Anyone using Progressive 444 shocks

cr0ft said:

The question is has anyone done a comparo of the newish 444 as opposed to earlier gen Progressives and the Hagon Nitros? I'm not much of a tinkerer, dialing stuff in, I like as automatic as possible... The whole "omg the 444's swallowed the bumps perfectly, I'm in ecstasy" gushing I see around the Internet does sound tasty.

Longevity of the shocks too is a question. I mean, changing them out every year wouldn't break me financially but it seems kind of wasteful. Aluminium construction for a 400 kilo bike, hmmm....

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I be sort of in the same boat as you; in that I have run the Hagon Nitros (good shockies BTW) and recently installed some taller progressive 444 HDs. Shall start riding again the next nice day.
I'm anxious to compare the two brands.

Ok, down to strongly considering going with some Hagon Nitros for this season - my local dealer is a good guy but I think I'll go with a direct order from the UK and get them to assemble them to the correct load. Hagon has been really great at answering questions and giving info via email.

So - should they be 12.5 inches (320 mm) or a little taller perhaps? I have no problem getting my feet down with the stock length. Anyone put 13 inch shocks on?

Well, I pulled the trigger on some chrome Progressive 444 HD. Jcmotors.com had them for over $150 below MSRP, and that comes to about half the price they want for them in Europe. Even with customs and taxes I'll come out ahead. Now to wait and see if it was a good call or no.

Shocks landed on these far northern shores... haven't gotten them in my hands yet but will before the weekend. I'm a bit dubious about trying to do the work myself - obviously I can operate some bolts that are fully exposed, but lack the gear to prop the bike up. Don't generally do the heavy lifting, mechanically, on the bike. Might end in a disaster, so I think I may just take the bike in to the shop where they have proper lifts and let them do it.

Edit: assume you have one idiot (that would be me) and one bike with just the side stand and two original shocks on it. What happens if the idiot unbolts one shock at a time and tries replacing them? Does one suffice for holding the bike up?

Edit 2: assume said idiot uses the above method but also adds something like a wooden plank or beam or something similar to prop up the side being changed?

Maybe I'll go back to "take the bike in to the shop"...

Edit 3: these things are surprisingly light. I was expecting 8-9 kilos, but these say 4 on the manifest. I guess that's due to it having numerous aluminium parts compared to earlier generations. So between these and my Shorai Lithium-Iron battery I've reduced the weight of my bike by 8 or so kilos...

Brother Croft, seeing that you are no Redneck, this idea may not be helpful: A friend of mine asked me to help him lift his Ultra Classic a few months ago. He has no lift. This is basically what we did in this drawing. The only thing we added were a couple of tie down straps to keep it steady while he swapped shocks and new tires/rims... I hope this helps some.

i changed my lowrider shox doing what you suggested and the right side was a breeze the left side not so much. 04 fxdli weighs 650 lbs soaking wet and fox shocks might have been easier to compress.

Boog said:

Brother Croft, seeing that you are no Redneck, this idea may not be helpful: A friend of mine asked me to help him lift his Ultra Classic a few months ago. He has no lift. This is basically what we did in this drawing. The only thing we added were a couple of tie down straps to keep it steady while he swapped shocks and new tires/rims... I hope this helps some.

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Yup, except I don't even own a floor jack, so it's either macgyver it and risk the chance of seriously screwing up or take it in, I think I'll just get pros to do it.

cr0ft said:

Yup, except I don't even own a floor jack, so it's either macgyver it and risk the chance of seriously screwing up or take it in, I think I'll just get pros to do it.

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I hear that discretion is the better part of valor...

Which is prolly why you are alive to share such wisdom, my friend!

When I put my new shocks on I loosened all the bolts for the shocks, then picked up the read of the bike by the luggage rack while my buddy disconnected both shocks and put both new ones on. It's heavy for like 2 minutes. Some have said they were able to do one at a time but I think the shocks on mine were shorter than stock and wouldn't extend high enough to allow the stock height shocks to fit. Its a very easy job, no lift needed, the longest part for me was removing my corbin bags.