Yikes, let's start from the beginning. Harley has NEVER made a 13 inch air shock. Not now, not ever. They make two air shocks. A standard length shock which is 12 3/4 inches, and a "lowered" shock with is 12 inches eye to eye. The 12 3/4 shock has the full 3 inches of total travel, and the lowered shock has 2 1/4 inches travel. Now, it is a very common practice to install one inch lowering blocks on the standard length air shocks. That way one can maintain the full length of travel with the lowered stance. I myself am running that exact setup. I am running Pingle solid billet one inch blocks, and the factory 12 3/4 air shocks. As long as I am aware that solo, I need to run about...... say 5-10 psi solo, and when the buttercup hops on I pump them up to 30-35 psi, depending on load, I am good. So far this system works great for me. I would never run lowering blocks on the lowered 12 inch shocks. People do it, but I would not.

If you are looking for opinions on what to run to keep the factory shocks, and a lowered stance I would recommend this..... Put one inch lowering blocks on the factory 12 3/4 shocks. That will put the bike at a nice lowered stance while maintaining the factory suspension components. That will give you a much better ride than installing the 12 inch air shocks. Now, once you get that nonsense out of the way, there are a million better options than installing lowering blocks. For starters, bitchen baggers will cut your stock air shocks to any length you want for $175. And guarantee they will not cause fender to tire interference. A dozen shock companies will sell you shocks that are shorter than stock with a much improved ride. Progressive, Motorcycle Metal, and Eastern Performance.....just to name a few. Don't assume that the factory shocks are anything less then the worst option your can choose. Yeah, they do what they are supposed to do.... but otherwise they pretty much suck. I still run them for no other reason than I have been too lazy to send my stockers to bitchen baggers. But by spring... than will be "my" solution.

 

i have ohlins #3-#3 which are the longest howard has and they are awesome. suprisingly they sit me flat footed better than stock street glide shocks. had bitchin' bagger shocks, 11.25", and they rode better than stock but not that good. i the ohlins with la choppers lowering blocks for 10k miles and loved the ride. also it looked pretty cool as well. only reason i took them off was it caused me to drag my bags when i put extended bags on. never had a bottoming out issue.

ohlins and truck-lite led's, 2 best upgrades

 

Does that 3/4" really make that big of a difference?

 

ask her

 

How do they retain the same geometry while kicking out the lower shock stud at the same time ? (That's how lowering blocks work!)

 

It looks like the shock angle says the same.

 

The LA Choppers lowering blocks keep the shock angle the same. I used a set that swung the bottom of the shock to the rear of the bike, thus changing the angle of the shock. What I found was that over time it put more forward force on the swing arm bushings causing them to become elongated.

 

I have the stock touring shocks on my 2005 Eglide Standard and added the lowering blocks. No issues at all for over 3 years and I always ride 2 up.