i haven't ridden a gs but my other bike is an ohlins clad ducati multistrada...... sort of similar to the bmw. The harley will never ride like that with only 3-4 imches of travel. With more stroke you can run less spring and lesser damping. The damping controls to me are a must to tweak things in if you"re going to be real picky.

 

Oh I know it would never compare. My only goal is a smooth highway ride with no jarring or bouncing. There are some sections of road I have to go over everyday that feel like a carnival ride. The roads in OKC are an adventure bike riders dream.

 

Hey Dix...I live out in Guymon and ride to OKC often. If anywhere has worse roads than OKC, it's out in the Panhandle.

I bought the 3-3's for my Street Glide and it made a world of difference. You'll love them once you get them adjusted right.

 

That's good to hear. Oklahoma became famous this year since OKC and Tulsa were ranked worst roads in the entire USA lol.

 

Clearly the people doing the analysis have never been to Michigan.

 

definitely stick with the Ohlins you scored, better and propably cheaper than what some premiums would cost from the stealer

The Setup sound very close so shouldn't be a problem and the 1/8 difference in height will not be noticed.

 

So I got my Ohlin shocks in the mail today. My fear of them being shorter was nothing I should have worried about. Side by side the Ohlins are actually taller! Actually had to jack the bike up quite a bit to get them on.

As for the ride I can say that there is a very noticeable difference between the 2-2b and the HD premium and this is right out of the box with no adjustments. Going down the road it has erased the sensation when going over spider cracks on the road and has significantly decreased the feeling when going over small road imperfections. It's a smoother linear ride. Going into corners I feel a sharper turn in but most of all there is a performance improvement when leaned over with an imperfect road surface. The only thing I did not feel a difference in is the rebound when going over joints in the road. It may very well be the road here and just too sudden of a surface change to realistically expect a shock to hide or soften the blow. I have yet to make any rebound adjustments though until I get my wife on to ride with me.

If I had to do it all over again I would have went with the Ohlins from the beginning rather than get the HD premiums as there is enough of a difference and not that big of a price difference. Going from the HD premiums would also be worth it as well in my opinion, plus the premium adjustable a can be easily sold in the classifieds to offset the Ohlins purchase.

All in all I am satisfied.

 

Checked sag on the shocks. Came up with 15mm solo and 25mm 2up. Is this an acceptable range or should I back it down a bit? Riding is 70% 2 up. Stroke is 84mm so 1/3 = 28. If I were to adjust it for solo which direction do I need to rotate the collar and how many turns?

 

As you are currently at 15mm solo, you will have to take some of the preload out to start. Turning the collar counterclockwise with give you more sag when you sit on the bike. It looks as though you have the ride height for 2 up about right at 25 mm, so for every 25 LBS of wifey, turn the collar 1 turn counter clockwise. That should get you in the ballpark.

 

Do you need special tools to adjust the ohlins or can it be done by hand?

Ron