Well, a 2-up road trip of ~700 miles convinced me (or, better, us) that a suspension upgrade *had to happen. The stock setup, in our case, was simply not up to the task.

In any case, we ordered a set of 444 shocks from Progressive (HD) and a matching set of fork springs (also HD).

Install went fairly well (last Friday), and I've put about 200-250 miles on the bike since then (picture below of finished product a few days ago on a longer ice-cream run with my son).

Verdict:

The bike is *better, as a whole, after the upgrade. I chose the 12.5" version of the rear shocks - with a suggested 11.5" height after sag. The change to steering geometry is fairly minimal, with a slight increase in turning quickness (but still very stable).

To specifically review the products, the 444's are excellent. All family members have been much more comfortable on rides, and the ability to easily adjust preload is very nice. In my wife's words, "It feels more hydraulic when responding to road bumps." I'm sold on these - happy I installed them.

The fork springs are a bit more ambiguous. I talked at length with the progressive tech rep during the install process (just to clarify a few things), and he was adamant that the PVC spacers should be cut to align right at the top of the fork tubes before replacing the tube caps. After cutting and sanding, my spacers wound up about 1/4" higher than "level"; however, even then, the static sag (once seated on the bike) is lower than expected. This said, I have been impressed with the lack of nose dive with front brake application, and the front seems to be tracking very well (soaking up smaller bumps and being *very hard to bottom out). I may, in the end, get some more PVC pipe and add another 1/2 inch or so to the spacer height. I'll probably give it a full season first, and then adjust if needed.

Hope this helps if someone is considering the upgrade.

 

Well on my install of progressive front springs on my 2014 Super low. I used the 3 inch spacers. They stuck up about an inch above the fork tubes. After checking sag, I had to go back and use 3.125 inch spacers to get the correct sag. Bike rides and handles much better, I also have 12.5 444 in rear. Regardless of what the guy at progressive says you got to get the sag correct to get the best performance from the springs. I also spoke with two of the progressive techs. One was really good one was not.

 

Did you consider the 412's? looking at those right now. how much height to the 12.5's add overall?

 

Set your spacer height to get the sag that is needed. It could vary wildly depending on your setup. There is no set height that works for everyone.