Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Performance Mods speedmaster shocks

what are the best shocks you can buy for our bikes?
i poped 3 disks in my back and havent ridden my bike in 9 weeks and i want to put some better shocks on it as the stock ones are pretty ordinary. any help would be appreciated guys.

In my opinion, the Progressive 440's.
I've had the 412's.....big improvement over stock but I ride 2 up most of the time.
Some like the Hagons. I have no opinion on these.
Works can also make you a custom set to your liking.

We have had good luck with Hagons I lowered Wendys 2" with them. Hagon will make them to order for you. Stiffness and dampening you have to specify as well as shrouded or not shrouded , what chrome parts and what black parts you want.

Some guys here have said they don't like them but we do.

i vote 440's, great ride nice quality, easy to adjust and a lifetime warrenty

Frank

Ryan, sorry to hear about the back mate but you are in good company here cos I've had major back surgery and Wendy too who has the Hagons needs quality rear suspension cos she too has back problems. Anyway I'm considering these Hagon Nitros. I haven't spoken to them yet but I do like a shock where the damping can be adjusted and not just the pre-load. Also as you can see, these shocks can be designed the way you like it, for instance there are options for creating a lower version or even putting on shrouds. Too many decisions .



The other factor though is these nitros are listing as close to $850AUD which is big dough in anyone's language and I've noticed the prices are March 06 . Of course there is also the standard "Road Shocks" like these at the top that cost $299AUD and which I believe Wendy and Ian may have and like (correct me if I'm wrong Ian) unless there has been a professional comparison between one shock and the other, they are probably exactly the same as any of it's rivals in performance given they still have the progressive springs yet without the damping option. I'll be ringing them tomorrow but to me, these are looking good just because of the options and for us Ryan, it's only a $45AUD freight cost compared to say another quote I had for the works street trackers from the US who wanted $157.50USD like, who would pay that

Wendys are type A if I remember correctly non-shrouded.2" shorter than stock. Remember when lowering to watch clearance. I saw in the other thread you said an inch with that you should be fine but with 2" I had to cut the chain guard and bend the on ear on the Freak bracket out of the way for the chain.

cheers guys, for over the shelf items i was leaning towards the hagons. ive also emailed a few shops about getting some customised ones cause i like all the nob ajustibility with the top of the range items. also how far can you lower the bike without getting to many clearince isues as in 18 months ive warn out 3 sets of boot just on stock ride height

In the US I called Bells Course and they had them built for me. I never even thought of calling Hagon directly like I have seen a couple people post. I figured it was like my auto parts suppliers that you had to be in that business with a tax ID although I probably could have use the one from my towing business.

Ryan,

If you want have a read of what I said in this thread. it explains my Hagon's purchase

Why not give Darrell a ring. He's a really knowledgable guy and lives on the Hume north of Melbourne. He'll answer any questions you want and the standard Hagons are still a top notch shocky. Better still, the freight North will only be $30 bucks or so. Just an idea is all.

Tony,

Dingua and other say the 440s are the best. You said you have had both the Progressive 412s and the 440s. Are the Progressive 440s that much better than the 412s, to justify twice the price. I have no back problems, and the stock ride is not too bad for me. I ride almost daily, commuting. However, I would mainly like to help the steering in banked turns over bumps.

My wife also rides with me every week, but for short rides. She complains about the kick in the ________going over bumps and railroad tracks.

Would the 440s be much better for this than the 412s or would the 412s be good enough, especially for the steering? Did you notice a big difference between the two? I am wrestling with $200 extra price difference for the 440s. (I already have the Progressive fork springs.)

I have the 412's and I like them. They ride much better than stock. I am 190 lbs. and I have mine set on setting #3. My wife has not been on it since I put them on though.

Quite every brand has cheap quality and good one in their line of products.

In US it can be convenient Progressive or some minor local brands (Progressive is from US).

In Europe we have many choose between Ohlins (Sweden), Technoflex (Holland), Hagon (UK), Ikon/Koni (Germany), and the italians Bitubo and Marzocchi.

But Progressive are known to be a fine quality expensive product so some time a import product from Hagon or Ikon has similar price range.

If you find Ikon for good price, they have the better quality/price balance.

The Hagons we got for Wendys bike were almost half the price of the progressives and we are happy with them.

Have them preload + rebound regulation?

Rebound is almost important for cruising, when you hit bumps on curves the back starts to jump like a crippled frog, and the rebound hydraulic brake helps limit this.

Ian, obviously you and Wendy are only happy cos they do the job you want them to. It's funny though cos when comparing the Hagon's with the Progressive's, it needs to be recognised the Hagon's use the quadrate progressive springs action which is similar I believe with the progressives.

The other factor that make these a good cost effective alternative is that the damping and spring rates can be chosen according to your weight and riding style ie soft, medium, hard and extra hard. Not bad for less than $300AUD / $250AUD .

I agree. I am not trying to say they are better. Also they do the job we want yes. I have never tried the Progressives so I can not make any comparison at all. All I can do is tell people what I have found with the Hagons and then look at the Progressives and at that point it's up to them to decide. I had even pointed out the Soren didn't like the Hagons , although from a later post I guess the jury is still out on that one. He said there was a problem with the bushings. I was trying to give both sides.

yes, trying to relay your experience to others honestly so that they have the opportunity to weigh up the pros and cons, and therefore make a better decision, is what makes this site so valuable I believe. I know that my speedie is coming along really well both mechanically and with the items I buy, purely by using other peoples experiences. In return I enjoy trying to help others through my experiences.

Sorry I didn't mention that Wendy scrapes her pipes now and then if the road has a crown in a turn or a bad parking lot or diveway entrance when we lowered it.

that's fine dog as we have discussed using pm's. my pipes may sit lower or something but as I've said, the hagon distributor in Aus has been great about it so I've just sent them back and now getting the standard length arrangement.

I took a chance and went with Ikon 7614 aluminium with screw thread preload and 4 position rebound damping and it paid off. Up front the stock springs were exchanged for Progresive springs. After about 250 miles now of both cruising and twisty back roads I am absolutely satisfied.


This configuration was worked out with Brent by ordering from the newthruxton.com page with a request for a length of 13.5" to fit the stock Speedmaster hieght. Lowering was considered but since I still greatly enjoy twisty backroads roads I did not wish to take a chance on to much scrapping.

Gidday Todd. Mate they look pretty good from this side of the planet and I really like the threaded pre-load option (same as my nitros) and also having the 4 postition rebound adjustment is pretty handy too.

I bet you don't know yourself compared to the "stock monsters". I'm going to start a thread soon to report back on my nitros but that you are "absolutely satisfied" is what we all want to hear.

Really glad you bought some progressives fronts too cos don't they really compliment the whole setup

I too considered and even tried lowering but it didn't work for me either so having the standard length provides a well balanced suspension setup which is just great and you're right about liking the twisty back roads and needing as much lean as possible. I found that out only a few days back and every inch makes a difference that's for sure.

Todd when you get a chance, would it be possible to give us a bigger picture so we can see your shocks properly Not a big deal but the small photo doesn't do them Ikons justice.

Anyway, it just goes to show there are a lot of different choices out there and I would be very surprised if technologies weren't comparable to the point where they are very much similar in performance. Certainly the progressives springs are a must compared to stock and speaking from myself, yeah, what a difference heh

This photo should give a better view.

yep, looks like they'll do the trick that's for sure and very nice on the eye too. thanks for putting in the time to give us a better look. I'm now going to post a question regarding pre-load adjustment which maybe you too may want to respond to Tod

Really? So are you saying Hagons are crap shocks and I should not even consider them?

Not at all Hagon are good shocks. Get them with the heavy springs if you want to go with those. They build them to order you specify dampening and stiffness. Wendys bike only scrapes on a crowned corner and because her bike was lowered 2". That quote was taken out of context.

I definately agree with the Bella issue from what you have said. I also agree the shocks I put on Wendys bike are not much if any improvement over stock. I used them for lowering purposes but they do the job. I will also add she never rides 2 up since she is a new rider. The story may be different if she did I couldn't speak to that.

I really find your comments regarding the standard Hagons quite confusing. For instance you say you tried the standard and heavy duty springs to no avail yet Hagons offer 4 different options regarding spring rates being 10 through to 35 KG/CM. Your also didn't mention the soft through to extra hard damping choices.

My reason for being curious is that when buying the Nitros, the Aussie distributor asked me a fair few questions so that my shocks were suited to me and my weight etc For instance the Hagon website mentions "These British-made shocks are offered in a variety of configurations to match any size rider (i.e.: height & weight), riding style (i.e.: touring, sport, race) etc so I guess my question is whether Bellacourse actually asked you the right questions so that you were given the right shocks to match

Also you never mentioned adjusting the pre-load for when your pillion jumped on the back and how much adjustment you made. So I am not saying the standard shocks that Hagon make are exceptional because as you say, you only get what you pay for which is why I bought the Nitros and not the cheaper progressives. What I am saying is that if these shocks are as bad as you say, then Hagon would be finding themselves in a lot of trouble, market wise as everyone would be returning them for a refund. It really just doesn't add up which makes me think Bellacourse may have really stuffed up here

Look folks, I'm not saying Hagon makes a bad product - just in this case it didn't work for me, particuarly using Bella Corse.
I sent the Hagons back to Bella Corse twice for new springs. Even with their heaviest springs, I still had the problem. We're not fly-weights but I'm only 190 and the wife about 130 lbs.
Maybe Bella Corse was the issue, he said that he conferred with the Hagon distributor, Dave Quinn on the attempted fixes which included two different springs. He finally said there was nothing more to be done. My shocks were the stock ride height. Bella Corse felt something was wrong with my setup, but installing the stock shocks created no problems nor have I had any issues with my Progressive 440's. I also have two dings on each of my relatively new at the time Specialty Spares pipes and one hit was so hard I nearly crashed. The shocks came off at that point and the stockers went back on.
The hassle was removing and sending back the shocks. I tried to suggest to Bella Corse that perhaps this set had a defect and wanted to try another pair, but he declined that option, offering me store credit or a refund less a hefty 'restocking' charge, plus I lost some shipping costs.
The build/fit/finish of the Progressive 440's was far and away much better than the standard Hagons. I was fortuante to get a pair of the 440's from a former owner for a decent price, but they are black in finish. The lesson I learned was you do get what you pay for.

Yep, the only thing it really could have been was you bought a pr of dud shocks. Unless of course someone else has had a similar situation and then we can assume the cheaper Hagons are inferiour quality Mind you regardless of all of this, I too find it hard to believe the cheap Hagons at $250USD could compete with the progressive 440's in as you say build, fit and finish. FYI, I did a brief cost comparison and the cheap "Hagon Road Shocks" as they are called are $250USD compared to the Progressive 440's at $450USD. That's a lot of difference which you would think would relate to overall inferiority.

On the other side of the coin the Hagon Nitros are over $710USD. I wonder if similarly that too relates to better build, fit and finish Whatever, it's certainly an interesting topic.

Just for you information, I looked into purchasing a pr of 440's in Australia and was quoted from one mob over $900AUD. Knowing freight from the US was outrageous I then looked elsewhere before settling on the Nitros which in the end I'm very thankful for

Since price to quality is being discussed here let me put my 2 cents in and say that I am extremely happy with the Ikon 7614's that sale for $350 a pair. Fully adjustable, aluminium body. Coming from a Speed Triple to a the Speedmaster I feel that I am still enjoying the performance I am used to.
Ikon 7614 info

Tod, can you tell us how they compare to the stock shocks in ride quality

First of all I am just an average guy when it comes to shocks and bike set up. But since I went from a Speed Triple to a Speedmaster I still missed the confidence when riding on the twisy backroads. With the Ikon 7614's this is rapidly coming back. I can now use what the bike has to be more sporting going into and out of the turns. When cruising or on the interstate I do notice the difference but it is not to as great an extent. I need more time to work on different adjustments though to see how they really work out. Now if I could quit traveling every week for work I might be able to get those miles in quicker. Hope that helps.