Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Accessories 11.5 shocks ridding two up?

Anyone use the Progressives 412 11.5 shocks and ride two up?

Well Alonzo, I personally haven't, but I'm thinkin' unless your pillion rider is Twiggy(now THERE'S ya a Boomer reference if ever there was, HUH?! ), you're gonna bottom out the rear of your bike REALLY REALLY easily, dude!

(...and ya might as well get used to scrapin' the hell out of your mufflers and any other hard mounted parts down there on each and every turn in the road too!)

but... what about preload adjustment?

Well Steve, I'm thinkin' even if ya'd crank that puppy up as stiff as ya can you MAY not bottom out near as much, but remember that thing I said about "scrapin' the hard parts down there in turns"? Well, I'll betcha it'd still do that an awful lot.

As you may noticed by now, I'm not big on lowerin' these very good handlin' machines just to "make 'em look cooler". Nope, unless the reason for lowerin' 'em is because the owner is rather short in the inseam department, I think all you've done is compromise the overall handling performance of 'em...and especially when you're ridin' "two-up" and when the weight is now balanced even more on the rear of the machine.

I'm about 190lb, and my wife(don't tell her I'm reportin' this here, okay?! ) is about 145lb...not a whole lot of weight I'd say compaired to the general demographics around here, wouldn't ya agree? And, I'm runnin' a set of stock length (12.5") Progessive 412s. When we're both on the bike and in the Twisties(and I always dial it down a bit, speed-wise, whenever she's on the back), I still occasionally scrape stuff down there even when I've set the preload stiffer before we venture out.

(...and so, there is no doubt in my mind that starting out an inch even lower would result in even more of that sorta thing happenin')

Well now, i ride with the Progressive 11.5's and i like them. Having said that i am no speed demon, nor am i trying to take cornders at 4g's. I have a 30" inseam so for me it was about being able to flatfoot the bike and i like the look. With a passenger you do have to beef up the preload a couple notches and watch the really big bumps becasue you will bottom out, that also goes for reall sharp and qucik corners, although my bubs are a far bit rounder then the OEM pipes. But...... if you are the average rider and ride mostly on your own thithe odd time a passenger and mindful with a passenger then i see no issues, this of course is just one mans opionion :-)

Really Mike?! Even with all those mountainous roads in and around Edmonton??? Oh wait...never mind!

All right. I guess if Alonzo and his wife/girlfriend/whoever he's talkin' about ridin' two-up with ever takes a ride up to Palomar Mtn to go see that observatory there, as long as he's no "Speed-Demon" he'll be okay, then.

(...I guess I'm just doin' my typical "WHY THE HELL DO YA WANNA LOWER THESE BABIES???" thing again here, huh...err...eh?!)

When I had mine I had em cranked up and was still scraping hard parts. Mind you, I was not the rider I am today back then and was not so enamored by taking corners hard. I was about 290lbs back then. After riding with Friar and Freedom that year I promptly leaned the bike can corner a lot better with more clearance so off came the 412s and on went the 440s.

In spite of all the 'wisdom' bestowed around here, I'm still gonna mount up some 11.5s on my bike. I'll be y'all know how it turns out here in the land of twisties.

Good Keith, that should slow you down enough for me to catch up.

Just the rear.

Ah ok, well she will turn allot different then you are used to, it does lighten up the front end a little bit, and you have to turn in a wee bit sooner, but i think you will like how the seating changes a bit. I still have to put my progressives in the front but i am paranoid about doing it myself from the top, gulp.

Thanks for the input guys. So maybe a better choice would be the 12 inchers versus the 11.5. Does anyone know if the 11.5 heavy duty shocks for the rocket 3 will fit on our bikes?

You can special order 11.5s with the hd spring, so I hear...

One up or two up I still scrape now and again on stock (maxed out). And in dropn mine when I get the cash. Already got my front springs!

Speaking from experience- riding 2 up with the 11.5ers- they will bottom out and you will be dragging the pipes...

Riding 2 up with 11.5's for me hasn't been a problem, or I haven't noticed it bottoming out. I lowered the front end about 1.5" too. I've scraped pipes, but I do that solo even with the stock shocks.

I've got 11.5" progressives and 2" lower in front and I've never dragged anything other than my kickstand and that was really crankin' left with my wife, (115lb and hot) and me, (195lb and dashingly handsome). I say go for it. Let us know how you do.

hi, I have tried the 11,5" and changed to 12" after two rides.

even riding alone with full preload some bumps will bottom out the shocks when you hit them with more than rather slow speed...

with the 12" the riding just fine, riding now with the preload set to medium no problems at all. for info my weight is 90kg.

for the look, when you set the preload at minimum the bike is as low as the 11,5" with the preload set to maximum.

regards, Daniel

I just dropped the front 2 inches and lowered the back 1.... on the stock front tire i'm dragging the balls out of my kickstand on hard turns, wacking pipes on bumpy turns with the gal on the back - alone its just the kickstand.