suspension upgrade
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1,291 Posts
seebee,
Oh my! You'll find lots of advice and opinions on this board, for sure
opcorn:
Welcome aboard! Try the search function, search for Traxxion and Race Tech.
Your choices include Traxxion, Race Tech, and Progressive. I am a Traxxion installer, so my opinions may be a bit biased.. But I also handle Race Tech, and can get Progressive.
Traxxion: Uses a shock that is made for them, and it functions well and is rebuildable. We've had pretty good results, and the failure that we had was warranted by Traxxion, no problems. (anything can break, it's how you are treated when it happens that counts) I use one, and the rebound and compression damping seem right. I have an 1.1 spring on mine. I run the preload at zero for solo, and 6 or 7 for 2 up, no luggage. You are a bit lighter, a 1.0 spring might be better for you, unless you carry a lot of luggage or tow a trailer.
Race Tech: More money, and I've never tried one, but their shocks look to be very robust. Race Tech is an excellent suspension company, I'm sure their shocks are an excellent product, and will serve you for a long time.
Progressive: I had one, and when t was new it was pretty OK. But, after 20K miles or so, it gave up the ghost. I then found out it wasn't rebuildable, but I could buy a new one for a somewhat discounted price. So it didn't last, and they wanted a bundle to fix my problem. Notice that I am now using a Traxxion shock.. In fact, that has a lot to do with how I became a Traxxion installer.
Here's a search result from typing in "traxxion shock"
http://gl1800riders.com/forums/search.php?searchid=2536693
=Dave=
GWBBA #9
rocketmoto.com
Oh my! You'll find lots of advice and opinions on this board, for sure
opcorn:Welcome aboard! Try the search function, search for Traxxion and Race Tech.
Your choices include Traxxion, Race Tech, and Progressive. I am a Traxxion installer, so my opinions may be a bit biased.. But I also handle Race Tech, and can get Progressive.
Traxxion: Uses a shock that is made for them, and it functions well and is rebuildable. We've had pretty good results, and the failure that we had was warranted by Traxxion, no problems. (anything can break, it's how you are treated when it happens that counts) I use one, and the rebound and compression damping seem right. I have an 1.1 spring on mine. I run the preload at zero for solo, and 6 or 7 for 2 up, no luggage. You are a bit lighter, a 1.0 spring might be better for you, unless you carry a lot of luggage or tow a trailer.
Race Tech: More money, and I've never tried one, but their shocks look to be very robust. Race Tech is an excellent suspension company, I'm sure their shocks are an excellent product, and will serve you for a long time.
Progressive: I had one, and when t was new it was pretty OK. But, after 20K miles or so, it gave up the ghost. I then found out it wasn't rebuildable, but I could buy a new one for a somewhat discounted price. So it didn't last, and they wanted a bundle to fix my problem. Notice that I am now using a Traxxion shock.. In fact, that has a lot to do with how I became a Traxxion installer.
Here's a search result from typing in "traxxion shock"
http://gl1800riders.com/forums/search.php?searchid=2536693
=Dave=
GWBBA #9
rocketmoto.com
Many options and depending on cost. Wild guesses for you. Just change out the springs; progressive or better traxxion. (my 2 cents) Cost for diy $300-500. Goldvalve front shocks, $300-1000 ? Seperate new rear shock $800 . Traxxion full monty $2600 ? :coffee1:
Joined
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359 Posts
Seebee,
I had the "fully monty" Traxxion installation done by John at JBJ Cycles in Santa Ana, CA over 20,000 miles ago. I had the 20,000 mile service done by John a couple of months ago. This has probably the best add-on I've done to my Wing. Yes, it is expensive but so is a Wing. Too bad Honda doesn't offer the upgrade as stock.
I had the "fully monty" Traxxion installation done by John at JBJ Cycles in Santa Ana, CA over 20,000 miles ago. I had the 20,000 mile service done by John a couple of months ago. This has probably the best add-on I've done to my Wing. Yes, it is expensive but so is a Wing. Too bad Honda doesn't offer the upgrade as stock.
Joined
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3,025 Posts
You don't say where you are located....might see if someone in your area with the modifications you are requesting information on will allow you to ride their bike before spending the money.
Joined
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1,291 Posts
Sorry, I missed the FRONT and rear part there..
Traxxion.. no question. Where are you? if you are near an authorized installer, or Woodstock, GA, see if you can get a demo ride and try it for yourself.
If the Traxxion $$ are too steep, you can do it piece-meal, or go with Race Tech Gold Valves for the front. The Gold Valves are less expensive, but cannot be externally adjusted, so you have to pull the forks apart to tweak them.
I wrote up an explanation just a little while ago, I'll go find it and paste in here..
"Anyway, the reason your wife is complaining about the ride is that your rear shock is shot. The stock rear shock is not the world's greatest performer to start with, and after 20-30K miles of use, it has given up the ghost and isn't providing any more damping than a twinkie would. Secondly, the springs in a Goldwing are woefully inadequate for a 900lb bike with 2 riders of Goldwing stature.. (i.e., not 125lb sportbike kids, but real adults..). The wham-slam you get over big bumps where the bike just rattles your fillings comes directly from this. I can always tell when I need a new shock.. my wife starts in with "You didn't tell me about that bump!"
Fixing the rear will solve a lot of her issues.
Just replacing the spring, while it is a help, doesn't fix the root of the problem, which is no damping.
It's not hard to replace the rear shock, mostly tedious. You need to get to it, and since it lives dead center in the middle of a complex motorcycle, yoiu have to do a lot of disassembly. The shelter has to come off, and I pull the gas tank, which makes life a lot easier. (while you're in there, replace / have replaced the air filter) You have to do the exact same amount of work to just change the spring, why not fix it right the first time? You should also rebuild the adjustor, since Honda always underfills them. There are instructions on the board here to do that. (To see where yous is, put bike on centerstand, run preload to zero. Then run it up, and listen for where the sound changes in pitch, and it sounds like it's working. Stop there, look at the number on your display. Everything below that number is just air, no preload movement.)
A new shock and spring will generally run you $500 or so. (plus labor)
This WILL fix your rear end issues. And the complaints coming from the back seat.
Once you have the rear dialed in, you will figure out how bad the front end is.
Do you get the decel wobble from say 40-ish to 20-ish when you take your hands off the bars, say to adjust your gloves? If you do, roller bearings in the steering stem will fix that. If you are having front end work done, you're half way there in labor.. worth doing.
The Goldwing front end has springs too weak and an anti-dive unit to compensate for that which frequently sticks and locks up your left fork, giving you the suspension travel of your dining room table.
Your options here are:
A) stronger fork springs, disable the antidive. Least expensive, and unlike the rear shock, the forks are easy to get to, so if you change your mind and want to upgrade it's no biggie.
B) stronger fork springs and RaceTech GoldValves. This addresses some of the poor damping issue of the original Honda setup, which is kind of not very effective. The advantage to the GoldValve setup is that it is relatively inexpensive, Springs & Valves will probably be around $400-$500. You will need seals & bushings, for any fork rebuild, and for RaceTech you will need fork oil, adding $100 or so the total.
If you are mechanically adept and have a service manual, torque wrench, perhaps Fred's videos, and some other specialty tools or access to them, (fork seal driver, stem wrench) you can handle this, too, if you want to. The biggest drawback to the GoldValve setup is that they are not externally adjustable. You have to take the forks apart to tweak them. This can get really old, really fast.
C) Traxxion AK-20 cartridges. These solve all of the poor damping control and undersprung issues of the front end. They replace your left damper rod side with a VERY good racing cartridge, and the lousy cartridge on the right with the same, giving you a balanced suspension and no antidive. These come with the springs and with fork oil. Traxxion requires them to be installed by an authorized installer, because there is some modification to the fork tubes that needs to be done. You can bring the bike to your local Traxxion shop, you can just bring the forks, you can even send the forks to Traxxion if you want to wait for shipping etc when the weather is as fine as it is this week. The AK-20 kit cost about $1,000 and you can get adjustable fork caps for another $100 if you want to be able to dial it in.
A Traxxion Full Monty also includes a fork brace and a stainless preload adjustor line.
They have also introduced a much more rigid triple tree and bridge, but if you are only after better ride, you probably don't need them.
Any of these modifications will improve your ride substantially. A by-product is better handling, crisper turn-in, better tire wear, and a happier wife. The benefit you will use every day is the improved ride quality.
If you go to your local tire store, most have an example of a tire that is worn in a scallop pattern, or cupped. Right next to it they have a bad shock / good shock comparison. (or at least they used to.. I'm old, so they may not any more). The point they are trying to make is that a worn shock with poor damping will cause your tires to wear unevenly.. sort of like the cupping you get on the tires on a Goldwing. Hmmm...
A Traxxion installation IS a lot of money. I would encourage you to try one out before you make any decisions. You appear to be in the northeast, where exactly? There is an installer in NH, and I know they have both a Traxxion bike and a RaceTech bike you can try (The RaceTech bike is mine...) I can't speak for any of the others, but I'm sure most can offer you a chance to evaluate it."
Here's the whole thread..
http://gl1800riders.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284302
=Dave=
Traxxion.. no question. Where are you? if you are near an authorized installer, or Woodstock, GA, see if you can get a demo ride and try it for yourself.
If the Traxxion $$ are too steep, you can do it piece-meal, or go with Race Tech Gold Valves for the front. The Gold Valves are less expensive, but cannot be externally adjusted, so you have to pull the forks apart to tweak them.
I wrote up an explanation just a little while ago, I'll go find it and paste in here..
"Anyway, the reason your wife is complaining about the ride is that your rear shock is shot. The stock rear shock is not the world's greatest performer to start with, and after 20-30K miles of use, it has given up the ghost and isn't providing any more damping than a twinkie would. Secondly, the springs in a Goldwing are woefully inadequate for a 900lb bike with 2 riders of Goldwing stature.. (i.e., not 125lb sportbike kids, but real adults..). The wham-slam you get over big bumps where the bike just rattles your fillings comes directly from this. I can always tell when I need a new shock.. my wife starts in with "You didn't tell me about that bump!"
Fixing the rear will solve a lot of her issues.
Just replacing the spring, while it is a help, doesn't fix the root of the problem, which is no damping.
It's not hard to replace the rear shock, mostly tedious. You need to get to it, and since it lives dead center in the middle of a complex motorcycle, yoiu have to do a lot of disassembly. The shelter has to come off, and I pull the gas tank, which makes life a lot easier. (while you're in there, replace / have replaced the air filter) You have to do the exact same amount of work to just change the spring, why not fix it right the first time? You should also rebuild the adjustor, since Honda always underfills them. There are instructions on the board here to do that. (To see where yous is, put bike on centerstand, run preload to zero. Then run it up, and listen for where the sound changes in pitch, and it sounds like it's working. Stop there, look at the number on your display. Everything below that number is just air, no preload movement.)
A new shock and spring will generally run you $500 or so. (plus labor)
This WILL fix your rear end issues. And the complaints coming from the back seat.
Once you have the rear dialed in, you will figure out how bad the front end is.
Do you get the decel wobble from say 40-ish to 20-ish when you take your hands off the bars, say to adjust your gloves? If you do, roller bearings in the steering stem will fix that. If you are having front end work done, you're half way there in labor.. worth doing.
The Goldwing front end has springs too weak and an anti-dive unit to compensate for that which frequently sticks and locks up your left fork, giving you the suspension travel of your dining room table.
Your options here are:
A) stronger fork springs, disable the antidive. Least expensive, and unlike the rear shock, the forks are easy to get to, so if you change your mind and want to upgrade it's no biggie.
B) stronger fork springs and RaceTech GoldValves. This addresses some of the poor damping issue of the original Honda setup, which is kind of not very effective. The advantage to the GoldValve setup is that it is relatively inexpensive, Springs & Valves will probably be around $400-$500. You will need seals & bushings, for any fork rebuild, and for RaceTech you will need fork oil, adding $100 or so the total.
If you are mechanically adept and have a service manual, torque wrench, perhaps Fred's videos, and some other specialty tools or access to them, (fork seal driver, stem wrench) you can handle this, too, if you want to. The biggest drawback to the GoldValve setup is that they are not externally adjustable. You have to take the forks apart to tweak them. This can get really old, really fast.
C) Traxxion AK-20 cartridges. These solve all of the poor damping control and undersprung issues of the front end. They replace your left damper rod side with a VERY good racing cartridge, and the lousy cartridge on the right with the same, giving you a balanced suspension and no antidive. These come with the springs and with fork oil. Traxxion requires them to be installed by an authorized installer, because there is some modification to the fork tubes that needs to be done. You can bring the bike to your local Traxxion shop, you can just bring the forks, you can even send the forks to Traxxion if you want to wait for shipping etc when the weather is as fine as it is this week. The AK-20 kit cost about $1,000 and you can get adjustable fork caps for another $100 if you want to be able to dial it in.
A Traxxion Full Monty also includes a fork brace and a stainless preload adjustor line.
They have also introduced a much more rigid triple tree and bridge, but if you are only after better ride, you probably don't need them.
Any of these modifications will improve your ride substantially. A by-product is better handling, crisper turn-in, better tire wear, and a happier wife. The benefit you will use every day is the improved ride quality.
If you go to your local tire store, most have an example of a tire that is worn in a scallop pattern, or cupped. Right next to it they have a bad shock / good shock comparison. (or at least they used to.. I'm old, so they may not any more). The point they are trying to make is that a worn shock with poor damping will cause your tires to wear unevenly.. sort of like the cupping you get on the tires on a Goldwing. Hmmm...
A Traxxion installation IS a lot of money. I would encourage you to try one out before you make any decisions. You appear to be in the northeast, where exactly? There is an installer in NH, and I know they have both a Traxxion bike and a RaceTech bike you can try (The RaceTech bike is mine...) I can't speak for any of the others, but I'm sure most can offer you a chance to evaluate it."
Here's the whole thread..
http://gl1800riders.com/forums/showthread.php?t=284302
=Dave=
Joined
·
16,985 Posts
Traxxion rear shock with weight matched spring, about the same cost as any other full replacement option. Traxxion full blow on the front is very nice, but $ and your '02, like mine is getting a bit long in the tooth by now. But, linear Traxxion or Race Tech springs matched to your ride weight, nix the anti-dive valve, and refurbish the wear parts in the forks, plus medium weight fork oil is a huge bang for the bucks. A 5 piece type of fork brace is an aclaimed goodie by many, but I don't see so much it offers. Really good tires like a fresh set of 'stones or Cobra's is great suspension component.
prs
prs
Joined
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3,643 Posts
I have an '06 and will be test riding a Wing with the Traxxion Full Monty on Monday night 7/25. I will let you know what I think. Wife is going along to see if she can feel a difference. I am 215 and she is 100. So close to your total weight. $2,700 is allot of $$ so I want to ride to make sure I will be happy if I go that route. Been riding since 1963 and Wings since they came out.
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