Today I installed a pair of Hagon Nitros on my recently acquired '21 V7 850 Special. The bike had Maxton front fork cartridges, Mistral mufflers, and a KN filter installed by a previous owner. I had found the rear rather stiff so decided to add a pair of better shocks, adjusted to my weight
I had ordered a centerstand but it is hung up in customs and the shocks arrived so I decided to install them though it would have been easier with the centerstand. But I figured one side at a time wouldn't be a problem. BUT the Hagons are a couple of mm longer than the OEMs and even by pulling up on the frame to ensure the off side OEM shock was fully extended I couldn't fit a new shock onto the mounts. Bummer!
But then I realized that since the Nitro's spring preload is fully threaded, I could take all the tension off the spring plus another few MMs, and compress the shock a bit so it would easily slide into place. Before unwinding the adjuster I had marked its location so once the shocks were mounted I wound the adjusters back to the original position that Hagon had set them based on my weight. So it ended up being quite easy.
It was raining so I didn't go out to see what difference, if any the new shocks made. Should have gone anyway, it's not the first time me and the bike were soaked - when I picked it up two weeks ago it rained the entire 94 miles riding back home! ;)
