Article and Photos by: Chris Callen
With our boy Keith getting his ’95 Roadking up and running this spring, we’ve got a good look at the fact that he, like a lot of people these days, is in the position of bringing an Evo based bike back from the deterioration of a hard first, sometimes second life. We have been going at this bike a part at a time and doing upgrades as he can afford it. One thing’s for sure, as the price of these older Evos continues to come down and more people start to end up on them, smart companies will make parts and accessories to meet the consumer on that level.
In this chapter of Keith’s old Evo, we have a set of Legends Air Suspension’s LB1 Shocks to install. Keith is looking forward to the adjustability of the Legend’s system that will provide him with the ability to switch the ride height at the flick of his thumb. So, when his chick wants to ride with him or if he’s alone just cruising or wants to go aggressive in the twisties, this suspension will handle the whole range.
We start by securing his bike to the lift table and get a jack under the frame so we can get to work.
Keith takes off the bags and seat so the shocks are exposed and we can pull the battery.
We remove the dash panel and fuel tank mounting hardware so we can run the wiring.
Next, we remove the stock clutch clamp on the left handlebar. This is where the new clamp with the control buttons will be installed.
With the first two bolts in loose, we run the wires down under the tank and into the battery compartment.
Now this is where we ran into a little hang up. Most FL bikes from Keith’s year have the larger battery and the instructions tell you to mount the compressor under the battery tray. Keith’s bike is a police Roadking, an oddball first year at that, and has a smaller battery so we had no choice but to relocate the place we mounted the compressor.
No big deal, the left side cover revealed a nice area that we could mount it to with minimal effort. Once the mounting is good, we connect the wires from the control, the wires from the relay and the battery wires (all color coded) to the compressor.
We can install the battery at this point as well, but we’ll leave out the inline fuse until the end.
We install the airline from the compressor and the splitter to make it ready for the rest of the airlines to be installed.
Now we take the rear shocks off, adding height to the frame jack to the point that the swingarm hangs a little loose.
We install the new shocks with the provided spacers and remember a little dab of Loctite.
Once both shocks are installed, we run the airlines up to the compressor, cutting to size with the tool they provide in the kit.
With both airlines run, we can now install the inline fuse at the battery and get it buttoned up.
The new Legend Air Suspension showed us an inch shorter and over three inches more in height.
Conversely, when the shocks are at their lowest position, they give you more of a custom bike feel. The bike looks completely different dropped but the ride is less performance oriented. Keith comes from the old school though and actually likes to drag pipes now and then so he rides with them pretty low all the time.
Another feature is the difference of when he is riding alone and when he has his ol’ lady ride with him. As simple as pushing the button, he can bring the ride height and the feel back to what it was like before she was added. If it happens that he doesn’t get it exactly right from the start, the shocks can be adjusted on the fly. The only thing Keith would like to see added to this system would be a pressure gauge which they do offer as an upgrade.
Okay, on a final note, and he made me put this part in, Keith likes it when he pulls into a crowd and lets the air out of the suspension. People are drawn to the bike like moths to a flame and he digs telling them about how it works.
We’re going to put this same suspension on my Black Pearl and by the end of summer, we’ll both have some serious miles on them and be able to give you a follow up report. Until then, check out more of their stuff on the web site and tell ‘em we sent ya!
