Thunder Roads Magazine of Oklahoma/Arkansas May 2016 | Page 18

TECH TIPS

SHOCKING TRUTH ABOUT YOUR
SUSPENSION By Kiel Morgan, Fort Thunder Harley-Davidson

We are rolling into May already and riding
season is in full swing. Hopefully everyone has
their wintertime projects finished and are back
on the road logging some miles and making new
friends.
We’re gonna jump right in with this month’s
topic and trust me it’s going to be SHOCKING!!!
I get asked quite a bit about suspension and even
more frequently about lowering a bike and what
options are out there. I’m going to do my best to
try to address both of these topics since they go
together like a chain and sprocket. I’m not going
to necessarily talk about the dynamics of how a
shock works, I think we all have a pretty decent
understanding of how a shock is supposed to
function when working properly but more so on
improving your ride if you’re not happy with the
current setup.
There are several aftermarket companies out
there that offer “lowering kits or blocks” where you
essentially add a bracket to your existing setup and
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Thunder Roads Magazine of OK/AR

then relocate where your shock mounts. Lowering
is usually achieved by changing the angle of the
shock. What most and more commonly results
are bent shocks, a stiffer ride and rubbed through
saddlebags. Very rarely have I seen anyone use
lowering kits and be happy with the end results. In
my opinion the only way to properly lower a bike is
to reduce the length of the shock itself.
If you’re unhappy with your front suspension,
you experience more brake dive than you’d like
or just want a little more in the corners, HarleyDavidson makes an upgraded premium ride
cartridge fork kit that can resolve your concerns.
Legends Suspension revealed the Axeo front end
kit recently and has gotten great reviews as well.
Both kits are available in standard and lowered ride
height that will not only set your front end down
about an inch from standard but also improve your
handling in the curves and during braking.
The area I get the most questions and concerns
from is the rear shock setup on most bikes. It’s no