How or can it be done?

At one point I considered myself an expert on the CTX rear suspension. One year later, I have forgotten most of it, but I seem to remember, the sag on my bike was one inch just from the weight of the bike with no rider. That would be measured by having your very muscular suspension technician lift the rear of the bike off the ground while you take measurements between two points which is the suspension fully extended. Then measure between the same two points with the bike sitting on the ground under its own weight. As I recall, that standard sag for the CTX is about one inch. With me (175 lb) sitting on the bike, the total sag was about 2 inches. That left 2.3 inches of travel for bumps. Even at only 175, I took some big hits on my back. Does that data sound correct, Steven?


The ideal sag is around 30 percent as a starting point to find your ideal setting. I got the aftermarket shock and I now no longer find myself dwelling on the ride quality.

That sounds right except the sag needs to be set with the rider on the bike. With no rider, there will probably be no sag. If you decrease your sag a bit (with you on the bike), to about one inch, maybe a little more than an inch, your ride won't change, but it will handle larger bumps better.

Just for an example, with the oem shock at stock settings, I had one inch of travel available. It was killing me on any rough surface and almost caused me to wreck when going across an expansion joint on the Interstate. Shimming up the shock to get one inch of sag cured that problem. However, on pot holes and high rise bumps the oem shock would just give up and not control the shock movement. Because of you I bought the same shock you have and that problem was history.

Because of my weight, I bought the new shock with a heavier spring, but that proved to be too much. It would handle extremely rough roads very well, but on normal roads with average bumps it would jar a bit. I then went with a softer spring and after a few adjustments, it's a nice ride. While I believe the new spring to be a little soft for my weight, I count on the fast compression circuit of the shock to slow down the compression and so far it seems to be working.

Another thing is that the tire is about 20% of the suspension. Honda calls for a range of 36 to 42 psi (for the rear tire) depending on the riders weight and gear. If you are running a the higher end of the pressure, the ride will get rougher. Lowering it to 36 psi will give you a better ride. I have no idea how this translates into tire wear, but each person has to decide what's more important. It terms of handling, it can make a difference, but considering that most CTX riders are not pushing their bikes that hard, I don't think it matters.

BTW, thanks for getting Peter to put that shock together for you and us.

Update, I have decided not to lower my bike. After looking and reading everything I decided to lower the seat.

I had remade my seat with a wider pan and new padding and installed a backrest, it did work well but the padding made it a little high to get on and off for me. I got the AirHawk Cruiser R Seat Pad. I got the AirHawk so I could remove some of the padding, lowering the seat height. I then placed the AirHawk on the re-remade seat and tested it, nice. It does add to my riding time. So I was able to use less padding and still be able to ride longer.

I then cut it into the padding and put the cover over it, when looking at the bike you can not tell the AirHawk is under there. Today is going to be the test ride!

I hear the AirHawk works well when adjusted right.

The AirHawk test ride went well. I may have to let a little more air out butt after 1 hour no pain and I did not feel any bumps. Next test ride is today, 300 miles.

Now something new has popped up. My left hand seems to go to sleep, my right hand (for years) does that too...so now both hands go to sleep but the rest of me is wide awake! Not sure what I can do about that. I have soft covers and leather over my grips.

mjc said:

The AirHawk test ride went well. I may have to let a little more air out butt after 1 hour no pain and I did not feel any bumps. Next test ride is today, 300 miles.

Now something new has popped up. My left hand seems to go to sleep, my right hand (for years) does that too...so now both hands go to sleep but the rest of me is wide awake! Not sure what I can do about that. I have soft covers and leather over my grips.

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What I do is what Sister Teresa taught me in third grade. If you want good penmanship, every so often as needed, shake your wrist, get the blood flowing.

As for the AirHawk, I got one of those prior to getting the aftermarket shock. It helped quite a bit. As Steven said your rear suspension starts at the tires and ends at the seat. Everything in between is part of it. My AirHawk only lasted one year, but Airhawk and Revzilla replaced it free of charge and actually put a credit on my account since AirHawk reduced the price from the time of my original purchase. I was impressed.