Yet another shock upgrade thread

[kceder001]

Yet another shock upgrade

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Hi all,

Without getting into a discussion about all the various aftermarket shocks, has anybody upgraded their old air shocks to the Harley hand adjustable?

Aftermarket shocks are simply not in my budget right now, and Ive been given a set of the Harley 2019+ hand adjustable with only 6 miles on them. I already have a DK comfort lift on the bike.

Is there enough of an improvement to go thru the hassle of installing them?

 

[N8DC]

Yet another shock upgrade

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Hi all,

Without getting into a discussion about all the various aftermarket shocks, has anybody upgraded their old air shocks to the Harley hand adjustable?

Aftermarket shocks are simply not in my budget right now, and Ive been given a set of the Harley 2019+ hand adjustable with only 6 miles on them. I already have a DK comfort lift on the bike.

Is there enough of an improvement to go thru the hassle of installing them?

Ima follow this as I am in the same boat. I really love this Free but the ride in town with all the pot holes really sucks. I found a deal on some DK nexgens but the guy sold them before I could set a time to go get them. I found another set at a great price but that guy doesnt seem to want to communicate after I asked how many miles on them and why the sale. Honestly these shock prices are silly. I am on S/S and lucky to have been able to buy the trike so you get the picture.
Dave

 

[LD-Ordie]

DK advertises having a life time warranty to the original owners. I personally would not buy a used set

 

[N8DC]

DK advertises having a life time warranty to the original owners. I personally would not buy a used set

But they are rebuild able

 

[14TG]

But they are rebuild able

@N8DC ,
Agreed… in the event of a leak or failure, it’s possible there may be a fee, if one is not the original purchaser. (But chances are very slim of a warranty ever in order, I would think)

But if the deal is decent, and working on a budget, I would not hesitate to jump on any good set of used aftermarket shocks.

Keep up posted if you get that deal landed on the DK shocks if the seller responds back to you.

 

[Papa Zook]

I think yall are not reading Kelly's first post here in his thread. He and another member in this thread are looking for alternatives to spending $1000-$2000 (shocks lift & potentially install) to gain a more comfortable ride. The cost of the new generation shocks and lifts (DKs and other Popular Shocks) have steadily increased in price (and quality) and though they are well worth the cost, some choose to work within a their budget and not everyone can perform their own teardown and replacement. Kelly already has a set of HD adjustable shocks that were given to him, so let's look at that option.

 

[RKplus10]

I think yall are not reading Kelly's post. He and another member in this thread are looking for alternernatives to spending $1000-$2000 (shocks & install) to gain a more comfortable ride. The cost of the new generation shocks & lifts (DKs and other Popular Shocks) have steadily climed in price and not everyone can do their own teardown and replace for several reasons. Kelly already has a set of HD adjustable shocks that were given to him, so lets look at that option.

I agree. New shocks, for free, I would invest the time to compare them and find out how well they suit you. They have to be better than the air shocks.

 

[kceder001]

I think yall are not reading Kelly's first post here in his thread. He and another member in this thread are looking for alternatives to spending $1000-$2000 (shocks & potentially install) to gain a more comfortable ride. The cost of the new generation shocks and lifts (DKs and other Popular Shocks) has steadily increased in price, and not everyone can perform their teardown and replacement for several reasons. Kelly already has a set of HD adjustable shocks that were given to him, so let's look at that option.

Thank you Zook, you are exactly right. Im getting these HD shocks for free. They are brand new takeoffs with basically zero miles. Unfortunately, the friend who is giving them to me, never rode with them, so he can't compare them to the Legends he replaced them with.

I can do the install, I already did the lift kit, so shocks are just one more bolt. So basically, other than time spent, it's a free upgrade. Just looking to see if anyone else had gone down that path and what they thought.

One of the areas HD is ahead of all the aftermarket options is preload adjustment. Both the HD shocks, (air and coiler) can be easily adjusted for preload. I find it almost impossible to believe, that with any of the aftermarket shocks, you can find one setting that's going to work for solo, and fully loaded 2up.

And while there are lots of threads touting the "transformative" nature of the aftermarket shocks, Ive read many stating "it was a waste of money and they could barely tell the difference.

But yea, all that aside, my main question is simply, are the coil overs any improvement over the air shocks. I guess if nothing else, they wont leak down over time.

 

[14TG]

Thank you Zook, you are exactly right. Im getting these HD shocks for free. They are brand new takeoffs with basically zero miles. Unfortunately, the friend who is giving them to me, never rode with them, so he can't compare them to the Legends he replaced them with.

I can do the install, I already did the lift kit, so shocks are just one more bolt. So basically, other than time spent, it's a free upgrade. Just looking to see if anyone else had gone down that path and what they thought.

One of the areas HD is ahead of all the aftermarket options is preload adjustment. Both the HD shocks, (air and coiler) can be easily adjusted for preload. I find it almost impossible to believe, that with any of the aftermarket shocks, you can find one setting that's going to work for solo, and fully loaded 2up.

And while there are lots of threads touting the "transformative" nature of the aftermarket shocks, Ive read many stating "it was a waste of money and they could barely tell the difference.

But yea, all that aside, my main question is simply, are the coil overs any improvement over the air shocks. I guess if nothing else, they wont leak down over time.

Definitely Let us know your before and after thoughts when you swap them out!

 

[N8DC]

Thank you Zook, you are exactly right. Im getting these HD shocks for free. They are brand new takeoffs with basically zero miles. Unfortunately, the friend who is giving them to me, never rode with them, so he can't compare them to the Legends he replaced them with.

I can do the install, I already did the lift kit, so shocks are just one more bolt. So basically, other than time spent, it's a free upgrade. Just looking to see if anyone else had gone down that path and what they thought.

One of the areas HD is ahead of all the aftermarket options is preload adjustment. Both the HD shocks, (air and coiler) can be easily adjusted for preload. I find it almost impossible to believe, that with any of the aftermarket shocks, you can find one setting that's going to work for solo, and fully loaded 2up.

And while there are lots of threads touting the "transformative" nature of the aftermarket shocks, Ive read many stating "it was a waste of money and they could barely tell the difference.

But yea, all that aside, my main question is simply, are the coil overs any improvement over the air shocks. I guess if nothing else, they wont leak down over time.

Similar thing on a thread on another board. One person asks a question and 10 comeback telling you you need this simply because thats what I have. The other guy spent a grand more but he knows . Or does he. Ya I am also on a limited budget.

Suggesting possible alternatives is a lot better than saying hey I got these so you need them also.
Some of us just dont have that kind of cash to toss out there. Its a shame that H/D couldnt get it right from the factory.
Keep us posted .
Ride Safe
Dave ..... Jackson,Michigan

 

[My Turn]

I rode with stock coilovers on my 2020 for about a year before changing them out. They are definitely better than air shocks. I found it was best to run them way softer than the manual calls for. I usually ran them on about zero on the preload scale.

I completely agree with the comment about remote preload adjustment, someone should offer that on their $1000 plus shocks.

 

[My Turn]

Only problem with that is they would no longer be $1000 shocks. They'd be $1500 - $1800 shocks.

Probably correct. Thing is I bet HD doesn't pay showa 200 bucks for those stock shocks with preloaders.

 

[kceder001]

Only problem with that is they would no longer be $1000 shocks. They'd be $1500 - $1800 shocks.

I dunno? Bitibo has a set of touring shocks with a remote hydraulic preload adjuster, manual (spring) preload adjustment, and rebound damping adjustment for under $1000.

Unfortunately, it's not suitable for Trikes.

 

[kceder001]

I don't have a problem spending $1000 for shocks, if they are as good as they are perceived to be. Ive upgraded the shocks on my touring bikes, and was far from impressed. It's not that it wasn't an improvement, but it wasn't worthy of what I spent.

Over the winter, I'll probably upgrade the shocks to aftermarket, but it's not going to happen this season. Just not financially viable at the moment. Hence the original question.

 

[Zammy]

I will say this Kelly, my '15 Tri had the air shocks and we lived with them, when we traded to our present '21, it had the hand adjustable ones. It took us a couple of weeks to find the sweet spot but we did. We found the hand adjustable ones to be much better than the air ones.

 

[Papa Zook]

I will say this Kelly, my '15 Tri had the air shocks and we lived with them, when we traded to our present '21, it had the hand adjustable ones. It took us a couple of weeks to find the sweet spot but we did. We found the hand adjustable ones to be much better than the air ones.

Thanks for your feedback Gary. That's exactly what Kelly was looking for.

 

[kceder001]

Thanks for your feedback Gary. That's exactly what Kelly was looking for.

Thank you Zammy

 

[N8DC]

I see in the used market the new style H/D shocks can be bought very reasonable. I may just go that route. We rode yesterday again and mostly highway and nice smooth back roads. The problem is with the pot holed roads and patched roads. Thats where the ride really sucks. Especially in my neighborhood. What a mess. At times its bone jarring. As an ex hot rod builder I do know the disadvantages of a short wheelbase and trying to get a decent ride and yes shocks play a major role . I just dont have a grand to toss out there right now. Ima just tuff it out and see what happens down the road.
Dave .... Jackson,Michigan

 

[Notgrownup]

I went from a 14 with air shocks that were well worn out to Pro Action and it was a considerable improvement. Then I traded for a almost new 21 with the new shocks,it rode pretty good but I swapped the PA shocks over to it after a few weeks. It was again an improvement. Have you considered changing the fluid in the current air shocks? That’s another option. I will say the ride quality was better with the newer shocks but not like my properly adjusted Pro Action 14” ones. The Bitubo shocks I believe would be a compromise in cost but for just a bit more you can get the Nextgen or Pro Action…I say install the hand adjustable ones, you will see an improvement.
Intiminator valves in the front also was an improvement.

 

[kceder001]

I must have misread the question … I thought that OP was asking if anyone had taken the air shocks off of their Freewheeler and replaced them with HD stock coil overs?

Replacing the entire Trike with a 6 year new one that came with coil overs? Does that address changing your air shocks or an entire different situation?

My question would be why was a set of brand new never used shocks removed from a brand new Trike?

Unscrewing the proverbial radiator cap and driving a new car under it is probably not the best comparison of air vs coils on your existing trike … just mho

He went from HD air shocks on one trike to HD coil overs on an identical trike. Pretty much exactly like swapping one shock for the other.

You have made you point. Aftermarket is better. DUH. That was not my question. Moreover, the very first sentence in my post was "without getting into a discussion about aftermarket shocks" Im perfectly capable of reading the dozens of threads on this an other forums regarding aftermarket shocks, and have done so. There was little to no information out there regarding my very specific question/scenerio, hence my post.

Again, you've made you point. Thank you for your input. Now let it go.

 

[N8DC]

He went from HD air shocks on one trike to HD coil overs on an identical trike. Pretty much exactly like swapping one shock for the other.

You have made you point. Aftermarket is better. DUH. That was not my question. Moreover, the very first sentence in my post was "without getting into a discussion about aftermarket shocks" Im perfectly capable of reading the dozens of threads on this an other forums regarding aftermarket shocks, and have done so. There was little to no information out there regarding my very specific question/scenerio, hence my post.

Again, you've made you point. Thank you for your input. Now let it go.

Yup . Some just cant help themselves . Beating a dead horse.
Dave .