Can anyone point me to a thread on lowering a 1995 1200 custom. Friend has one and she needs higher ground under her feet. I have suggested 10.5" shocks on the back to start with. Is it possible to push the forks up an inch past the top tree? She is short and light if that makes any difference. Cheers Burnzi

 Burnzi, shorter rear shocks are definitely the first step. Either 11 inch progressives or ikons, or 10.5 inch burly slammers, which are the lowest you can go. Lepera bare bones seat will also give her another two inches less between bum and ground. You can also get shorter front springs from progressive or ikon. Not sure about dropping the legs thru the trees, you may need to be careful that the forks don't bottom against the lower triple tree. Cheers, TC

Cheers TC thats the sort of info I was after. Thank you

Burnzi, you can pick up a Burly Brand slammer kit that will drop the front and back to a consistent height. You could also use lowering blocks in the back but she'll scrape on tight turns if she lays it over too much.

Bare bones or.a 48 seat will also help

you should be able to slide the forks up in the trees if its a 39mm front end, i think the 35's were tapered, so no go.

Thanks guys will relay all that info to her.

 11" is about as low as you can go on a Sportster up to 2003, 2004 and up you can go to a 10", The Mounting Points on the Swing Arm are different .

My 2006 in the Front has 10" and the Geakster is a 1995 with 11"

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Yes it is a 21" Front,, They are 11'' Shocks, ....Like I said the mouting point on the Swing Arm is different to the later Bikes . If you have a closer look at the Photo of the two Bikes you can see that the 95 Shock Mount is behind the Axle and on the 06 it is in front of the Axle.

No sorry I dont sell K&N

Rollies sell K & N, their a Forum Sponsor too

Anyone looking for macs fabrication 3" lowering kit (blocks), I've got some up for grabs as they didn't fit with my progressive shocks.

Some great info here fella's. I have a 97 Sporty 1200 Custom with Road king air shocks on the back. My wife kindly donated her V&H RSD tracker pipes to me. Only problem after throwing them on is that the pipe exhausts right on to the shockie, not good. Also when fitted on the earlier sporty it sticks out more and car'nt use the mid-mount peg, so, hello forward controls. I was looking at 10" struts but after reading this I find that it would have been a mistake.

Cheers

Job done. Wendy bought some lowering blocks, fitted them tonight, maybe 45 mins and that included reading the instructions and a test ride. Jeez with a set of tight little drag bars I could have one of these. Lotsa fun in the twisties.

 

 

 

What rears would you guys recommend to go with? Looking at either Burley slammers or Progressive Suspension 412's 11". Feedback would be appreciated

Had the same problem with the cooks' 883. Started with 11" progressive rears.
Got a'hold of a Harley short-reach solo seat - made an enormous difference. (and still very comfortable without going ultra-thin!)
Front same height - looks great (we reckon anyway). Extra rake has made the bike a bit slower in the steering department - but seeing it was a pretty quick steerer in the first place - no great loss .

Just saying about the seat - because sometimes a different seat is all you need - without compromising suspension too much. Looks like a Sundowner on this bike - adds about an inch.

Had 11" 412's on my 1200 - completely inadequate for my weight - even on stiffest setting. (heavy duty's may have done the trick though?). Had them on a Dyna a few years back too - same story only even worse.
Her's on softest setting - and still don't bottom out.

Very difficult to advise on suspension setups BLK883 - too many variables - weight and typical road conditions just to mention a few. Shorter rears will take a lot of weight off the front - as well as changing the handling (and vise-versa of course).
I'm not a great fan of the skinny front 21" on my 1200 custom (love the looks though!) - and found that a slightly longer rear shock made the bike feel more sure-footed as well.

But hey - just my feeling - others may have found exactly the opposite.

So either way it's going to be a rough ride ;-). Not too concerned about the body weight issue, more concerned about the handling. Might do a bit more research.

I just tried to fit the lowering brackets on my 1990 1200 and they wont allow me to mount the shock at all. They fit nicely to the frame, but the the shock body fouls on the bracket no matter which hole i try. Rather than the actual mounting hole of the shock sitting flush up against the bracket, the tubular housing of the shock hits instead. It looks like the shock need to sit pretty vertical for it to work, but thats obviously not possible.

Burzy did your brackets have spacers?

Wasn't my bike mate will see if I can grab a pic for ya. No spacers from my foggy memory