So I've been wanting to lower my 2007 Nightster and have decided to go with a set of air shocks off of a Street Glide. My questions for the guys that have done this are:

How did it effect the handling? I've heard that slamming the rear with a set of burleys or licks will ruin the front end rid-a-bility. Did you swap the front with some progressive 412s or anything like that? and what year set would be the best? I know it wont be a direct swap and I'll need some washers to get it spaced right. I did do some looking through the forum but didn't pull anything up for what people did with the front end. I was on my phone so I could have easily missed it. Thanks.

-Jon

 

I put on the 12" SG shocks, which were a pretty close match to the stock shocks on my 1200 Custom. Other than the much smoother ride in the rear, I didn't notice any change in handling in the front. I did notice after putting on the rear shocks, just how rough of a ride the front was giving me, and how much brake dive I would get when stopping.

I replaced my front springs with the Progressive kit, just the drop in, non-lowering springs. Made a world of difference and was pretty inexpensive too.

 

How much better is the ride with the progressive fork springs? I have noticed the stock ride is a tad harsh in the front of my bike.

 

Yeah, that's what I noticed too. The Progressives took the "sharpness" off of the bumps, if that makes sense.

I commute to work the same way, and live in a fairly small town, I travel the same roads a lot, so I know where a lot of the cracks and bumps are. There are some smaller bumps I don't feel at all now, and some of the more jarring ones aren't so harsh. I did ride for a couple weeks after upgrading the rear shocks, but before upgrading the front springs, so I was able to compare before and after.

Stock front springs would really dive down when I was on the brakes, and larger bumps, like railroad crossings, I could hear them bottom out (click, click, click sound). I don't get any of that with the Progressive springs.

I live in Iowa, so I'm not exactly carving up canyons around here... but for just crusing around, especially at highway speeds, the progressive kit is as good as it gets for under $100 or whatever it costs.

For reference, with a jacket and gear on, I'm probably 200lbs. The kit I used is part number 11-1157.

 

For me too, now that I've improved my rear shocks.

I am 150lbs, and I hesitate to go with the Progressive springs. It might be too stiff for my weight. Honestly, the stock spring is probably the right strength/firmness for me except that there is just not enough travel! And I don't want to add spacers because that would increase preload.

I am tempted to just buy Roadster front springs and replace my stock 1200L springs with them. Anyone knows if that would work?

Thanks!

 

Thanks for the info guys