Al,
I'm chiming in to point out the difference between the Progressive shocks and stock. The Progressive shocks are, er, progressive.....
The coils on the stock shocks are uniformly spaced and not very far apart - like the spring in a ballpoint pen. The Progressive springs are much thicker and the space between the coils gets wider as you look from bottom to top - like a bed spring. The hand adjustment on the Progressives seems to preload the spring - same as the adjusment on the bottom of the stock shocks only easier to accomplish. The dampening rate is non-adjustable and is controlled by orifice plates inside the shock.
I would imagine the front fork springs use this same "progressive" method as well, but I haven't had the need to change mine, so I don't know for sure....
