Yup, yup, yup, Just wait till you start pushing your loved one into the curves. You are not going to believe how well she handles.

I am sitting on the fence as to the thought of spending the money on Hyperpros. Here's two questions: First, you often hear about how a sport bike or sports car will have excellent handling but not be a comfortable, softer ride in the straights like a big luxury cruiser or a Cadillac. So if I install Hyperpro springs, will I get a harsher less comfortable ride, albeit a better handling one? Secondly, if I have a shop do the work (I'm not good at wrenching) are there many small things that could leave a margin for error in their work like the aforementioned stock spacer/washer issue? You know, like something unique to the S-Wing's design that even a good mechanic might overlook.

I have not experienced any degradation in ride quality. I just did a little 1300 mile tour with the new hyperpros and did not notice any increased discomfort on long interstate straightaways. One thing that will make your ride harsher is increasing the air pressure in the front tire. If you run at recommended air pressure, I don't see any reason that you would notice any problems in this regard with the hyperpros.

As for margins for error in doing the job itself, I wouldn't expect this to be a problem either. I'd never done the job before, and I was able to use the service manual - I'd suggest that you get one if you don't have it already, and give it to the mechanic to use as a reference - as my guide. This won't tell him/her about leaving out the stock spacer when installing the hyperpros, so you'll have to provide that information yourself.

The other thing that I ran into, which is extremely weird in my view, is that I had an independent scooter mechanic tell me that he wouldn't do the job because it would require a "special $700 tool from Honda" to seat the new fork seals I wanted replaced. In researching this on this forum and elsewhere, and then getting into the job, I discovered that this "special $700 tool" could be replaced with a $4 piece of 1 1/2" pvc pipe. Absolutely insane. This is only relevant of course if you're planning to replace the seals, which you might want to do while you have the forks torn down anyway.

My conclusion about that is that this particular mechanic didn't want to do the job anyway - he works on small scooters, and I suspect that the Swing was just beyond his experience, and something he didn't want to deal with - and this was his way of bailing.

Good luck.

I echo Matthew's experience. If a shop is going to install HyperPro's, they need torque settings for the pinch bolts, brake caliper bolts, axle bolt, etc, and the info to not install the Honda spacers. Honda recommends new brake caliper bolts, as the factory bolts have a Loctite like thread locker on them. If you don't install new bolts, at least use blue Loctite on the old bolts on reinstallation.

As for the ride, after 10 minutes of riding, you forget about the old soft wallowy ride.

I can understand your questioning. If I hadn't had to replace my fork seals due to leaking - I live down a very rough, rocky, bumpy, rarely maintained dirt road - I'm not sure I would have bothered with the hyperpros. Although, having said that, I do find that they allow the Swing to take this road more in stride. I was happy enough with the Swing's ride before the hyperpros as far as pavement was concerned, and that includes routine riding in the mountain twisties of northern NM where I live.

Another consideration might be the age of your scoot. Mine is an 04, and so those original springs were at least 7 years old, and maybe due for changing anyway, maybe having lost a significant degree of their "springiness" anyway? I guess that if I was going to change out the springs for one good reason or another - as I did - I would've chosen to put on hyperpros in any case. Are they miracle springs? I don't think so.

Thanks guys for your answers. I am looking for protection for my hands during the cold, but for us here in the Desert Southwest that is still a few months away. I currently have a Laminar Lip on my w/s that is 1.5" higher and scoops the air up but I've always kind of had my heart set on a Clearview with vent. However, my optimal line of sight as dictated on CV's website actually falls between a small and a medium. Then there's always Laminar Lip's "ears" for the hands. I'll be asking about all that in another thread since I don't want to drift too much here.
As to the Hyperpros, my interest in them keeps growing. I have a 2003, and am going to look back in the maintenance receipts given to me by the previous owner. If the forks have been done, then I might give them a miss. If not the HPs are at the top of my list.

Here's something you might consider. Weather deflectors from these guys. Thinking seriously about adding these myself.

http://www.nationalcycle.com/catalogue/CoolWeather.shtml

I have 1 month/800 mile old front springs, and I'm still considering switching out for HyperPros before next season. The front fork is just way too soft for my tastes.

Well, I ordered them from EPM Performance this morning. They won't get a shipment of springs in till Wednesday, and then it'll take time for me to get them, so maybe another week. My local independent shop charges an hourly rate of $90, and they say it'll be between 2 to 3 hours work even after I told them front tupperware removal isn't necessary. I don't like the sound of that. I feel they are generally honest, however, since on my tire install, they charged me less than their estimate due to the wheels being easier to take apart than they imagined as they could have stayed high and I'd have never known how long the job took really. Also the mechanic I spoke to on the phone seemed to know everything involved like chucking the stock spacers and the wisdom of doing an R & R on the fork seals now, so the above labor calculations are based on a whole rebuild, seals & all. He said to check with their parts guy first to see if we can line up the fork seals, but I think I'll price them around first before he tells me. All in all, it seems like this whole dang change-over is going to cost me $300 total. These springs better be worth it or at least be much safer like the mechanic said. I think I'll look to price several different cycle shops.

I also made up an "L" shaped bracket that attached at the handlebar weight and was positioned forward of the brake levers.

If you have the time and/or inclination, please will you take a picture or two and/or post a fuller description of the bracket and its attachment to the bar-end weights.

I had exactly the same problem of the muffs (Givi Universal ones) pressing on the brake levers and thought about making brackets but chickened out.