I am putting lowered suspension on the bike at the next service. After discussion on another thread I thought I would get some opinions from you guys and put them in the Softail section for easy future reference.

I was headed down the Progressive  suspension road because it is what I have ridden before, which dosen't mean it's the most suitable. I got in touch with IKON suspension in Aulbry, but they don't do Softail rears at the moment. So a few questions to get started:

What suspension do you (or have run) on a Softail?

What was the improvement over stock?

By lowering your ride, did the ride become overly harsh?

How low did you go?

Once lowered did you have any problems going 2 up, ie bottoming out giving your large mate a lift?

I am looking at lowering about 1 inch, do a fair bit of 2 up with the missus and ride on less than perfect North Queensland roads.

Cheers

Greg

 

Hi Greg

Pity that IKON don't do Softail suspension

I had Fournales on my Heritage eventually after spending heaps,including having the originals rebuilt.The Fournales were superb,they improved the Handling,and 94 Softails need as much help as they can get.I had them built by Bertrand le frog in Tassy,to my weight and riding style specs and they were excellent.They weren't harsh,which I have found with a lot of the bikes I have ridden with Americam made suspension systems,and I found that they greatly help improve the rear end wallow you get from softails when you are up them around fast sweepers particulars,they still do it because the fam is trying to twist itself like a pretzel,but the Fournales try and keep your wheels on the bitumen,The only downside is the Cost,they are expensive.And you won't bottom out a Fournales if you have it built for you and set it up correctly,and you can have them built for altered ride hight as well.If you want more info on Fournales you can look at their website  or speak to Bertrand direct on 03 6375 1666,and no I have nothing to do with them,I just found the number on an old invoice I still have here.

nobody

I can back nobody up on his reccomendation for the fourneals. A mate has them on his sporty and they are superb, and in fact have been rated by many as the best on the market.

 

Lowered mine 2" just got the extended bolts that you can adjust $200 fitted love the look(The stock hight is sooo high).A bit harsh but not to bad . If you go for a long 2up ride you can put back to stock in about 5 min very easy

Hi Greg,

We have lowere several with the lowering kit as per Phil's note above. The suspension in the softails allows you to adjust preload as well as free length. Mine is lowered approx 1"-1.5" with the preload increased. Just rode 2500 kms in a week without no dramas. Only place I bottomed anywhere was when I hit a hard bump that no amount of suspension was gonna help.

I have also regularly been 2 up with my son ( 5'6" 65kgs) and only bottom on extreme bumps. 1" should be fine and brings the curve of the guard in line with the ridge on the tyre. You can pick up the lowering kit on ebay for $50-$80.

Hope that helps

cheers

Mick

Thanks for the advice, yeh it is defiantly too high when stock. I'll let you know how I go.

Hey Phil, any difference in ride quality with those extended bolt lowering kit and is clearance still ok when going two up?

Greg

I am thinking about putting on Fourneals on my 2000 Fatty after reading these coments, just got back after riding from Batemans Bay to Canberra and back, which i do all the time, up over the clyde mountain, any input welcome!

Hi Greg,

I put progressives on my softy a few weeks ago and am still in the tuning stages. They are a much firmer ride than OEM and seem to hold the road realy well. I will give the lowering part a go in the next week, ground clearance is a concern in the twisties

Bt

I went with the lowering bolts. Had them on since the first service. Went down about an inch and as was mentioned, no change in the ride feel. Once I have put a few more K's on the stockers and the get sloppy I'll go down the progressive/fournels path.

You should have the set up sorted by then BT, so it will be easier for me when I get there!!!

If you take it down an inch how does it affect clearance in the twisties ??

Hi Greg,
You cant go wrong with Progressive front & Fornarles rear.
I'm a fat bastard, got 2" over forks with progressive springs and Fornales rear.
Been running them for 3 years now & no problems.
As your aware you can raise & lower the ass easily with a HP Pump.
Cheers Sid

bike goin into service next week and i had booked to put progressive front springs on front. maybe look at doing the whole package back and front - what is the approx cost of the rear fournales ?

just put progressive front springs on ... wow what a difference ! will never ride on bog std again

Being 18kg lighter than the MOCO std person of 80kg I tried softening the rear springs only to find they were already as soft as they get.
Do std Fournales go OK set up this soft or should I go straight to the 'build me a set' option?

And has any one ever asked their Insurance Co. what they think of non OEM suspention components that don't come with certification from the vehicle maker? Know a four wheeling freak who had probs in this area at claim time following a "at fault, single vehicle smash"

Hi Guy's,

                  I lowered mine with the lowering bolts and it rode really well but when I put one of my kids on the back small bumps became noticalbe. When for a ride with the speed demons down south and on some high speed sweepers noticed the girl twitching in the rear. So I've just invested in a set of progressive 422 as I've read alot of good things about them. So when I get home I'll be swapping out the original shocks with the lowering bolts for the 422. So I'll keep you guys informed on what I find.

has anyone got anymore updates?

has anyone got any sites for fournales to buy/info?

Am having a set of Fournales fitted and replacing the fork springs with Progressive and also changing the fork oil on thursday. Will let everyone know what the difference is after that.....the Fournales are $1800 and springs $199  (nz dollars)

Just picked her up with the Fournales, progessive springs and 20w fork oil. What has happened to my bike? The old softail wallow has gone, the bumps have gone, it goes round corners like it is on rails  and this is only one up..looking forward to taking my wife for a ride to get her verdict but I love the changes....

 

GO AND GET FOURNALES FITTED and do the front springs at the same time..it is worth every cent of the cost  ($2500 nzd including labour). I am in love with my bike all over again, its like a new bike...