Just a quick comment on the Progressive 12.5 shocks.  I put a set of these on my 05 S40 and the installation went very well.  Some 700 miles later I heard a scraping sound from the rear section of my bike.  I was taking a short test ride after adjusting my air mixture needle and I did not put on my hard hat. (Not a good plan!) Apparently my full face helmet was blocking all the scraping sounds from me.

Put the bike in the upright position and secured it with tie downs.  Then jacked the rear wheel off the ground  and rotated it by hand.  There was the most awful scraping metal to metal sound I had ever heard!  I pulled the left cover over the belt sprocket and discovered that the belt pulley was grinding against the drive belt cover.

Apparently when the 12.5 shocks were installed it changed the height of the swing arm and rotated the belt cover forward and down enought to make concact with the primary belt pulley. I ground off a short portion of the belt cover (Both front and rear) and cleared up the problem.  She runs quiet as a lamb now.

While I had everything off, I checked how the belt was running. It appears to be straight and true.  I used the "seaman's eye" approach and everything looked fine.  I am using the 90 degree twist method of checking the drive belt tension and all seem to be well.

Jack H.

Yup, I did the same thing and then later removed the cover completely.  Mine never scraped but it looked too close for my comfort.  I like it much better without it.

How ya likin' those shocks?

For Savage-Rob:  Love the shocks!  Whole new bike now and steady as a rock.  In fact, this is one of the nicest bikes I have had in my 59 years of riding.  Light, quick and runs like a rabbit!  Absolutely no throttle lag or flat spots.  Just returned from a 100 mile + ride and it was pure pleasure!  The big grin is still all over my face.

Jack H.

For Savage_Rob - Any problem with catching your pants in the forward pulley with the belt cover removed?  I have a horror of my leg being scarfed up by the belt/pulley! (I'm an old Beemer driver and more used to the shaft drive approach.)  did you remove both the front and back covers or just one?

Thanks for your help.

Jack H.

Thanks for the heads up regarding the spacer!