After 40,000 miles and no maintence on the suspension - I decided to go whole hog on the suspension upgrades.

Penske 8983 and Traxxion Dynamics AK-20 cartidges. Went with the Penske over the Ohlins because it was less expensive, which allowed me to spend more the forks and get the AK-20. Besides - I doubt that I would ever be able to tell the difference between the two shocks. Either one is a major upgrade from stock.

Had Dean of D2 Cycles in Liberty, Mo order and install the bits and pieces.

Huge improvement. I had lowered the triple on the fork tubes to get more weight on the front end, but with an adustable shock, Dean set the triple back to almost factory specs and used the shock to raise the rear end. Now the bike sits much taller. A side benefit of this is that the bike runs a cooler since the lowered front end had been blocking air flow to the radiator.

Took the bike for a short ride and it feels like a different bike. More feeling and thus confidence in the front end. On the brakes, the fork doesn't blow right through the stroke. The side to side tranistions are WAY easier and I can get on the gas sooner coming out of the corners.

All in all - a huge improvement and I won't wait 40,000 miles to get the suspension serviced this time.

I'm at about 40k too. Sure could have done something with the stock suspension a long time ago. I plan to adress that before next year. Thanks for the info.

IMO that and light wheels are the best mods

I put the AK-20 kit on my bike and seriously could not believe the difference.
It is completely different - all for the good - especially if you aren't the 150lb ideal rider the suspension is built for.
Traxxion rebuilt the OEM rear shock for me, with a new spring. Dyno report showed it was better than the Penske for the same money - I would do that again in a heart beat. To avoid shipping and downtime, I bought a used shock from eBay and shipped direct to Dan at traxxion.
I have loads of pics on the install process - been meaning to write a howto....

Bryan, I want to try yours before I make the leap. Sounds like there will be a line in ES in May, so I might have to wait for a different opportunity lest you don't get to ride your own bike all weekend.

BTW, are you riding or hauling down? I'm also interested in the all-day comfort with the new suspenders.

* Last updated by: Danno on 3/18/2013 @ 5:47 AM *

Dan - So far you and Pete are the only ones wanting to ride. I am a little worried that everyone at ES is going to want to take it for a spin.

We (Robin and me) are planning on riding down to ES. I have grand plans of staying Wednesday night in Rolla and then waking up Thursday and taking the long way through southwest Mo to ES. But it's all depending on the weather. Robin doesn't want to ride in the rain.

If you take I-70 to 19 at Hermann , you can take it practically all the way to the Arkansas border, although it doesn't get really good until you get past Cuba. If you go to Rolla, you won';t hit 19 until Salem. Might be able to hook up Thursday morning early for breakfast and cruise down from there. 19 to 160 at Alton, 160 to the 76 cutoff before Forsythe, 76 to US 65 south of Branson, 65 to 86, 86 to 23 and then 23 south to ES.

Or you can take 25 and the ferry down, but it's a little more convoluted once you get into Ar.

You're pretty close to the route I've got laid out, but we're definitely taking MO 125 south into Arkansas. Never miss a chance to rail MO 125.

Sorry, 125, that's right, not 25. You could jog up 5 at Gainesville and take 76 and Highway T over to 125. Or just stay on 76 and that goes to Bradleyville.

And how much railing are you going to do with Robin in tow? Connor riding pillion?

* Last updated by: Danno on 3/20/2013 @ 5:00 PM *

It's probably going to be just me and Robin. C will likely have to work. If C comes along - it'll be a truck and trailer trip down.

Robin is a good sport. She just tells me to stop at the next turn and she does her own pace.

Are we officially "off topic"?

* Last updated by: tbolt on 3/20/2013 @ 5:41 PM *