[Broke Winger]

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OK so the suspension on my wing is just shot. I'm tired of dragging the center stand.

I had an after market exhaust on it that held the center stand down at lower point than stock. The left side foot of the center stand ended being ground down by half and I lost a quarter of the foot on the right side. So i have put the OEM exhaust back on and replaced the center stand. I though that would solve the problem. Wrong.

I'm still dragging the center stand when two up. So I know the suspension is shot and the bike is just riding too low. Yes the center stand spring is in good shape. Yes it is folding up all the way to the point it's supposed to.

My fork seals are shot, and those I know how to deal with.

My question is on the rear progressive air suspension. Can it be adjusted for a higher than stock ride position. Now I know most people are more interested in lowering these old Wings. However I'm a pretty big ole boy and have no problem with it sitting as much as two inches taller.

So..can i buy a set of the 412's and get what I want or is it going to cost me an arm a leg and half a kidney to get what I want?

 

[Broke Winger]

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Well?

 

[bamadave]

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Good thread. I am in the same shape with the 1100 I just bought. If the center stand is what I hear sometimes even with 57 lbs. I would take mine off.

 

[DougW]

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The reason she is dragging is the shock is shot. On my 1500 it would drag the stand at times even with lots of air in the right shock, the damping shock just wasn't doing it's job. I replaced the regular shock with a progressive and the problems went away.

I put progressive air shocks on when I added the Trike kit because both shocks must match for that to work. They are a god bit stiffer, even when the air is low, I use the air pressure to adjust the ride and it does help some with the height, the higher air pressure keeps them from compressing as far. The trike rides a little lower than is did with 2 wheels but I have not dragged anything yet (no center stand of course).

 

[plainmech]

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i have 87 1200a rebuilt shocks w/ prog. springs it's great pretty reasonable price. aren't 1200 shocks about 1" longer than 1100's????:action::waving:

 

[Broke Winger]

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plainmech wrote:

i have 87 1200a rebuilt shocks w/ prog. springs it's great pretty reasonable price. aren't 1200 shocks about 1" longer than 1100's????:action::waving:

I don't know but would be very interested in finding out, and whether they will bolt onto an 1100 or not would be good to know as well.

 

[Dancinbear]

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I had the regular non-air progressives on my 1200. My honda tech told me to get the non air cuz you don't know if the air compressor will go south on ya next year. (24yrs old ya know) I think the non air progressives were the 4226 model...... I am not sure. The progressives were longer than stock. They made the rear wheel touch the ground when on the center stand. I had to put the bike up on a piece of 1x6 to get the rear wheel off the ground or to jack the front wheel off the ground. man, they were great shocks though......... like night and day. Made that bike go thru twisties like it was on rails.

For what it's worth Broke.........

 

[Broke Winger]

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Well my wing doesn't have the compressor system so i use just little plug in compressor anyway.

I'm thinking about just rebuilding the stock ones...But I'm worried that maybe the springs in them have given out. Is that likely?

I really need to get this thing riding higher, I can't keep buying center stands.

 

[k1w1t1m]

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I am in the same situation. I keep about 65# in the rear suspension and normally all is good. After riding a bad road with a number of suspension bottoming bumps any air the suspension had was gone. I scared the wife and I as on easy corners the stand scraped.
I have the seals on order and am planning to use power steering fluid but like you I'm wondering if this will be enough and am looking for alternatives. Money is a serious consideration.

 

[exavid]

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Progressive 416s are about the same length as OEM rear shocks on the 1100s. The big difference is the much stiffer springs. I had one 1100 with 416 on the rear and never had them bottom out with two large sized people on board. The ride is a bit stiffer but not uncomfortable. They also make the bike a lot more solid feeling when pushing hard in the twisties. I have 416s on my 1500 because of the way they performed on my first Goldwing an '86 1200. You can change the springs inside the OEM shocks with the stronger Progressive springs and replace the seals on your OEM for quite a bit less. If I remember there's a pictorial and discription of that being done here on the forum. BTW if you buy 416s you'll need the adapter kit that couples the shrader valve to the smaller Progressive airlines. It costs about $20 for the adapter kit. With the Progressive shock kit you won't have the old low pressure warning light since the Progressive set up doesn't connect to the pressure switch. I just grounded the wire at the switch to keep the light off.

 

[Bagmaster]

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Well, I have the 416's on the back of my 1100 and they're a 1/2 inch taller than the stock shocks at 13 1/2 inches. For a while I just used the "T" valve that comes with them and had it run up next to the gas cap so I could fill them right there. Last month I ordered the adapter kit to hook the Progressive lines to the original Honda valve manifold had have the use of the low air light again, before I also had it grounded so it would go off.

I bought the manifold adapter kit right from Progressive right over the phone and had it in 3 days, cost less than 15 bucks.

 

[k1w1t1m]

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The seals came in and I filled the shocks with 12.5 oz of powersteering fluid. I am happy to report that after a weekend of riding, all two up and we are big people, that we never bottomed out once. I run 55# in the rear shocks and although there were some serious bumps there was never that spine jarring bang. Next time or whenever my finances improve I might try the progressive springs in the OEM shock.

 

[bamadave]

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k1w1t1m wrote:

The seals came in and I filled the shocks with 12.5 oz of powersteering fluid. I am happy to report that after a weekend of riding, all two up and we are big people, that we never bottomed out once. I run 55# in the rear shocks and although there were some serious bumps there was never that spine jarring bang. Next time or whenever my finances improve I might try the progressive springs in the OEM shock.

Thanks for posting back and glad the bike is O.K. now and makes me feel better about rebuiding mine (other than the $204 kit).

Wifey and I have a Sept. trip planned.

 

[k1w1t1m]

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The seals only cost about $15 each from the Honda dealer. Someone posted a link (not sure if it's in this thread) on progressive springs that go into the factory shocks and they were only $55 (I assume thats for a set [both sides]).