Hi everyone, well I am happy with my bike all most areas except the front end, I know "its a harley they do that etc etc blah, blah blah" but for me its just not good enough.
I live in the Isa and the roads are shit here to say the least, I also dont think there is a single bike rider on the council as the amount of lose gravel siting around the place defies logic (thats my rant done), long and short of it is i ride a bit harder than I should and have a few WTF moments, usual stuff clunk, bump, bounce, shake the bars, etc.
As I know f all about the options out there I am looking for some advice, cost effective, cheap fixes to try first, then way over the top options.
i also think some of it is the tire, so thats on the list as well, (dont know why HD put them out with dunlops on tires arent that expensive and buying as a large order I am sure they could get a better deal going).
anyway waiting and looking to learn something.
PS i did search frist but could really get the info I wanted, my ride is a FXDWG 2010
By just putting in heavy oil (only) to solve a suspension problem is not the way to go. This slows down your suspension movement (without modifying suspension parts), defeating the purpose of your forks (move v/s solid).. A simple understanding of how your forks work before doing something would be far more helpful to you than by: “Doing the doing without knowing the knowledge beforehand”.
* With the base oil level specified, add 10 mm of oil will increase your air spring value (stop your forks from bottoming out) as will increasing it in 10 mm increments will increase this value.
* In my experience this is the most discussed and wish for changed problem on a HD.
*By welding and re-drilling the holes in the Damper Tube will modify the rebound.
* By adding some cheap 2006 & above 41 mm (for 41 mm forks only) HD emulators found in Dressers will also modify the rate as well.. By changing the spring on the emulator will modify it even more. Of course this is inconvenient because full fork disassembly must be performed. This is the same with Race Tech Emulators (Custom Modification).
The "weight" which is viscosity at a temperature varies for all application and depends on the metering holes and overall design. OEM is 5W and RaceTech is 15W. We who use Öhlins use a very light weight (5w oil due to the many engineering designs and extreme close tolerances. The thinner the oil the less overall restriction (stiction) you have.
For the money, and someone who has little technical background in suspension;
I cannot recommend using a progressively wound (not the company but a method) springs as I always use a predictable linear wound spring.
FH, your'e obviously a little bit knowledgable on the subject.
I have, along with many others, performed the simple upgrades that I have outlined above. I have heard before that progressive springs are not the best option, and I have no reason to doubt you. But for the fairly cheap cost, and the results compared to standard forks, I'm happy with the improvement.
Interesting to note that a modern springer front end is supposed to outperform telescopic forks, I've heard these claims and also seen them substantiated to some degree!
