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Chief Bobber rear shock preload

5K views 22 replies 9 participants last post by  PaleRider 
#1 ·
Good day Chiefs,

I ride a 2022 Bobber. I'm 6'5" and about 265 lbs.
The rear suspension from the factory is total crap.

Has anyone adjusted the rear preload on a Bobber? Yes, I read the manual, and no, I don't have a lift/stand that can handle the Bobber, so I'm posting to the forum to see if anyone has made adjustments from the stock settings, etc.

Thanks!
 
#7 ·
To preface this, the only time I rode the bike "stock" was back from the dealership and that was after riding my FTR 3.5 hours there to trade in, then I had a dark, cold, and misty-foggy 3.5 hour ride back on the Chief. So my arse was miserable anyway...

I never really experienced any squishiness so I didn't go crazy adjusting. I just wanted to increase the preload a bit to account for my backpack and gear I take to work. The roads are in relatively good shape in Florida but the bumps I do encounter, the back end does feel stiff but planted at least.
 
#8 ·
To preface this, the only time I rode the bike "stock" was back from the dealership and that was after riding my FTR 3.5 hours there to trade in, then I had a dark, cold, and misty-foggy 3.5 hour ride back on the Chief. So my arse was miserable anyway...

I never really experienced any squishiness so I didn't go crazy adjusting. I just wanted to increase the preload a bit to account for my backpack and gear I take to work. The roads are in relatively good shape in Florida but the bumps I do encounter, the back end does feel stiff but planted at least.

woah, this post just made me realize that maybe I should've adjusted my shocks to accommodate my passengers added weight. that explains why whenever we went through bumps it felt like our lower backs got tackled by a linebacker 🤯
 
#9 ·
Yeah you don't want to be bottoming out. It's painful, been there done that. The main thing with dual shocks is to get them adjusted equally to the same preload. Use a sharpie marker and mark the collars on both shocks ao you can see the point where you've made a full turn. Afterwards use some rubbing alcohol or hand sanitizer to remove the ink marks,
 
#12 ·
I have a chief dark horse 22. Height 6ft 3 weight is 190 lbs. The standard set up was a bit soft and bottomed out on bumps. I did 2 full turns per side on the shocks. A big improvement. Not soft feel and better Road holding into and out of bends. Going over road bumps did not experience the bottom out feeling but more of suspension raise and fall.
 
#13 ·
OK, SO, I have been tweaking the preload on my 22' Bobber and have found that for me, 5 full turns is optimal (6'5", 265 pounds). No more bottoming out, no more wallowing around turns like a huge seal on a National Geographic special... at least now it's functional until I can drop the 2k on the fully adjustable Fox units.
 
G
#14 ·
I recently bought the Indian Chief Bobber Dark Horse, and I have a lift. And I conducted the sag inspection as described in the manual. It indicates a recommended sag of 45mm or 1-3/4". Here's what I found:

1. It came to me from my dealer with just below 9mm of sag.

2. Completely opening the the lock and adjuster ring to the silver ring on the threads only increased the sag by 4mm.

3. Opening the lock and adjuster ring to the full length of the threads (minus about 3 threads on the end to be safe, moving that silver ring down to the end as well) - the sag is now at 30mm or about 1".

This is measured accurately. I drove the bike around and hit some asphalt bumps and it felt far smoother. However, based on my measurements - the factory shocks (at least on my bike) are incredibly stiff.

I'll most likely need to adjust the preload back up a bit and stiffen it out as the spring breaks in more. Having the lift was a big help in seeing this sag difference. Just 4 or 5 turns just simply wasn't really affecting anything tangible in the measurements. I had to really open it up to see any real difference.

I'm 5'10", 215lbs for reference.
 
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