G'day . I've just upgraded my 2010 fatboy lo suspension front and rear and thought I'd do a write up in case anyone else is thinking of doing the same. I'll go through the problems I had with the stock setup , ordering info , price , delivery , fitting and the test ride. First of all we are talking about a 300+kg motorcycle with solid disc wheels which don't really assist the suspension because of the unsprung weight. So its never going to handle like a Honda 250. I'm not expecting miricles , just trying to get rid of some bad behaviour and get a more comfortable safer ride. I searched the net for a while wanting to spend my money here but the yanks won out by about 300 bucks so thats the way I went. I bought from American Classic Motors. I got the 422 series softail shocks for $345 USD and the Monotube fork cartridge kit for $169 USD. I used the aust post Shop mate for delivery and it worked out at just under $800 Au delivered. My bike has fairly high milage , nearly 100,000 but has been dealer maintained all that time by the previous owner. So its in good nick considering but understandable that the suspension may be a bit tired. If you have a newish bike you may not have the problems I was experiencing .
FRONT
Basicly the forks were under sprung and had no dampening. When you hit bumps the front end would bounce a few times until it settled. It was worst hitting bumps mid-corner , I had to hold the bars really tight and hope it didn't push me to the outside of the corner . Hardly surprising when you see what's inside the forks. There isn't even a dampening rod conecting the top cap to the lower fork leg. Showa make the forks and I know they can supply much better because they're near the top of the game in MX and road racing . HD should use better forks from new. The progressive kit is a closed cartridge . All you do is remove the wheel , mudguard and caliper. Undo the big bolt at the top of the fork leg and you can get at the bolt for the lower triple clamp behind the tins without disturbing the headlight or tins. Once you loosen that the fork leg should slip out. Loosen the allen head bolt in the bottom of the fork lower before you take the top cap off as it puts pressure on it and stops it spinning. You can drain the oil with the phillips screw or the allen bolt when the top cap is removed. Remember to hold pressure on the top cap as you're taking it off or the spring will pop it off. Take out the spring , dampener and top out spring. The progressive cartridge replaces these but reuse the top out spring. There is 2 preload spacers I started with both but went back to 1. Repeat with the other and assemble the front end.
REAR
Similar problems to the front . No dampening but there is preload adjustment. Didn't seem to be a happy place between soft and bouncy or hard with to fast rebound that was like being kicked in the backside. I ordered shocks for the standard Fatboy as I'd rather have more suspension travel and ground clearence . These shocks have enough adjustment that you can lower them 2 inches if you choose . The shocks are a straight swap for the old ones and have the preload set on the softest setting .I found them a bit hard to get at under there , I removed one at a time with a lift under the frame and a jack under the wheel .
TEST RIDE
Took it easy at first , but it didn't take long to notice the improvment. It wasn't so much that it was heaps better to ride , as I said before its never going to ride like a lighter bike. Its more that the bad behaviours were gone . You no longer have to brace yourself for the bumps , you still feel them but it doesn't upset the bike or kick you in the pants. The front doesn't bounce anymore and tracks well around corners. At first I had the 2 preload spacers in the forks and felt it was a bit stiff so I went home and took one out . That improved it. I would have also liked to soften the rear a little but they are already on the softest setting. I'm hopeing they'll soften a bit with use. I weigh 80 kg so I'm not really at fat boy on a fatboy.
Conclusion : Well I'm happy with the result. I'm a lot more confident that it"s not going to do anything unexpected on bumpy roads and especialy hitting bumps in corners.
No I just got the cheaper ones you adjust under the bike with the spanner they provide. Its not that hard to do and I usually leave them alone once I'm happy. Took her out again this arvo and I'm so much more confident on it. Went around some bumpy corners at different speeds on country roads and it goes where its pointed , just stays on the chosen line and not unsettled at all.
The front was the biggest improvement. When you see what's inside the forks you'll know why .
FXST11 Read through my front susp review . You could do it in a couple of hours , no worries if you are confident working on bikes. No need to disturb fork seals . The cartridge inserts replace the top caps and damping tube at the bottom of the forks
Ok, Me & a mate fitted my Progressive Mono Tubes on Thursday, They already had 1 C clip fitted. I added 1 more. ( I weigh 104kg) I have tried bouncing ( well holding front brakes on and pushing down hard on front) seems a lot better compared to stock, It's been raining up here so have not had a chance to test ride yet. Took 2hours 15min from Start to finish. Will post up test ride soon ( hopefully)
Test Ride done.
Ok, well stopped raining lte morning so took bike out for an hour or two. nty rough road to test on aound Yarramalong & Kulnurra and back up the F3/M1. Went well, nice and firm but not to firm. No bouncing around the rough corners. I purposely hit a few decent dips in the road and it was good. I even a couple times let go of the bars at 80km/h & 110km/h and no wobbling of the bars, where as before it used to get a bit of a wobble. Tried heavy Front braking and only dived 50/60mm, compared to before it would dive about 120/150mm.
Yes i am very happy with the outcome. So now i have the 422 rear shocks & Progressive Mono Tube front springs.
Upgraded to the 422's on the back and the cartridges on the front last week and very happy. I ride a 2013 Softail slim and Did a 570km door to door yesterday and the results were brilliant. FIrstly a couple of notes When doing the front it is a good opportunity to check the headstem preload while the bars are swinging, that will def help with any wobble when you go handsfree at speed. in essence if there is movement in the stem it is usually the first place to develop a wobble, secondly always check that the preload set on the rears is the lightest as although they say they set that at the factory, mine were up a bit from the lightest setting.
Ride differences - Firstly I have had the bike since new and put 15000kms since then so am very used to the ups and downs on my ride.
Front - similar to the other posters I am wrapped in the front upgrade with considerable difference in the confidence I have cornering and the way the bike tracks and holds line. took about 100kms before I could honestly say I was enjoying the change, as the first part of the ride was a pretty uneventful highway. after that the change in the speed I was able to attack the corners with was the big difference. the lack of spnginess in the front end was also quite noticeable. The bike does not dive anywhere as much on braking into corners now and boy it's a much more fun ride.
Rear - much firmer ride since the upgrade and like others I have it on the lightest setting but it still feels so much firmer. after about two hundered kms I thought (wrongly) that this would lead to me being a bit worse for wear after the whole day but no. After a long day in the saddle I have pulled up better than I would normally and can say that the difference is in the behaviour of the shocks. the frimness in the rear added plenty to my confidence in cornering and dips etc and the bike did not shudder my arsebones when it eventually did bottom out. I put it down to the increased resistance in travel of the shocks. I felt the road more with these shocks and at first I thought this would be a bad thing, but this in part is what added to the confidence. overall I am wrapped in the changes and 24 hours later I feel I could do it all again today.
