leaking air out of the front shocks. all it was, was a crushed rubber O ring. i changed it out and it held air like new. hardware store rubber O rings were about .25 each.