CVOFatboy I'm not sure if Draggin Baggers is still marketing their air ride. Their was much discussion on one of the Harley boards that he was using a 9" shock and this was causing or could cause problems.
My take on it. It appears a Monroe air shock was being used and re-marketed, not uncommon. The problem was with the shock travel. MY bike makes tire to fender contact at 10 1/8". So a 9" shock is not good! A 10 1/2" shock is the preferred unit. Next came the total travel. A Monroe shock has about 6" of travel. A HD swing arm bike has about 3" of usable travel. At this point the axle or shock bolts come into contact with the mufflers. Now if you had the new Hot Rod Bagger exhaust this wouldn't be an issue. One of the complaints I read was that guys were denting their mufflers when they air up. Sure this is plausible but in my experience the ride would be so horrible why would you have it aired up? Next was the valving of the shock and its original application (older Vette).
All that aside I did some further research and decided to improve upon what one man had already tried. I knew I couldn't use a shock shorter than 10 1/2". Vehicle application had to be considered as to not jar my fillings out. With those couple of parameters I found a set that would suit my application. Hey for $70 it was worth trying. After machining the bushings to their correct size and adapting the air lines to my current size I was good to go. My only concern was the over extending of the height. After some experimenting I discovered my compressor wouldn't pump the shocks up fast enough as to where I'd be making a slamming indent in my pipes. My next thought was a limiting strap like I use to run on my lifted trucks. I researched this and found the right length (have yet to order them).
Next was to road test them. Bike Week was only days away so I loaded the bike and my old shocks just in case. After some air pressure adjustments on the fly I found "the" spot where the ride was exactly what I wanted. Coincidentally that was at about 1 1/2" from full collapsed which made it half of my travel, perfect. My buddy had asked what I though of the shocks. I replied it is a 9 1/2 out of 10 as nothing is perfect.
Well after spending a week riding with these shocks with the bike loaded and unloaded I'd give it a 10. The cost makes up for the other half of a point I initially deprived them of. The shocks, can of paint and air lines fittings ran me about $100. I already owned the compressor which saved me about $150. So for $250 I have a bike that rides as good (plush) as my stock bike, has the ability to go slammed as my Legends (original converted shocks) did and at a cost that if it fails within a few years I'm out nothing.
Author
Topic: Draggin Baggers Air Suspension (Read 5877 times)