D
DS74BMW
Guest
I bought some Progressive air shocks for my '74 R60. With the sidecar, I'm finding that it is important to able to adjust for loads.
I have the rig set-up for my wife in the car, and when I take just the dog along, I have to add 100 lbs of ballast in the car. When my wife is on the saddle behind me, with the dog in the car, the tired stock shocks would not allow the rig to sit vertically. I talked to Justin at Progressive, and he recommended their air shocks, which were adjustable from 0 -70 psi, and should compensate for the load variation/configurations common with sidecars. He recommended One Stop Moto for the best price, and he was right [$40 less than Dennis Kirk, $49 less than Bike Bandit].
After installation, I tried different pressure settings, and found that 35 psi was correct for the rig with my wife in the car [same for dog/ballast]. I bumped up the psi to 65 for the three of us. This kept all three tires vertical.
The stock front springs were tired, as well. I measured the length of new OEM springs at Re Psycle BMW earlier this week, and they were 22.5" long, and they recommended Progressive's springs for what I was doing [slightly larger wire diameter for heavier loads], which they had on hand [BTW - nice folks to deal with].
I removed the original OEM springs, measured them, and found they were 1" shorter than new. As per Progressives instructions, I had to re-set the oil height [with springs out, forks compressed, to 5.5" from top of tube]. I removed about 1/4 oz from each leg to achieve this [the new springs, with heavier wire, displace more oil]. The new springs came with a pair of new, longer, spacers; the OEM spacers were left out. With this set-up, I had about 1 1/8" of preload. This worked out fine [also went to 7 1/2 wt oil, instead of 5 wt]. The results in the the front end was much improved, and, with the new rear air shocks, the ride is much better - and adjustable.
A few pics:
In the second pic, the shrader valve can be seen to the right of the top of shock; it has a "T" fitting behind it, where both air lines couple to.
I have the rig set-up for my wife in the car, and when I take just the dog along, I have to add 100 lbs of ballast in the car. When my wife is on the saddle behind me, with the dog in the car, the tired stock shocks would not allow the rig to sit vertically. I talked to Justin at Progressive, and he recommended their air shocks, which were adjustable from 0 -70 psi, and should compensate for the load variation/configurations common with sidecars. He recommended One Stop Moto for the best price, and he was right [$40 less than Dennis Kirk, $49 less than Bike Bandit].
After installation, I tried different pressure settings, and found that 35 psi was correct for the rig with my wife in the car [same for dog/ballast]. I bumped up the psi to 65 for the three of us. This kept all three tires vertical.
The stock front springs were tired, as well. I measured the length of new OEM springs at Re Psycle BMW earlier this week, and they were 22.5" long, and they recommended Progressive's springs for what I was doing [slightly larger wire diameter for heavier loads], which they had on hand [BTW - nice folks to deal with].
I removed the original OEM springs, measured them, and found they were 1" shorter than new. As per Progressives instructions, I had to re-set the oil height [with springs out, forks compressed, to 5.5" from top of tube]. I removed about 1/4 oz from each leg to achieve this [the new springs, with heavier wire, displace more oil]. The new springs came with a pair of new, longer, spacers; the OEM spacers were left out. With this set-up, I had about 1 1/8" of preload. This worked out fine [also went to 7 1/2 wt oil, instead of 5 wt]. The results in the the front end was much improved, and, with the new rear air shocks, the ride is much better - and adjustable.
A few pics:
In the second pic, the shrader valve can be seen to the right of the top of shock; it has a "T" fitting behind it, where both air lines couple to.
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