The Lowdown on Shock Height

For this story I am going to just focus on rear shocks. We’ll go over other stuff in some future installments if there is interest.

For a really long time most Harley riders never gave much thought to suspension, the stock shocks on most touring models for more than 20 years were some basic air shocks that were acceptable when new but mostly beat after 30,000 miles and though they had the ability to adjust preload with an air pump, most riders rarely bothered, leaving them with generally inadequate rear suspension. Starting in 2014, some of the Rushmore Touring models began to be delivered with the new “Premium Ride” suspension that offered a very nice upgrade in durability, ease of adjustment, and quality of ride.
Still, the only reason most riders considered a different set of shocks was to lower their bike, either for a “slammed” look, or to help them get flat-footed at a stop.
In 2017 Harley introduced the new (and much more powerful) Milwaukee 8 motor and with it more improvements to the suspension on the touring models. Because of that and the subsequent popularity of the King of the Baggers race series, the interest in performance baggers, which had been slowly growing for many years, exploded and riders began looking for increased performance in areas beyond the motor and suspension has gotten a lot more attention. Something that was incredibly rare in the past, raising the ride height of a Harley, suddenly became popular enough that Harley jumped in the game from the factory with the new performance baggers- the Road Glide ST and the Street Glide ST. Both ST models feature various performance enhancements from the factory, including suspension that is an inch taller than the non-ST versions.

With that preamble out of the way, I will go thru some basics of rear suspension and some pros and cons of different choices. We are always available for questions so if you have some let us know,

What are the benefits of taller shocks?
What shock absorbers do (no surprise here!) is to absorb the shocks (bumps) that would otherwise be passed on to you from the road. At the same time, they must control wheel travel in a way that keeps your bike from floating or wallowing through a turn as that translates to very poor handling. To perform both of those things, the best thing to have is as much wheel travel as possible. The concept is simple- if you are trying to control a 2-inch bump with 2 inches of wheel travel it is almost impossible, but if you have 2 feet of wheel travel it is pretty easy. 2 feet of travel would result in too tall a bike but just adding an inch can make a substantial difference.
Another potential benefit is more subtle- by raising the rear suspension without raising the front suspension you decrease the rake in the front end which will make the steering a bit quicker. A big change here can make the front end less stable at speed but on an H-D touring model where the rear shocks come up one inch the difference is negligible.

What is the downside of taller shocks?
The only downside is that your seat height is taller. For some riders, this makes almost no difference to them, for riders that have shorter inseams, that can be uncomfortable

What are the benefits of an air suspension like Legends?
While the suspension is adjustable and, with the onboard air compressor it is adjustable on the fly, it is not as sophisticated a shock absorber as a purpose-built unit can be; its main benefit is simply to raise and lower the bike easily and on-demand. Some choose it for the ability to lower their bike a few inches for parking or to get around in a tight space while retaining the full ride height when rolling down the road, others choose it for the “wow” factor of slamming their bike all the way down in seconds, and others for both benefits.

Whether you are looking for a high-end shock absorber for max performance, the ability to lower your ride while retaining ride quality, or something to show off at the next bike night we can help you. For questions send an email to parts@allamericanharley.com or just stop by and talk to one of our parts pros.