so, when i sit on the bike, the suspension bottoms out and when i ride, it slams like crazy when i hit a pot hole. i'm thinking i need to tighten the suspension, i'm only around 195lbs. anyone know how to do this?

Best thing to do is to buy the shop manual. If you do it yourself a lot this will be your best friend. Whenever I buy an new bike I get the manual. This will give you all the info that you need and they are relatively cheap. Usually around $50 to $60 from the dealer and sometimes you can get them on ebay.

I threw away both sets of stock shock absorbers on my bikes. I also replaced the entire front end, rear wheel and swingarm on the Dyna. I would characterize the shock choice on the Sportster as downright cheap.

yeah, it's not a very comfortable ride. i will need to look into a manual.

+1 on the manual, the best tool in my box.

I agree. To add, however, I don't know if there is a correct way to buttress the performance of inadequate parts. My opinion is that the forks, swingarm and shocks (including their dampening units) are substandard. In fact, thirty years ago I remember reading articles on test bikes and their problems with unsprung weight.

Hey, when you sell kidney belts to keep kidneys from lacerations, there's a problem. I bought a leather jacket +7 years ago, and it came with a ballistic nylon kidney belt. I can take a picture of it, if you'd like.

Edit: This is a picture of a modern ballistic nylon kidney belt. It came with my Harley jacket and bears the Harley name:

https://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb23 ... 2-58-1.jpg

after the manual... new parts!!

Hey, RK, now that you know some background here, what would you recommend? I'm thinking of a new bike, kind of Electra-Glide-ish. Any thoughts?