Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Performance Mods Best handling upgrades ?

Going to take a trip to the mountains in the spring and need to upgrade the suspension on my 05 speedy as its all original and about wore out. I realize this isn't a Thruxton but I would like to get the most out of its handling capabilities. After reading through lots of good threads on the subject I come up with some idea's. For those of you you have done upgrades which of the following would you prefer.
Rear / Progressive 412's or Hagon 2810's
Front/ Progressive springs or stock with Racor Intiminators
Tires/ open to any suggestions as I any used Metzellers.
Any other tips or suggestions on the subject would be greatly appreciated.

Ricors with OEM stock springs and I tried the Progressive spring swap first. They (Ricor valves) function exactly as advertised.

I've had the Progressive 412's and now have the 440's. If you can swing the 440's, get them, the difference between them is equivalent to the difference between stock and 412's

I upgraded to 412s which were a big improvement and then switched to 2810s which I felt were even better. That said, the 440s are a substantial improvement over both.

Thanks guys, I was going to mention the 440's but I thought I'd read somewhere that they were discontinued.

Ricors with OEM stock springs, I also had the Progressive springs and when back to stock springs...I am thinking about upgrading to Race Tech springs with ricors'..have that on my FXR and really like it.

Rear: Works shocks built for my weight and riding style:

Tires: Avon Venom's...

when i swapped the front to the progressive i found it to be a good upgrade and a real easy install (which appealed to me the most) i thinkit took 20 minutes to swap them out (the dirty way) as far as the rears , i had the 412, they were good shocks but i preffered (for same price point) the 2810's, i really liked the ability to control the dampening on them and not just the pre-load, makes a world of difference on the sharp road bumps and so forth. I found they tend to be undersprung though for me at least beased on the info i gave them when i ordered them. I also like that you canchoose different looks from them for the same price.

I really liked the Bridgestone Battlax I had on the front. Sport Touring tires are way stickier and fun in the twisties.

IMO, in this order:

1. better rear shock...currently, for me, it is a 13" Progressive 444 for a V-Max

2. more preload & better fork oil...currently, for me, it is a set of Progressive springs, PVC spacers, & a blend of I-don't-remember-what fork oil. That said, I have a set of Ricor Intiminators to install.

3. Better front tire...currently, for me, it is a 130/70 ME880.

I'd have to say, start with tires. What meets the road is the MOST important connection you have between machine and the surface you ride on. Make THAT your priority, then add spirit to your ride with suspension, power and grip.

I don't know what the year of the bike we are talking about here is, but I do know from experience from the forks on my 05 and 06, they are borderline dangerous as they come stock. It's not the excessive compression/collapse from hard front braking, it's the untethered rebound that I found unacceptable and hard to control. I'm a Ricor guy, but if better springs and a 50/50 mix of 10 and 15w fork oil is all you can afford, get it. Our bikes are night and day with suspension upgrades, but I lean towards addressing the forks first.