I think for your situation you will have less trouble down the road literally if you just go to progressive front springs, because if you try to go heavier oil, more oil and or more oil and more air pressure you will blow the fork seals in short order. a litlle higher oil lever of 20w may work and no air pressure with the front tire off the ground, when you put weight back on the forks it will with such weight as you are describing allow for enough at full depression to hopefully not be too much to blow the seals out, just my view on it bro.

Wait, you mean for a GL1100 bike?

Sorry, my explanation may not work for those forks, I assumed it was for a GL1500.

I think for the 1100 it just needs higher air pressure.

 

I have to go with progressive springs myself on this one. Putting progressive springs in my bike was one of the best upgrades I ever did and cheap too.

 

More air..helps to prevent bottoming out but only to spec max..12lbs.?? ..heavier oil helps too..also you can add spacers an 1" or so max to the front springs to stiffen them up..and progressive springs good too!! all options

 

Asking you who have them: What exactly did the Progressive springs do for you? I have no complaints with my suspension as-is...seems OK to me. Some day I'll need to replace the seals though as I'm seeing a bit of oil now.

 

Owned two 1500SE bikes.

1st one did not have new springs. Front end was soft, the forks twisted, and slow speed turns were scary. The forks would bottom everytime I turned onto the street where I lived because of the rain dip in the intersection.

Installed both Progressive springs and the Super Brace.
The difference was Night & Day: Never did bottom out the forks again, and the "softness" and wishy washy handling disappeared. The front end felt "solid and predictable".

The '98SE had Progressive springs and a Super Brace when I bought it. It worked a champ and just like my old '94SE did.

 

When I got my 85 Aspy it had original shocks front and back. The compressor did not work so I put progressive springs up front and shocks in the back. I don't even have air to the front shocks they run just fine as is. Since the compressor was shot I just ran the air lines for the back shocks to a point where I could install a valve and manually inflate or deflate as needed for 2 up. The ride was night and day. When one up I run about 5/8 psi in the rear and it rides smooth for me. When running 2 up I run about 30 psi in the back. It keeps the bike level and no bottoming out with the wife on the back. It's due to have the front oil changed soon but thats it. Highly recommend the change.

 

Get some Progressives (using max 90 psi on the rears), and a fork brace.

The progressives are one of the best things that you can do to the bike, in terms of improving the handling performance.

I originally made the upgrade after riding (stock setup) 2-up (~500 lbs total load) and bike got squirrely on me on a high speed turn... It never happened again after the upgrade.

 

I also put in progressive springs for the front forks,and I'm going to be doing the shocks(air),when the seals arrive.
It makes a world of difference,in handling,and ride comfort.

 

Progressives in the front and rear are on the list. Right now I'm on damage control. lol. Just trying to fix leaks and take care of all these small problems before they turn into big ones.