I want to give my unbiased opinion as I know a lot of people love them & a lot of people hate them.
Here we go:

Conditions
2008 Dyna Superglide FXD
8,100 approx. miles
my weight = 289 this morning.
Changing from stock 12 & 5/8" shocks to (used) progressive 412 12" Heavy duty shocks I bought on this forum.

Riding Style
90% in town riding (this is my daily driver)
I'm an aggressive rider (sport bike riding style) since I came from sport bikes.
I pride myself on being able to out handle a lot of sport bikes guys locally (I think that's more from experience, but it gives an idea how I ride)
Stock shocks stay at 5 (stiffest)
With shitty roads (unfinished road work everywhere for several years) I bottom out all the time. to the point that I can't take girls with me very often or I have to go super slow & very cautious.
I will say I think my stock shocks might be fairly worn out, so I newer set of stock ones might not be as bad.

Install took like 15 minutes.
Set the shocks to 1 (softest) & here's my opinion.

While I couldn't feel a difference in seat height from just sitting (1/2" lower), I immediately noticed the shock has less physical travel than stock. Obviously being shorter.
But the softest setting is significantly stiffer than the stiffest on the stock shocks. Good! This is what I was needing.
The bike went over all the bullshit on main street (1 block over from my street) without the slightest jarring & NO bottoming out. And i'm talking 20-25 sq. foot patches of pavement that are uneven (2-3 inches higher or lower than the rest of the street). This was my main focus as this is a road I have to travel everyday.
Train tracks are everywhere & they feel like little bumps now. Before I had to slow down to 10mph over them on a 35mph road.

I feel more connected to the road as I feel much smaller things that I didn't before (but I don't mean that in a bad way).
The 1/2" did change the handling more than I thought it would.
I found myself putting a little more "UMPH" you could say, into the bars countersteering at low speed turns to get it to lean as much as I'm used to.
This is a give-and-take for the lower look, so i'm fine with it. I haven't tried any higher speed handling yet.

The bike bottomed out once with the progressives.
On a 25mph side road with an approx. 3" drop that is maybe 8" long & goes the entire width of the street. Before I bottomed out at any speed over 5-7mph.
With progressives, it didn't bottom out until 37-40mph (still on the softest setting).

Overall, my first opinion is i'm extremely impressed (especially for the price), but I'm pretty sick (flu-like symptons) so I didn't ride much. But I'm going to bump the shocks up to the 2nd notch, bundle up and try to put at least 30-40 miles on it.

So I'm out. I'll report back as I put more miles on.

 

The 12" make all the difference in the world. the 11" are just too short/harsh. At your weight, the HD are probably perfect. Good riding.

 

Looking forward to your opinion of a longer/faster ride at the stiffer setting. I've been looking to make a change, too. The stock shocks just plain suck. I've heard positive/negative review on Progressives. It sounds as though our riding styles are similar, but I do a fair share of highway riding when I take her to work. I'm a little lighter than you, but at 220 I not qualifying for the light weight division either. Anyway, sounds like we have enough in common, that your opinion is one that I'm eager to hear. Hope you feel better soon.

 

I have the prog 11in, on the hwy, there ok no diff, but in town with a hard bump i can feel it thru my intire back, but style or comfy, is a draw

 

I only got about 15 miles in tonight, 36 degrees here (wouldn't bother me if I wasn't sick).

Anyways, average speed was 55-65 mph, 4 lane highway. It's weird, and this will sound oxymoronic, but it feels more stable & planted more firmly at speed than stock. Yet it also feels easier to countersteer/maneuver at these speeds than with the stock shocks.

The little imperfections in the road that I felt in town were not there at higher speeds.

I have noticed that with these shocks I feel more of the vibrations of the motor. Nothing annoying, Just want to give you every detail I notice.

And having good suspension in the rear end has made it obvious how terrible the stock fork springs are. So progressive drop ins are now on the list & maybe true-track once I get my frame fixed.

Overall, still very happy. I will try to take a decent interstate ride in the next week once I feel better and report back.

 

Once you drop in the progressives up front and true track, then your going to realize the 412s are lacking and want better Ohlins/Ricors or higher end Progressives. Never ends.