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[Doubletap]

Progressive 940 Ultras's just delivered off the truck and are now laying in a chair across from me just begging to be installed. I hope tonights ride is worth the investment.   

[Banana man]

It will be, just gettem on!!

[NYSport]

Great,  Let us know how they perform.

[Eagle Eye]

Progressive 940 Ultras's just delivered off the truck and are now laying in a chair across from me just begging to be installed. I hope tonights ride is worth the investment.   

I know how you feel!  Congrats and hope they live up to your expectations! 

[Doubletap]

Shocks installed this morning followed by a brief test ride around the neighborhood. One thing I noticed immediately upon preparing to remove the old air shocks was the difference in length between the old ones and the new 940's. Not being familiar with air shocks on a HD I didn't know what to expect when adjusting them but always thought it was strange that they never seemed to raise or lower with air pressure adjustments. Anything from 7 psi all the way up to 45 psi there was no change at all. And the ride was not really different either.

So with the bike on a frame lift I loosened the shock bolts and adjusted the lift so the rear tire was just touching the ground. This allowed the old shocks to slip right off after removing the bolts. Once the prep work was complete I held one of the 940's up to mounts and the bolt holes were significantly off. I had to raise the lift, therefore lowering the rear tire, about 2" before the bolts would line up. After torquing all the bolts and checking for proper clearance everywhere I removed the bike from the lift and sat on the seat. It is quite a bit taller than it was before. Still fine as far as being able to put my feet flat on the ground though.

The short test ride was incredible. Very smooth and no bottoming out. I put two turns of pre-load on them for now. I'm 260 lbs so I felt that I needed some extra spring rate above base "soft" setting. This seems to work very well. A real road test will confirm that then a second road test with the old lady will be needed to set the 2 up rate.

In the end I'm convinced the old air shocks were absolutely shot. It was almost like riding a solid hard tail frame. By the way, installing the 940's also seemed to change the loading on the front forks allowing them to work a little better. Monotubes are in the near future and I can't wait to feel the difference then. Overall I'm very pleased with the install and relieved that the shocks were the problem all along.

[Dead_Reckoning]

Have you adjusted the ride sag yet?
Progressive says it should be 33% of the total travel.
My 440 HDs have a total travel of 3.18" so I adjusted my ride sag to 1"


Scott Hodgson, Progressive’s director of applications engineering, has more than two decades of experience with motorcycle suspension. In video clip below, he walks you through a detailed setup on a Harley bagger, although the same instructions apply to those adjusting a twin-shock bike (you’ll be amazed by the difference a little tuning can make).
http://blog.jpcycles.com/2010/07/video-makes-quick-work-of-suspension-setup/


DR

Shocks installed this morning followed by a brief test ride around the neighborhood. One thing I noticed immediately upon preparing to remove the old air shocks was the difference in length between the old ones and the new 940's. Not being familiar with air shocks on a HD I didn't know what to expect when adjusting them but always thought it was strange that they never seemed to raise or lower with air pressure adjustments. Anything from 7 psi all the way up to 45 psi there was no change at all. And the ride was not really different either.

So with the bike on a frame lift I loosened the shock bolts and adjusted the lift so the rear tire was just touching the ground. This allowed the old shocks to slip right off after removing the bolts. Once the prep work was complete I held one of the 940's up to mounts and the bolt holes were significantly off. I had to raise the lift, therefore lowering the rear tire, about 2" before the bolts would line up. After torquing all the bolts and checking for proper clearance everywhere I removed the bike from the lift and sat on the seat. It is quite a bit taller than it was before. Still fine as far as being able to put my feet flat on the ground though.

The short test ride was incredible. Very smooth and no bottoming out. I put two turns of pre-load on them for now. I'm 260 lbs so I felt that I needed some extra spring rate above base "soft" setting. This seems to work very well. A real road test will confirm that then a second road test with the old lady will be needed to set the 2 up rate.

In the end I'm convinced the old air shocks were absolutely shot. It was almost like riding a solid hard tail frame. By the way, installing the 940's also seemed to change the loading on the front forks allowing them to work a little better. Monotubes are in the near future and I can't wait to feel the difference then. Overall I'm very pleased with the install and relieved that the shocks were the problem all along.

[Doubletap]

Thanks for the link and info DR. I was taught many years ago to set shock preload to put them in the sweet spot. Yesterdays estimation on my part was pretty damn close. I added preload last night for the first two up ride and it was fantastic. The wife unit actually commented on how much better the ride was. Hard, short bumps (like those damn asphalt patches from utility line work) can still be a little harsh but nothing like they were before and no bottoming out at all. I'll check the measurements this afternoon and see where it calculates at. Thanks to everyone here that offered opinions on shocks or posted reviews of the Progressive 940's. It made my decision a lot easier.