You get what you pay for
By Michael C. on
This is a six week, 800 mile review of the Progressive 412 shock from my perspective, which I admit will be much different than other reviews. This is the type of review that I wish I would have seen when shopping for new replacement shocks. It will not be a short review and I'll provide some stats, impressions, and cautions based on MY experience, bike set up, etc. This WILL be a contrarian view of most reviews I've seen on line for these shocks. Immediate thoughts: You get what you pay for. These are a cheap shock at a cheap price... unfortunately that also means a cheaply made product with cheap performance. Sorry if that's too harsh, especially since I'm the only one that appears not to love these things. Stats: Shock purchased: 412, 12.6" length, Standard weight, black finish. Me: 205 lbs. Wife: 120 lbs. Riding experience: 50 years. Bike: 2012 Harley Fat Bob run bare without any saddlebags or luggage. Purchased in 2022 with stock shocks. Adjusting shock preload is important to me and I do it every time depending if I'm solo or my wife is aboard. The adjustability aspect may be the largest deficiency between the 412's and the stock Harley shock. After talking with Progressive, I initially purchased the 444's in Heavy Duty, but after seeing the top cap was plastic and you would have to carry around a strap wrench, and awkwardly try to wrap it around the shock to adjust the preload I returned the 444's and opted for the Standard weight 412's, thinking about the price difference and after talking with more dealers that seem to differ from Progressive in how stiff their shocks are. While everyone is saying "the stock shocks are no good"... from my experience, compared to the stock, I'm not so sure. If you call Progressive, it seems the only metric they use to determine Standard or Heavy Duty is the combined weight of the riders. I found that interesting and even though I talked to different people at Progressive, they only focused on the rider weights, without really listening to what I was telling them about the style of bike, riding style, or other factors. Our roads here are really bad; lots of washboard type roads, poorly maintained, so I really wanted to get a better ride and thought new shocks would do it for me so I wouldn't feel like I'm getting kicked in the back. Unfortunately, the new shocks haven't really offered that much (if any) of an improvement. These shocks are VERY STIFF, even though standard springs. I can only imagine what Heavy Duty would feel like. Height: The stock shocks are 12". I thought going only .6" over would help with a little more travel and clearance in the corners and be no big deal... I was wrong. The 12.6" shocks have 2.51" of travel and the 12" have only 1.89" of travel, BUT, while there seems to be a little more clearance on cornering, the extra .6" does seem to make a difference in stance and handgrip height which I don't like, at least the way I have our Fat Bob set up with 12" mini apes and Mustang Square-Back seat. It's not the typical "euro" or "stunt" set up you see most FatBob's with. I wish I would have ordered the standard 12" shock length, especially now knowing how stiff these shocks are. I measured all the sags; static, rider only, rider & passenger, for each of the first 3 settings, and I haven't gone beyond the third setting. At my weight, with rider only at the baseline setting, the sag was only 3/4"... still felt stiff. There seems to be basically about 1/8" between the setting notches. Installation: Was relatively easy. I have a heavy duty chock secured on my garage floor, so used an automotive jack with a piece of wood for rear support and just nudged the bike with the rear tire off the floor a bit. Since I didn't receive any instructions or hardware in the box, before I got started I called Progressive (again) and learned for my particular bike, they didn't ship hardware, (or any print information) so I re-used the stock spacers, etc. A simple information sheet included in the box would have been nice. I did get some cool stickers which I cannibalized for position markings later. Observations: I was hoping the new shocks would provide a little smoother ride than the stock shocks. My wife says there is absolutely no difference and I agree. We both like the black exposed spring over the stock enclosed chrome housing but that's about where it ends. I have a 21 year old Kawasaki Vulcan Nomad with stock suspension that is very comfortable and this isn't even close. Maybe my expectations are too high. Progressive should have some type of pre-load position decal or markings like Harley does on their stock shocks so you know what position it's in. I punched out some little red dots from their stickers and put those on the shocks for a easy reference if my last adjustment was "one up" or "two". Also, the metal lowered coverings on the 412's are FLIMSY and bend easily. I mistakenly used the Harley spanner wrench (which is a single unit and easier to grab that the plier like wrench Progressive gives you) and I bent the lower metal covering and can't get it back to completely round, it's now kind of "oval". The stock Harley shock has a heavy-duty chrome finish with THICK steel with position markers that are superior to the Progressive 412's. I added some padding and electrical tape to the Progressive spanner wrench to make it easier on my hand, get a better grip on it, and also covered the grip area with electrical tape to help protect the black finish on the shock, but the black finish is still getting marked up as that plier type tool they give you is tougher to use with trying to keep a firm grip on it & finding the knotch holes. Even though I greased up the setting points, it is tougher than the stock shocks to adjust... maybe because the metal shroud and plier is so flimsy is just seems to make the whole thing more of an "ordeal" than it needs to be. Maybe Progressive is thinking even though these are adjustable, most people don't bother, so not a lot of thought was put into these details ? Summation: I understand these are a cheap shock. They look cool (for now), but not sure it worth the money and effort to change the look because there definitely isn't an improvement on the ride. I did call Progressive after a bit and mentioned how stiff these are and they offered a suggestion that feels like it may have helped a little: "If you installed these and torqued them down without bouncing on them before torquing, back off the bolts a bit, bounce the springs some, and re-torque." They said the shocks may have been "bound up a bit" during install if you just installed & torqued without jumping on them. I'm SO glad I didn't end up installing the heavy duty springs as it would have made the ride more miserable than it is already. I'd suggest they really listen to their customers who call for advice instead of having a "default" answer just based on the combined weight of the riders. Two positives about these shocks is that the bike does feel a "little more planted" while at speed going through a big sweeper and there seems to be just a touch more clearance while cornering. That all being said, I wouldn't purchase this particular shock again. Hope this helps.