I went down to Vegas last weekend for the Laughlin River Run. I was planning all along to have Henderson Harley install the Intiminators on my bike since they've done lots of them and I hadn't seen any posts about installing them on a Road King. My bike has 11K miles on it, stock supsension, and a TWR swingarm stabilizer (which I highly recommend). I also have PM wheels (21" front/18" rear). The ride to Launghlin was about 550 miles each way, so I'd have a good chance to see how well the Ricor valves worked.

I didn't notice a significant difference at first when riding on the side streets (20-30 mph), but there weren't any real bumps I could use as a test and I wasn't familiar with the roads in Henderson. I also didn't notice a difference in frontend dive when braking, but I never had an issue with that. Both before/after the intall, my forks will dive about a 1/2-1" when braking moderately hard.

But when I got on the highway (70-90mph), I could really feel the change. Best way I can describe it is that it felt like the front wheel wasn't on the ground. I'd go over all sorts of bumps and feel absolutely nothing in the bars, but I'd get a big kick from the rear. It was like riding on a unicycle, where only the rear wheel was on the ground.

This week I plan to try it out at slower speeds on some roads near home, where I'm familiar with how the bike rides over the bumps. But the biggest issue now is what to do about the rear shocks. I'm thinking about Progressive 440's since they also have Ricor's IAS system, but am open to other suggestions.

And I have a question about the installation itself, so hopefully Ricor will respond. Since I'll have to service my forks in the future, I asked the Henderson tech what oil he used, and how he measured it. He showed me the bottle of "Ricor Suspension Oil - Light 5", but the bottle had the Amsoil embossing on it, so I'm sure it was just relabled.

But the real question I have is how they told me to measure the amount of fluid to use. From what I've read on other posts, people refilled their forks to the level specified in the service manual. Henderson told me that they checked with Ricor, and the instructions were to collapse the fork completely, and fill it to 6" from the top of the fork.

Does that seem right? It's working fine, but I don't think that's what the service manual says to do (have to check mine once I get it back from being loaned out). Anyone else install these of an 07 Road King?

 

The oil is AMSOIL 5w. If you saw a Ricor sticker on it we did that messing around with the Henderson Guys after they told us we should private label the oil. 99% of their customers will never see the bottle.

6" from the top should work great on your bike. Changing the oil height can be used for a tuning element, to reduce bottoming out. We have seen stock forks that have never been serviced with oil volumes all over the place.

Brian

 

Brian
Are you saying that 6" from the top with the forks tube colapsed into the slider?
manual If memory serves me is 4" from the top...
Also JSR has the intiminators installed so, when it comes time to service his front forks are you saying he needs to take the forks apart again to change the fluid?
Or
Are you stating that when he changes the fluid he can refill the fluid ti 6" from the top of the tube's cap nut?
Or
would you just suggest that he drain the fluid and add the amount of fluid that the service manual asks and pour in to service the forks in the future...
There's quite a bit of time involved to tear the forks apart again...
paul

 

The 4" is for the 49mm forks.

I would bet $$ Henderson HD did his install correctly and that he has no problems.

 

Brian, I'm very happy with the install by Henderson. The whole reason I had them do it, even though I live in northern California, was due to their experience installing lots of them.

As for servicing my forks, the service manual says to fill the forks 5.24" from the top of the fork tube, with the tube bottomed in the slider. So the only real difference between your recommendation and what the service manual says is about 3/4" of oil. As you say, the level could be adjusted slightly for tuning. I presume more oil gives a firmer ride, similar to using a heavier weight oil?

Lastly, a little birdie at Henderson told me you guys were working on some shocks with IAS. Can't you pleeeease give us a hint as to when you might have them? More than 6 months? More than a year? Next week???

Thanks for a great product!

 

I didn't notice a significant difference at first when riding on the side streets (20-30 mph), but there weren't any real bumps I could use as a test and I wasn't familiar with the roads in Henderson. I also didn't notice a difference in frontend dive when braking, but I never had an issue with that. Both before/after the intall, my forks will dive about a 1/2-1" when braking moderately hard.

But when I got on the highway (70-90mph), I could really feel the change. Best way I can describe it is that it felt like the front wheel wasn't on the ground. I'd go over all sorts of bumps and feel absolutely nothing in the bars, but I'd get a big kick from the rear. It was like riding on a unicycle, where only the rear wheel was on the ground.

This week I plan to try it out at slower speeds on some roads near home, where I'm familiar with how the bike rides over the bumps. But the biggest issue now is what to do about the rear shocks. I'm thinking about Progressive 440's since they also have Ricor's IAS system, but am open to other suggestions.


We have had a lot of feedback on just what you reported. The IAS comes alive when there is some action going on with the front forks. At low speeds most report significant less front end dive when the front brakes are hit hard, you should feel the entire bike squat instead of just the front end diving. Also should the situation arise you will also have more control and be able to steer while braking at the same time... not that you could not do that before but it will be a lot less "intimidating" as you will remain in control.
If you got a chance to meet Mike the service manager at Henderson Harley when you had your install done, I am sure he mentioned the harder you ride the better they feel. Same response we get on our off road desert racing shocks for Trophy Trucks and Class One Buggies.
Not that I wish an "aahh sh&t" experience on anyone at low speeds but we have all had them. When it does occur you will be happy with the increased control the IAS valves provides. I would not expect you to notice a lot of difference when "putting around at 20 or 30 mph" unless you had to grab the brakes hard and steer at the same time.
When we redirected to dampener rod equipped motorcycles we were also amazed at how well one could make that old technology work so much better (than even a cartridge equipped bike) with our Inertia Active System (IAS) and an a old school dampener
Glad you like your new ride and looking forward to further feedback as you get used to your bike performing as it should

BTW if anyone also has a so called Adventure Bike (AB) and rides off road ( when no other Harley riders are around of course we have the IAS valve tune nailed on the KLR650 and the DR650. We did find some Harley riders on those forums who installed then on their AB’s and liked them so much they ordered them for their Harleys.