[Fatfenders]

I recently purchased a set of Progressive Fork Springs from another forum member. Since I ride fairly agressively and regularly scrape pegs, I feel I'm a candidate for suspension improvement and would like to upgrade the rear also. (I do not have the money for a full Traxxion upgrade, so no need to go there.)

For those who have tried Progressive on the rear, here are a few questions:

Does the Progressive rear spring alone provide enough improvement or is the complete shock the only way to go?

For those who may have purchased the complete shock...from where and how much? HDL only lists the spring.

With all the Traxxion upgrades, anyone have a Progressive rear shock or spring they'd like to unload?

If I go rear spring only:
Anyone have the spring installation tool they'd sell or loan to me to do the job?

TIA

 

[Dream Catcher]

Hey Mike,
If you can find the salvage company that got my old 02,
you can get the progressive spring off of it. :lol:
Seriously, the progressive spring did raise the bike about an inch.
It was worth changing from my opinion.
Now, here's the caveat...
The rear shock hydraulic system, in many GL1800's,
sags after some period of time. It seems, from investigations
like the ones Fred Harmon has done, that it's air in the small hydraulic
system, that eventually accumulates in one spot and has the effect of
not preloading shock until the mechanism has reached about half it's travel range.
Over time, the bike tends to sit lower, even with the suspension numbers set
to the higher values.
If your bike is exhibiting this, you need to address it.
Doing this in conjunction with changing the spring would be the most efficient
action to take as you will not see the benefit of the spring change without your shock loading system performing correctly.
Fred has posted info about fixing the hydraulic sytem. It may be on line or you may have to refer to his maintenance disks.
The other alternative is to send your rear shock to Max at Traxxion Dymnamics and have him fix it right
with mods to the shock and installation of a spring
specifically rated for your weights and riding requirements.
If you figure all the costs of getting things right with your shock and a progressive spring,
you may find it not much more expensive to get the Traxxion rear shock.
Hope that whatever you do turns out to your satisfaction.
DC

 

[Pigeon Roost]

I have about 24+ thousand miles on a Progressive brand spring upgrade front and rear. I made the mistake of adding the rear spring first, and with the mashed down OE front springs it was realy odd. My bike had been assembled with the front fork tubes set down about 10mm too, so it was setting pretty low in the front. Adding the front Progressives and resetting the fork tubes in the top clamps made it all right again. Prior to installing the rear heavy duty spring we were hitting bottom back there often, even with the pre-load maxed (my pre-load begins at about 4 or 5). It does help a bit in gaining ground clearance, but not as much as does the 70 rear Avon tire. We do not bottom out on the rear spring now and only use about 20 heavy two-up. I still bottom my front Progressive springs on occasion, even though they are still about 13 1/2- inches long at free height. I just did a re-build of my front bushings, seals, and oil, but it was not needed - except the left seal was blown but you don't know if its needed or not unless you get in there and look).

prs

 

[Fatfenders]

Thanks for the detailed replies. I'll continue to watch this thread for other replies and hopefully come to some decision this Spring.

 

[jwen]

Hey Mike,

I don't know how long the roads will be salt free now but hopefully for awhile.

We have the same bike as you know and I have the full Traxxion setup. If it would help you make a decision we could meet up and you can give my bike a try. I realize you have said in advance that you are going with Progresive and don't know if you would derive any benefit from doing that or not. My thought is you could get a feel for the rear shock but I am not sure if it would be possible to tell the differance or not since I have the AK20 in the front.

Have a merry Christmas.

 

[Fatfenders]

Hey Mike,

I don't know how long the roads will be salt free now but hopefully for awhile.

We have the same bike as you know and I have the full Traxxion setup. If it would help you make a decision we could meet up and you can give my bike a try. I realize you have said in advance that you are going with Progresive and don't know if you would derive any benefit from doing that or not. My thought is you could get a feel for the rear shock but I am not sure if it would be possible to tell the differance or not since I have the AK20 in the front.

Have a merry Christmas.

So far this season, I haven't put my Wing away. Rode it three out of the five days I worked this week! I'm not sure I want to ride your Traxxion setup as I may find myself in the same situation as I was when I first rode the Wing :wink: You know...rode it, bought it...LOL. The rear shock test might prove helpful though.

I may take you up on that offer unless I move on something before Spring. Right now I'm keeping my riding close to home as my rear tire is getting close to the wear bars. (Have a new set of E3s on hand... )

 

[Roadie]

I recently purchased a set of Progressive Fork Springs from another forum member. Since I ride fairly agressively and regularly scrape pegs, I feel I'm a candidate for suspension improvement and would like to upgrade the rear also. (I do not have the money for a full Traxxion upgrade, so no need to go there.)

For those who have tried Progressive on the rear, here are a few questions:

Does the Progressive rear spring alone provide enough improvement or is the complete shock the only way to go?

For those who may have purchased the complete shock...from where and how much? HDL only lists the spring.

With all the Traxxion upgrades, anyone have a Progressive rear shock or spring they'd like to unload?

If I go rear spring only:
Anyone have the spring installation tool they'd sell or loan to me to do the job?

TIA

Fatfenders
Why take a chance with the new Progressive rear shock when the Traxxion shock is a proven product with many many members on this board. Who knows if the new Progressive shock will perform as well as the Traxxion rear shock and even if it does, it costs more to buy it than does the Traxxion rear shock. You also have to buy a additional spring compresser tool to assemble the rear shock before you can install it, and you also will have to purge the air out of your preload adjuster yourself.
Another thing with the Progressive rear shock is everybody gets the same spring rate regardless on how much you weigh. Traxxion builds the shock with a spring rate with your weight in mind. Buy the Traxxion rear shock, it's cheaper, it's proven, and there's alot less hassle and work involved with going with Traxxion.

As far as the front springs goes, I have measured the fork sag with a bike that had Progressive springs installed. The owner weighed 280lbs and with him sitting on the bike his forks sagged 3 inches. Just for some reference, nearly every 1800 I have measured the forks have sagged 3 inches with just the owner sitting on the bike. I know with a lighter rider the forks will sag a bit less but still that's over half of the forks travel with Progressive fork springs with just the rider sitting on the bike. That bike now has the Traxxion fork springs with spring rates matched for his weight and now his fork sag is 1 inch and he says the ride has never felt better.

 

[DaleC]

IMO if you have any meaningful amount of mileage on your Wing and especially if you ride 2up, then you need to switch out your rear shock too and just replacing the rear spring won't cut it. The rear shock does wear out and it won't last forever.

In my case, I installed The Works shock and spring about 15 months ago since at that time it was the only option available unless you bought an OEM shock retail (which is just way too expensive and overpriced) or you were able to find one through a trike Mfg. or maybe eBay, and go with a something like a Progressive rear spring. Once I had the replacement spring and shock installed, the difference in the ride and how it handled dips or bumps in the road was amazing. There was also no more bottoming out when I was heavily loaded.

There are a few more options available to Wing owners now and I would make some comparisons on the specifications (and costs) of each to determine what works best for you (both springs and shocks). If cost is a major motivator, then at least check on eBay and see if you can purchase a relatively new rear shock that has been removed from a Wing that has been converted to a trike since they can be found relatively cheaply. The downside on an OEM shock is they can't be rebuilt and their lifespan if you do a lot of riding, really isn't all that long and you can expect that replacement shock that already has some mileage on it to not last all that long either.

In the end, you may find that what appears to seem pretty expensive in the long run and for it's benefits offers the most cost effective decision.
For that matter, whoever said buying a Goldwing was going to be the last of the money you were going to spend on it. In my case, it was less than half of what of what I would eventually spend, but it certainly has given me some of the most pleasure of anything I've spent money on.

Good luck,

DaleC

 

[joe_flash]

The spring is worth having.. I weigh almost 300 pounds, and with it the bike rides like a dream.. It's much firmer than the stock spring on the demo bikes I tried (I had fore & aft progressives put on when I bought the bike.) Whether to go for the shock or not I guess depends on how many miles you have on yours... All in all, Progressive seems to do good work..