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[bissjim]

How can I smooth out the ride on my 09 Ultra?

My wife recently started riding and I have played with the air shock settings for a month now trying to smooth out those nasty road bumps. Some of those bumps really give us both a jolt     and my wife's tail bone gets sore on a 4 hour ride. I'm thinking of maybe different shocks, but if that is the answer then what kind of shock? Any ideas or opinions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[gabe]

 how about a new seat or have  your ultra seat re foamed  i have a 09  wife rides no problem   also it sounds like where you live you have bad roads  maybe you can move to where the roads  are better  (just kidding)
 i had my seat done by my buddie there is  plenty of options ?

[bissjim]

Already spent big $$$ to have the seat modified. It did make the seat more comfortable but it does nothing to help absorb those jolts. I can handle the occasional bad bump or RR crossing but my wife has a bad tail bone anyway so it's harder on her then me. The stock shocks just don't seam to do much in the way of absorbing those jolts. When we hit one it's like the bike has a solid frame with no suspension at all. Like that little dirt bike we had back in the 50's.

I hate spending more big $$$ on things that are supposed to do the job just to find out they really don't. I figured instead of spending more $$$ I would ask to see what others have done to solve the problem. Maybe I have a bad shock or shocks but the bike only has 7K miles on it and has always been hard riding when it comes to those occasional bad bumps.

Maybe that is just the way the Ultra's are.

[Ironhorse]

Uncomfortable question to ask here,.. how much do you and your wife weigh?
Do you ride with the bike fully loaded with "stuff"?
Have you tried playing with the air in the shocks?

[sportygordy]

The stock shocks just don't seam to do much in the way of absorbing those jolts. When we hit one it's like the bike has a solid frame with no suspension at all. Like that little dirt bike we had back in the 50's.

Maybe that is just the way the Ultra's are.

I test drove a BMW 1200K last summer and couldn't believe the smoothness of that bike, like floating on air. Not sure what it would take to get the Harley Touring up to the BMW riding comfort level but the older i get more i like the idea   I think there is more to it then simply changing shocks though.  It's my guess the complete frame design is the big factor to BMW's ride comfort.  - Did i consider buying that BMW back then?   Yup sure did, until i got back on my Harley....   Much more fun to ride the Hogs  

[1abastarsmda]

What is the actual air pressure that you are running in the shocks?  Two up riding on an 09 SEUC should require somewhere around 40 lbs give or take a few pounds of pressure.  At least that's a good starting point to try out.  Many of us, including myself, continued to try to use 10, 15, or 20 lbs or so like in previous models, until I was schooled on here about it.  Actually, I think my dealer may have mentioned it to me also.  But the 09's do need more air pressure.  If you still aren't happy after trying pressures up into the 40's, there are a few different brands of shocks out there that will come highly recommended by many on this forum.  I haven't tried any of them, so I can't really comment on their effectiveness.  I'll just say that I had the problem with the shocks bottoming out until I raised my air pressure significantly.  One other thing...make sure you use something along the lines of the Harley shock pump.  Don't use a compressor to pump up your shocks.

[bissjim]

Thanks for your inputs.

I was out on a ride with the local HOG chapter yesterday and was talking with a fellow who had an exact copy of my 09. I asked him how he liked the suspension two up and he replied that after he got the air in the shocks adjusted he and his wife were comfortable but he said he was looking at seats. I replied to him that I have played with the air from 5 to 50 Lbs and it still felt like the bike was bottoming out on bumps. The combined weight for my wife and I is around 330 Lbs if I can believe what my wife says she weighs….LOL

Any way to make a long story I asked him if he would take my bike with his wife for a short ride to see if it rode like his did and he agreed. So we put 40 lbs of air in the shocks (that is what he is running in his) and he took off down the street with his wife on the back. He was back in about two minutes, got off the bike and said it rode like a wooden horse cart on a pebble road.

He told me to take his for a ride with my wife to see the difference and I did. I can not explain the difference but if mine rides like a wooden horse cart on a pebble road his rides like a Lazy Boy on a cloud.

I’m taking mine back to the dealer as he thinks I have one if not two bad shocks. He was not sure but he said I have some thing that’s not correct.

Stay tuned to this channel for further updates on this story.

[kraut]

interesting observation.

As I'm waiting for my FLHTCUSE4 to get road-ready I'm touring around with some of our dealers bikes. Two weeks ago I had a FLHR 09 - perfectly nice ride with some 35 on the back shocks with two-up and some luggage, allthough the bike tended to leak air and had to be pumped up again every 200-300 km. Last weekend I got a FLHRC 09, delivered some 6 weeks earlier. Put 35 on the shocks an still bottomed out on some occasion.

There seems to be a major quality-problem with the rear touring shocks lately.

[Gecko]

I test drove a BMW 1200K last summer and couldn't believe the smoothness of that bike, like floating on air. Not sure what it would take to get the Harley Touring up to the BMW riding comfort level but the older i get more i like the idea   I think there is more to it then simply changing shocks though.  It's my guess the complete frame design is the big factor to BMW's ride comfort.  - Did i consider buying that BMW back then?   Yup sure did, until i got back on my Harley....   Much more fun to ride the Hogs  

Suspension travel.  The BMW has a little over five inches on the rear and a sophisticated system to take advantage of it.  The Ultra has less travel and a crude swing-arm system.

[grc]

Suspension travel.  The BMW has a little over five inches on the rear and a sophisticated system to take advantage of it.  The Ultra has less travel and a crude swing-arm system.

Yup.  And the BMW frame & suspension were designed in modern times and use modern components, while H-D has seen no need to progress past the 1960's with their suspension designs.  I still get the impression that Willy and the boys think everyone just shines these things up and sits around looking at them (and adding more chrome), as opposed to doing some actual riding.

Best part is, check out the MSRP for a K1200LT and the list of standard features, then look at the CUSEx.  Things like electronic suspension adjustment, electrically adjustable windshield, electro-hydraulic center stand, heated grips that actually work, excellent ABS, high end audio, etc. are standard on the LT.  The BMW outruns, outhandles, and outrides the Harley, and it costs $21.5k versus $35.5k.  And the LT isn't even the fast one, that would be the K1300GT with 160 hp.  That one can be had for $19k without all the extras.  Rather strange how the Germans, with their high manufacturing costs, can put so much more into their bikes and charge so much less than the folks in Milwaukee.

Jerry

[mrmagloo]

Sounds like the problem is bottoming out. Try 35 psi for one up, and 50 psi for two up, and adjust from there to minimize the bottoming. The '09's need a little more pressure.

[bissjim]

Tech found the problem.

The air line that goes from the left shock to the right shock was kinked     and not allowing air to fill the right shock. So basically I was riding with air in the left shock only. New line and now it rides without that darn jar every time I hit a bump.      You have to wonder how it got kinked, tech things it came from the factory that way. 

[kraut]

nice things happen at the factory 

But thx, will have that checked before I take over my new bike on thursday.

[sportygordy]

You mean your not going to test drive a Beamer Cycle after all 

[kraut]

we are a bunch of beta-testers all together - be it the I.E 8 or the Harley