Well, bike is almost out of warranty soon and discovered my rear stock air ride has a leak. Looses 12 lbs in about 3 mins. I checked for leaks at all the fittings, removed the seat to inspect of any chaffed lines, all ok. Called my purchasing dealer and they said they have seen a lot of Schrader valves leaking. I checked the tightness of the valve and then removed it to inspect the seal, all ok. I even replaced the valve, still leaks down, so must be a shock. Never cared for the air ride and I'm sure it will be a warranty issue but don't want to deal with hassles as I spoke with 2 different long term HD owners that dealt with 2 different dealers and had issues with both dealer's warranty from HD. So I've been considering a touring shock replacement, no air type, so my question is thoughts recommendations, real world experiences or any other input would be helpful, I normally ride solo but do have a passenger at times, if that helps. Thanks.

 

Use the search function on this site. Shock replacement is probably the most talked about subject on this forum.

 

Thanks, will do !!

 

I ran my 1995 up over 80K and 15 years on the stock shocks and they were fine.

My 09 uses the later version air shocks...also fine.

I get reasonably good ride quality and tune for a floaty ride when touring.

Reality is shocks are meant to keep the tire in contact with the road ( for traction) not so much to cushion the rider.

Possible to blow the seals out if a bicycle pump is used ( or a compressor will fer sure).

But if you don;t have good experience with teh air shocks, by all means replace.

progressive is cheap, ohlins expensive and there are firms who will custom set up shocks for your weight etc.


nice thing about stock shocks is they are available used low miles for under a hundred bucks



mike

 

Soapy water all over everything and find the leak.
If it's a warranty issue, I would stand on it.
Find the leak!
Spray spray spray with a sprayer, you can find it.

 

Here's the big question....how much do you have to spend on shocks? I see you only have 5 posts as of this writing. No disrespect intended, but how much do you know about your options?

 

Hello all! I am the guy Ron calls a good friend, I can tell you that he's been riding for far longer than me and probably some of you! Now, he had more experience with metrics and he was asking a legit question, nothing to get in his case about. Just my .02

Thank you!

 

The leak has to be in the air line, I would think if it was a shock issue, you would see oil coming out. When one of my seals went it dripped oil on to my pipes (and smoked like crazy)

Couple of places to check are the air line inputs - pop the red hickey (up/down can't remember) and push the line down to make sure they are seated properly, check the T fitting, and where the air valve screws in to the shock, make sure that didn't come lose from vibration. If you pull it out put some Teflon tape on it.

As stated above, pump them up spray with soapy water and look for bubbles. Might be easier to pull both shocks off and submerge the lines in water.

I am another one of the few that is fine with the stock air shocks. When my original set started leaking oil, I found a take off set with a few hundred miles on them for $50.

 

I wish I could find the front end for my Ultra. I will go with the conversion to RG in a hurry!

 

There's always the "What oil is best" threads lol.