Well...pulled the trigger and had it installed today and for $1400 to boot. When JD realized I had 2a 200 mile round trip, he comped me so to speak. Gonna post some pics of the install and more details. For now all I will say is I rode 100 miles home smiling my *** off. This is for sure night and day!!

 

That's really cool that he did that.

 

I've had all three.
Stock, Progressive and Shotgun.
Progressives are exactly what you discribe. Someone spends a little change and suddenly the ride is terrific. It's as horrible and disappointing as stock. Buy the bolts to lower if that's what you are looking for.
I think the Progressive shocks are no different in any respect than stock, a total waste of time to install and money to Progressive.. The guy who bought my used Progressives for $200.00 paid exactly what the shock was worth IMHO.

The Shotgun on the other hand will actually do what it says. It's not like any other air ride available, because it inflates like no other air shock, so nobody other than a Shotgun user should reply here. It's not a Hi-Lo, or an SAS or anything else like that lot. It's a totally different degree of engineering.
The ride can be adjusted to absolutely "magic carpet", or it can be adjusted in a second to take the twisties without going marshmallow. It can be ridden slammed under FULL air pressure and it can be pressurized and dampened with nothing but air pressure to ride two up without any side effects at all. Anybody trying to make a comparible arguement over these facts are just plain wrong and misguided.
Two switches. One switch for either end of the shock. Each inflates and deflates. Think about it.....
I have absolutely NO dog in this hunt, but I firmly believe that this design will make all the rest obsolete as soon as a few more guys start opening their eyes to the differences and adjustments not possible with the rest of the air rides out there.. It's only a matter of time.

Quite worrying about spending a few bucks. There is no risk here. You will be posting about why you didn't do it sooner.

 

Sounds just like my Platinum Feed/Bleed kit to me. Platinum has the regular kits and then they have the feed/bleed kit. They have been making these kits for a long time. Mine has two switches and can adjust from either end too. And you are right about the ride. It's the best that I've ever rode. Very smooth. I ride two up alot and it's awesome for that. I can have it almost totally slammed and air it up on the back side to adjust the dampening and it will ride better than stock and look badass!

Chop On,
Robert

 

Already took the plunge and put up a post on my satisfaction. Robert, JD, the inventor of the Shotgun was the one who invented the Platinum bleed and feed. He sold the rights and then took the platinum design and built upon it to come up with the Shotgun. So I can see why you would be happy with it.

 

I had air on my dually and it was for the same reason semi's use it. It does better at handling large amounts of weight, and is a lot easier to adjust.
As far as 'plushness' goes, air just doesn't offer as plush of a ride that hydraulic/metal spring systems do. It's the same no matter if it's on a mountain bike, motorcycle, or 40,000 pound semi. An air 'spring'(which is basically what it is), just doesn't come close to the ride quality of traditional suspension.
The ease of adjusting ride height on your bike is the reason you should be buying it . If you buy it because you think it's gonna be smoother/softer/better at handling bumps, you're going to be disappointed.

 

Respectfully disagree. Been riding with em since Saturday and they put the stock shocks to shame IMO.

 

First, steel springs, not air handle large amounts of weight better. You won't see air ride on off road dump trucks because of the stability factor. Air is used on heavy duty road suspensions, but stability is a trade off.. When I drove dump trailer, we would dump all of the air before attempting to dump.

Air is HIGHLY adjustable simply because you have control over lift pressure. I'm not sure what info you are drawing from, but I totally disagree. Air in a semi is used differently. It's used as a lift for up to 40K, and then uses a hydralic dampener. I don't think you could find any truck driver who would take anything other than an air ride suspension if given a choice. Try a new Pete Flex Air of a KW AG-380 sometime and tell me that air ride doesn't deliver the best ride on a big truck. Pete in re-introducing air ride on the steering axle for ride purposes.
Usually, if a big rig is riding rough with air, there isn't enough air in the bags along with worn out shocks. When you are on a little motorcycle with a 200lb load, it works in reverse. I can soften up my air ride to ride in the "unimaginable" catagory.

 

The point of the Shotgun as well as the Bleed Feed is that you have control over more than just lift pressure/ride height. Not really knowing how truck air bags work, maybe that's a difference?

The real shame with products like this is that there are no decent professional reviews and comparisons in the Harley industry. Magazines may have tech articles, but they really end up reading like glorified advertisements half the time. I have yet to read a "review" or "tech article" in any mag that is actually critical of the product they're reviewing, let alone do a real comparison between it and it's competitors. So basically we're left to forum comments to make our decisions if we don't actually have the opportunity to try out a product before dropping large amounts of cash.

 

Only a warning for you. I had shotgun on my softail 2 years ago and had to remove it. The system was ok as far as performance but as far as safety it was crap. Every time it got wet it would begin to inflate and deflate on its own jumping all around. Contacted JD who said he had never had one do that.. oh well in that case I guess mine is ok. No it was not I made sure everthing was sealed put rubber boots over switches and problem continued. JD unwilling to refound even though I was very unsatisfied with product. I filed a report with BBB. JD finally said it back and we agreed on a refund price which was never sent. At that point I was tired of dealing with him and just dropped it (lesson learned) but I will not hesitate to tell some one how poorly he runs his business and warn them of a possible safety issue. Just monitor it closely and keep a 10mm wrench with you so if it does malfunction you can disconnect it from the battery.