Crucified,
I have found that the Kewlmetal bleed feed system has always had a better ride than any spring shock as far as absorption of sharp or large bumps. There are several bumps on my road in and out of my neighborhood that hurt my back if I stay seated, with stock shocks, or even progressive shocks on my VTX, but with the air ride, they are no problem. The Spyder exhibits the same characteristics but not quite as noticeable as a 2 wheeled bike. I believe this is because you are feeling more of the front suspension on the Spyder. The handling is not necessarily better in terms of vehicle dynamics under hard driving and cornering because there is NO oil damping, so the system is under damped. The bleed feed system pressurizes both sides of the piston and has quite a lot of damping for an AIR shock, especially compared to a single sided air shock.
Now let's also remember the original purpose to putting an air ride on a bike in the first place is to slam the bike for looks. A lot of the original systems are single sided and merely allow you to raise the bike so you have SOME suspension to ride home on. These systems are terrible to ride. The Kewlmetal bleed feed system is WAY better. BUT it is NOT a high end shock like a penske, a totally different animal.
I still Love my air ride on my Spyder and the wife rode it for 10K miles with no issues and she was very comfortable on it. And trust me she would have made me take it off if she had any issue with it!
I think if the ride is harsh you have it set up too stiff. You should raise the shock all the way to the top and stop pressurizing as soon as it hits the top while releasing all the back pressure at the same time. Then lower the bike no more than 1 inch with the back pressure. I find this to be the sweet spot for me, and once I have done it a few times I can set it right back with out using any gages.
Now I used to ride my VTX both solo and 2 up, and with the progressive shocks I HAD to adjust the shocks for 2 up and back again for solo, which was a pain. Once I put the air ride on, that issue went away. I was able to set the shock just using the switches, and once again, after experimenting a little, I did not need any gages to repeat the settings pretty close each time. For this reason and because the hard bumps were less harsh, I would never trade back to a spring shock after running the air ride. The single biggest compromise is the under damping when riding hard in the twisties, but that is on 2 wheels, this is less noticeable on the Spyder and has less impact on the handling IMHO.
I always set the pressures while standing next to the bike, before riding. It is very difficult to get it right while sitting on the bike or while riding.
I hope all this helps!
Please feel free to call me 623-298-7835 if you have any questions.
Matt
