So, the front suspension is craP.
Touch the brake  ,. the nose dives like hungry dolphin. 
When you have the rear firmed up for your liking, the balance is off front to rear.

Progressive springs tend to be supple for a low reaction and stiffer after the softness is absorbed.
Linear springs are the same throughout their load.

From everyday riding, what really works best to make the F-ddd up roads more tolerable while now making the bike a twitchy biotch?

bm

Progressives are good for the occasional 2 up riding and general street duty.Straight rate springs(Sonic,Race Tech,etc..) are specificily selected for your riding weight in riding gear.Adding much weight such as luggage will cause the suspension to compress a lot more.When my GS was stock,I had Progressives and 15w oil with a 97 Katana 750 rear shock.Worked great and I am 205 pounds in gear.

I have no complaints with .85 sonic straight rate springs and 15W oil.  I weigh 175 in full gear, and it's been fine with 2up riding as well.  The argument against progressives is that the suspension easily blows through the soft part, leaving a small amount of travel for the stiffer part of the spring to work with.  I've never ridden with progressives, but either way, both improve on the stock bike by a ton.

Quote from: AFMO on July 10, 2008, 07:36:59 PM
I have no complaints with .85 sonic straight rate springs and 15W oil.  I weigh 175 in full gear, and it's been fine with 2up riding as well.  The argument against progressives is that the suspension easily blows through the soft part, leaving a small amount of travel for the stiffer part of the spring to work with.  I've never ridden with progressives, but either way, both improve on the stock bike by a ton.

I never had that problem with my progressives and i'm 205 in gear.They're a lot stiffer than stock springs.I had problem with straight rate springs sagging to much with 2 people. 

Thanks for the input. 

I seem to hit some bumps that clunk the front suspension.
I presume that the progressives have a little forgiveness at light load, IE regular roads, but the stiffer rate they have once you load them to that level is much more controllable.

I also see how dampening increase with 15W and linears might afford the same effect without sacrificing control at all suspension travels.

Decisions decisions

That's my thinking on the progressives.

I dunno anything about much of suspension BS ... However thicker oil will slow down both compression and rebound. So if your problem is rebound then thicker oil is the wrong way to go. No idea if you can tell if rebough is or is not the problem ... so there you go.
Cool.
Buddha.