Why write about Fournales shocks?

These days it is normally very easy to find information about a product or service you are considering, or at least you'd think so! I recently decided to change the rear shocks on my 2008 Harley Fatboy, at approx 30,000km. The OEM versions where still perfectly functional but they really were giving my spine a run for its money on Western Australia's heavily potholed country roads, which combined with a tendency to skip over uneven surfaces also had dented my confidence in the roadholding of the bike. I had already put progressive springs and 20W oil in the front forks.

Anyway I had come across a number of glowing mentions of Fournales shocks previously when browsing the HD forums so I decided to dig a little deeper. Unfortunately though any detailed information was actually a little hard to come by and the official website is a. In French and b. just a basic catalogue.

The forums were littered with people that mentioned Fournales briefly but nothing that could really help a person make an informed decision (these things cost around $1700 AUD for the Softail version, albeit they do have a genuine money back guarantee).

So this blog is my attempt to document my ownership experience with the Fournales shocks (Pan Cruise versions for Softail) in the hope of helping some other blokes trying to make up their mind. Think of this site as a long term test, as you might get in a magazine. Had I thought of this earlier I would have got a picture of them in the box but here is a product shot of a similar model unfitted (not identical to mine).

Here they are on the bike...