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[Chief]

This post has no expected date, just an estimate of about a month! And if they're closed in August, why is this a silly question. By now, we should have some kind of commitment on them. And yeah, I want the new shocks. And I knew they'd be "about" a month. 2 weeks into the 4 week leadtime is enough time to at least ask if we've got a commitment date! And if it's not, it must be the Mad Cow Disease! Hoist!

Howie, Dude. I was just having some fun, at your expense I might add. You seem so excited, I just couldn't resist poppin ya once.

[erniezap]

Ok, I see that fired00d, Harry, & Don are all on tonight so I'll ask this question. I have not done anything to the shocks, yet. What do you recommend?

Bitubo, Legends, or Progressives?

Help!

 

I have the Progressives on the 05 Cherry.  They handle very well and I like the no tools adjustability.  On the down side, they are a bit bouncy and "clunk" a lot.

On the 04 Pumpkin, I have the stock shocks and have ordered the Bitubos.  Once they get here and installed, I'll offer up an opinion.

[Chief]

I have the Progressives on the 05 Cherry.  They handle very well and I like the no tools adjustability.  On the down side, they are a bit bouncy and "clunk" a lot.

On the 04 Pumpkin, I have the stock shocks and have ordered the Bitubos.  Once they get here and installed, I'll offer up an opinion.

Ernie,

My Progressives had the 'clunk' too. One of mine had a leak. I took off the springs and I could feel the same slop you get in leaky car shocks. I'm convinced that the clunk was that squishiness caused by the air space. Once I pushed it past the air space, the shock 'hooked' up and damped the motion. I think that was the clunk we can feel.

I called Progressive, and the 440's are guaranteed for life to the original purchaser. Mine are going back for a free rebuild.

[Chief]

Ride report...

This past weekend, Pinkie and I rode to Beaufort to see AJ and Sassy. This was the first chance to ride 2-up with full luggage and the Bitubos. We rode a good bit on some back roads, and thought we were getting beat up by the shocks. I had adjusted the pre-load for the weight and had added what I thought was adaquate compression damping. The road we took, had these really nasty bumps running across the entire road, maybe 15 or twenty of them total. We were getting killed on them. We pulled over and I backed the compression damping back down to "Soft" trying to soften up the shock. Long story short, it wasn't too hard, but too soft. I should have put in more damping as we had to be bottoming out.

When we bottomed the Progressives, they hit, and hit hard. The Bitubos have a softer bumper, and it was soft enough that I didn't realize we were bottoming. I thought the shocks were WAY too stiff and hardly compressing at all. Not true.

I found this out tonight when I rode the bike to the dealer with my usual preload and damping set to soft. I slid the rubber bumpers down the shaft to rest on the body of the shock. Now, when the shock compresses, the bumper will get pushed up the rod, stopping to show the maximum compression. When I got to the dealer, it was almost to the very top, within 1/4". This tels me that I was almost bottoming out riding solo with damping set to SOFT. Now, I'll have to start experimenting with the damping adjustment to figure out the best setting, because SOFT isn't enough.

[Hoist!]

BiTubo Update:

I spoke with Dan at Traxxion yesterday. The last BiTubo shocks of his bulk order to Italy was finished and being boxed yesterday. They are supposed to arrive at Traxxion by the end of next week. They'll rebox them individually, and ship them out to us immediately. With any luck, we will see them by 2 weeks from today! Can't wait!

Hoist!

[Talon]

Howie, what shocks are you running now, and I didn't look back thru this thread, but did they come in other sizes than 13"?

[Hoist!]

Howie, what shocks are you running now, and I didn't look back thru this thread, but did they come in other sizes than 13"?

The SERK uses 12's. I ordered 13's. I also raised the front 1" with the AK-20 cartridge upgrade. I'll be at stock standard RK height instead of the Profile setup on the SERK. I think they make 11.5", but I didn't look back either. But they do make them shorter.

Hoist!

[erniezap]

I ordered the 11.8 inch ones (If I remember correctly they were 300 mm)

[Chief]

Finally found a good solo setting for the compression setting for the Bitubos. I'm at 8 clicks now and I'm no longer seeing evidence of bottoming out around town. Riding 2-up, fully loaded will require a couple more.

There are a total of 12 clicks available and the adjustment is non-linear. This means the difference between the first click and the second click is a lot less than the difference between the sixth click and the seventh. I was slowly changing the damping but not seeing any change as I moved through the first several clicks. Now that I passed 6 to 7 and now at 8, the click to click difference is getting very noticeable.

[Midnight Rider]

Finally found a good solo setting for the compression setting for the Bitubos. I'm at 8 clicks now and I'm no longer seeing evidence of bottoming out around town. Riding 2-up, fully loaded will require a couple more.

There are a total of 12 clicks available and the adjustment is non-linear. This means the difference between the first click and the second click is a lot less than the difference between the sixth click and the seventh. I was slowly changing the damping but not seeing any change as I moved through the first several clicks. Now that I passed 6 to 7 and now at 8, the click to click difference is getting very noticeable.

Still messing with mine on the V too, Chuck.  Glad you're getting them dialed in.

Off topic, but how are the brake pads doing?

[Chief]

Still messing with mine on the V too, Chuck.  Glad you're getting them dialed in.

Off topic, but how are the brake pads doing?

The biggest help in figuring out the shocks is when I first slid the bump stop so it could be used as an indicator. Once I did that, I can tell how far the shocks have moved instead of just guessing, like I was doing before, wrong I might add.

I love the pads. Still no comparison with the Lyndalls tho. To use an old saying, this thing will stop on a dime and give you change.

[Hoist!]

Finally found a good solo setting for the compression setting for the Bitubos. I'm at 8 clicks now and I'm no longer seeing evidence of bottoming out around town. Riding 2-up, fully loaded will require a couple more.

There are a total of 12 clicks available and the adjustment is non-linear. This means the difference between the first click and the second click is a lot less than the difference between the sixth click and the seventh. I was slowly changing the damping but not seeing any change as I moved through the first several clicks. Now that I passed 6 to 7 and now at 8, the click to click difference is getting very noticeable.

Thanks for the update Chuck. That's good news. I was concerned from your original comments, about they way they were adjusting. But it does sound like they have the range of adjustment to get them dialed in. Let us know if more adjustment helps, or you found the sweet spot!

Hoist!

[Chief]

Thanks for the update Chuck. That's good news. I was concerned from your original comments, about they way they were adjusting. But it does sound like they have the range of adjustment to get them dialed in. Let us know if more adjustment helps, or you found the sweet spot!

Hoist!

Yea, I was dialing up and down but wasn't seeing any difference. When we left for AJs I had them set at 4 clicks and when we were getting beaten up, thinking 4 was too much, went back to 0 clicks. In hindsight, 10 clicks would have been a better place to start. It states in their documentation that the adjustment is non-linear, but I didn't realize there was so little adjustment going on at the lower setting. I have now determined the resistance you feel when turning the adjustment knob is related to the amount of damping you get.

There is almost no resistance felt in the knob through the first 6 or so clicks. Once you get to six, the knob starts to snug up, and so does the shock. Getting to 12 clicks takes a good bit of 'twist'. I bet the shock would be rock hard at 12.
 
I think you're really going to like the shocks when you get them. I was worried after the ride to AJs, but not any longer.

[erniezap]

Has anyone heard anything new regarding when we should be receiving the shocks?

[Chief]

Has anyone heard anything new regarding when we should be receiving the shocks?

Here's what Howie said:

BiTubo Update:

I spoke with Dan at Traxxion yesterday. The last BiTubo shocks of his bulk order to Italy was finished and being boxed yesterday. They are supposed to arrive at Traxxion by the end of next week. They'll rebox them individually, and ship them out to us immediately. With any luck, we will see them by 2 weeks from today! Can't wait!

Hoist!

If that's so, then August 17 would be the target.