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Best Suspension

Of 2024
Let's face it: cruisers aren’t exactly known for stellar suspension. But that shouldn’t stop you from have a good-handling bike, and we have you covered with our top suspension picks for 2024. No matter if you are blasting through canyons on your Dyna or performance bagger, or just looking for a better ride on your touring machine, we have broken down plenty of choices for you. Everything from front end cartridge kits to rear shocks for multiple applications are on display here and up for grabs.




Best Motorcycle Twin Shocks

Dual springers for back-end comfort and control

If it ain’t broke, improve upon it. The twin shock approach to suspension has evolved over decades, as the search for more travel saw mounts migrate all over the swing arm. Today’s best twin shocks for motorcycles are ideal for bikes that carry extra weight, regularly do two-up touring, are subjected to rougher surfaces and are sought out for easier maintenance. Our picks for 2024 offer largely DIY installation, at-home adjustment and vastly improved ride quality.
Progressive Suspension 990 Sport Shocks

For those who truly twist the loud handle, our pick for the best twin shocks are the hand-built and dyno-tested Progressive 990 Sport Shocks With Remote Reservoir For Harley Touring. There’s fine-tuning abound here, from high and low-speed compression damping to rebound adjustment plus threaded pre-load you can crank down with your hand.

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Ohlins Rear Shocks

From one of the world’s best suspension brands comes a pair of rear shocks that’ll soften any ride. The Ohlins S36HRCL Rear Reservoir Shocks For Harley Touring utilize remote fluid reservoirs for increased oil volume and cooling. The shocks adjust for rebound, compression, and length to provide maximum tunability.

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Best Motorcycle Mono Shocks

For Plush Performance At Speed

If your bike needs to shed weight, slip through the air and offer rapid tuning, it’s hard to beat the mono shock set-up. They’re tucked into the middle of the machine and provide a stable, plush and consistent performance at speed. There’s a reason why Yamaha introduced it on off-road bikes nearly 50 years ago — but a lot has changed since then. Today’s mono shocks for V-Twins offer the right amount of “boing” for a bike that won’t overload the capabilities of a single shock.
Fox Factory IFP-R QS3 Monotube Shocks

Soak up bumps while maintaining a confident connection to the road with this brilliant monotube shock from Fox. High-end internals in a rebuildable and re-valvable package deliver low-friction compression and rebound in a proven package.

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Legend Suspension REVO-A Monoshock

Enjoy a dramatic improvement to ride quality with the Legend Suspension Revo-A Mono Shock For Harley Softail. A longer coil spring is at the core of this package and it gives your Harley a plush feel without negatively altering how the bike sits or steers.

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Best Motorcycle Front Suspension

Top options for steering stability

The last thing you want during hard braking is the front end to give up. The best motorcycle front suspension upgrades for 2024 are represented by leading brands and proven designs. For the latter, we’re talking about so-called “progressive” and “linear” springs that have compression rates made for steering stability and ride comfort. It’s two sides of the same coin, but the choice is yours — and isn’t that what makes garage maintenance fun in the first place?
Progressive Suspension Heavy Duty Fork Springs

They suck up all sorts of road bumps while preventing front-end dive in a hard stop. The best front suspension are Progressive Heavy Duty Fork Springs For Harley and the progressive spring rate is where the magic happens. They incrementally resist compression as more force is applied, which makes for a better ride throughout.

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Fox Factory Fork Cartridge Kit

From an industry pioneer comes our pick for the best front suspension, the Fox Factory Fork Cartridge Kit For Harley. These linear springs offer consistent ride performance plus plush advantages like damping control and internals that can be rebuilt.

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Best Motorcycle Air Suspension

Rapid & easy adjustability

If price finishes second to performance, the best motorcycle air suspension can lift your ride quality into another universe. These systems utilize — you guessed it — air to quickly adjust ride height and offer the additional advantage of on-the-fly stiffness adjustability. These push-of-a-button changes are great for passengers and pilots alike who’d enjoy a softer ride or tuners who want a bike that’ll squat and grip through the corners.
Legend Air Suspension

Experience next-level ride quality with the best motorcycle air suspension, Legend Suspension AIR Suspension. A pre-wired on-board compressor allows for rapid ride height adjustment while the shocks themselves sport hard anodized machined aluminum bodies.

FAQ

Q: What does suspension do on a motorcycle?
A: Riding a motorcycle would be an exhausting and painful experience were it not for modern suspension components. A combination of beefy springs, hydraulic fluid, pistons, gasses and linkages compress, rebound and react at different rates to soak up impacts from uneven surfaces. Different levels of damping, pre-load and sag allow for significant tweaks to aftermarket set-ups.
Q: Motorcycle suspension tuning: common terms explained
A: Preload: Whether increasing or reducing with retaining collars, the amount a coil spring has been adjusted to resist initial compression or compensate for varying weight aboard the motorcycle.
Sag: A measurement of either “free,” where bike weight alone squeezes the suspension a given amount, or “laden,” with a rider adding to the compressing forks and shocks.
Spring rate: The amount of weight required to compress the spring a predetermined amount; pounds-per-inch is one common way of expressing spring rate compression.
Damping: Management of suspension movement achieved through different oil weights plus orifices within the forks and shocks.
Q: What’s the best motorcycle suspension upgrade and how do I choose the right one?
A: The categories we’ve included in this year’s Gear Guide represent front and rear-end improvements via products that have proven themselves to be worth the cash outlay. Rear shock upgrades can change the height of your machine and how comfortable of a ride it offers. Better forks and internals up front are great for more responsive handling and less twitchy steering. Fact is, factory settings on stock products are made to meet the middle ground; chances are an outright upgrade in this department will help if you’ve already tried the basic tweaks.
Q: How do you adjust motorcycle suspension to your weight?
A: Dialing in a motorcycle's suspension to your weight requires a static sag and rider sag measurement, also described above as “free” and “laden,” respectively. The sweet spot for rear sag is usually around one-third of your suspension’s full travel; you may find the bike with rider aboard sinks the suspension up to 40mms. Measuring from the rear axle to a point overhead on the back of the bike will give you an initial unweighted distance. A second measurement with rider aboard will give a smaller distance. Subtract the two totals and see how much it has sagged. Adjustments can then be made with the coil spring collars to add or lessen sag to that 35-40mm sweet spot.
Q: Should motorcycle suspension be soft or hard?
A: The stiffest of springs are great for Supercross. Your big cruiser, urban warrior or track day hack hopefully won’t be getting airborne anytime soon, so the best suspension setting here depends on how you ride. Soft suspensions offer a plush and comfortable feel, but with limited feedback from the road and some steering vagueness. A stiff suspension, on the other hand, grips and turns like its on rails. It’s not ideal for a daily rider, but certainly has its merits on high-strug machines.
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