Replaced stock shocks and fork springs with Ikon products from newspeedmaster.com. With stock suspension, my bike was okay for the staight runs and smooth curves but hit a curve with some dips in it and the ride got pretty scary. As a result of that happening too many times I decided to upgrade my suspension. I looked at all the main products discussed on the forum, researched progressive shock technology and thought long and hard. I contacted Brent because I have done business with him in the past and was satisfied and asked him some direct questions about his product. He stated that the Ikons were midline products. I didn't want to spend too much but I know from experience that too cheap can be just that, cheap. I ordered the Ikons and within 3 days UPS I had them.
The install went smoothly. The rear shocks basically bolted right back where the stocks were. Had to put a lever under the rear tire to lift it a bit to get the shocks to slide into place. I set them to the middle of three preload settings and the damper wheel to 2.
The fork springs were easy too. I also installed some 4" risers so while I had the bars off I pulled the springs and exchanged them for the Ikon progressive springs. The Ikon springs were longer than the stock springs causing my spacers to stick up about 2" above the top of the tubes. I marked the spacers and used some square alluminum 3/4" tubing to make some new spacers for the Ikons. My spacers were about a 1/4" above the tubes at that point. I replaced the fork caps. The Ikons were pretty stiff and made the caps hard to get started, but it worked out okay.
I had to do a tire change and it was a couple days before I got to try out my new suspension. Once I did I found the ride to be rather rough compared to the stock ride. I changed the preload on the rear shocks to the lowest setting and that made the rear about the same but still firmer than stock. The forks were rough and I felt every small road surface change in the handle bars. The whole bike seemed to sit a couple inches higher than stock. But man, I'm here to tell you that I have never took the curves and turns on my bike like with the Ikons. No matter how fast or steep the curve, I just lay into it and she hangs in there. Curves that were scaring the **** out of me before are now fun again, but I was sitting a bit too high and my forks seemed fully extended while at rest. I could tell a big difference at 80 and 90 mph too.
Sunday afternoon after church, I was needing to reroute my throttle cables due to the handlebar risers. I installed my new quiet pipes (thanks Fatrat) and jacked up my bike. I though I could pull the spacers out without removing the bars but they were a little too long. I thought about it and decided that I could shorten the spacers. As long as the caps contacted them before they bottomed out there would be adequate preload on the springs. I cut them to where there was 3/4" from the top of the tubes to the top of the spacers. After getting everything back together, the front sat back to the stock level and the ride smoothed out. But the progressive action is still very effective in the curves and at high speeds.
The overall ride is still slightly rougher than stock but not annoyingly so. The performance in curves and corners is solid and stable making the bike much safer to operate overall. My final settings of the rear shocks was at the lowest preload with the dampening wheel at 1. More aggressive riding will require the dampening wheel to be set higher.
My bike is a completely different bike with the new suspension. Whatever brand progressive suspension you are considering and finally go with, you won't be disappointed with the results.
