The Intiminators on my 09 were a bitch to put in. I have installed them myself on other bikes I own and were easy to install but these took a well known suspension guru from this site to install and he won't ever do again, he told me. Compressing the spring enough to put the cap on is way too hard. Were we doing something wrong?

 

Putting the cap back on can be a bear but not usually the way you have described it.

It is possible the fork springs on the newer touring bikes are stiffer to answer to the many complaints about the front end being too soft. The Intiminators do add a little more preload so maybe it's enough to make it harder than normal.

I would give Ricor a call or email them to be sure. I'm very sure they would want your input on this.

 

So what would it cost for these and rear shocks? do these increase ride quality (plushness) as well as handling? Are they something an average backyard wrench could do (I dont have a jack)?

 

Yes to all. A scissor jack from a car would help if you don't have a bike jack.

You can even use 2x4's. Adding them one at a time as you rock the bike side to side. Kinda like a ladder to get the front end up.

Presently for both the Ricor Intiminators and Ricor shocks with the HD Forum discount (use "hdforums" at checkout) it'll run ya under $900.

If the guys who have given their opinion are to be believed, and I do believe them, the bike will be far and away better to ride for plushness and handling both.

I'm currently running Ohlins on the rear and they say there's an improvement in ride over them which is really saying something.

 

I struggled with the decision whether to buy the intimidators or not. I finally gave in and bought them. Last night I finally got to ride with em in. Wow they did make a huge difference. Well worth the money. Now I gotta do something about the back end.

I thought the installation was pretty straight forward and simple. Ya getting the fork cap back on took some extra effort but not bad at all. Did it myself by putting the bottom of the leg on a 2x4 on the floor, grabbed the tube with one hand pulling up and using the palm of my other hand pushed down on the fork cap using my body weight to help compress the spring. Took me 3 or 4 trys but went on with little problem.

 

Yup, fronts and rears here as well for less than $900. I'm hoping the rear shocks come in next week.

The 2009-2010 bikes have stiffer fork springs. We tried a couple of times to have one guy holding the fork tube, and the other guy pushing down on the cap trying to thread it. Ended up using a really long pipe clamp, which took all the effort out and made it simple.

 

Linking

 

tag for ref.

 

Have an 2007FLSTF, just had new dunlop front tire put on and figured that it was time to have the intiminators installed too.

It was 38 degrees and raining hard when I left the service shop 1 mile from my house, so I did not do anything but get home. I hope to put some road time in when the freakish cold April weather turns warm for a couple of hours of ride time.

Frame response pushing down on the forks is stiffer, and hope the overall ride will be improved.

Cheers,

Mark

 

I installed a set on my Street Bob with the 49mm forks. I was trippin at first because I thought I would never be able to compress the spring also. I had to hold down on the spring then hold it, the intiminators would then slowly go down into place. After a few seconds, maybe a minute, you can get the spring down to where it should be. I guess its the dampening working on the ricor valve is what makes it hard to get the dampener where it needs to be. At least that was my experience with it.

I also used 15W oil in

I havent taken a ride on them yet, and am really anxious to.