I recently bought a new SGS, this is my first Harley and bagger. I have the unfortunate problem of being short and can not put my feet flat on the ground. The dealership stated "thats an easy fix" when I said I wont buy it unless they fixed this issue. They first installed a seat, a seat which is very comfortable but ended up making the problem worse because I was sitting higher. They then suggested the drag specialties lowering shocks, I tried those and Im not sure if they were adjusted wrong or what because my ride went from comfortable to unbearable. I was bouncing off my seat with small bumps a couple times it bounced me so hard that the bike started to wobble. I took them off and will not put them back on. I really just need a fix so that I can put my feet on the ground, I do not want to return to the same dealership at this point because I feel they do not know what they are doing or how to resolve this and they are bleeding me of money because they will not take the seat or shocks back. I was told to put them on craigslist. I have been eyeballing the tamarack lowering blocks.

 

Sucky deal (bike & height), but this is why you should really/fully assess a bike "before" deciding to purchase. Not trying to be an a$$, but now the dealer got what they wanted (sale) and you're stuck w/their broken promises. Also, it's co$ting you more $$$ to mod the bike to fit. IMO, you have three choices:

1. Drive bike back to dealer, discuss your issues w/Sales Manager...even franchise owner and ensure you mention all the re-assurance in getting the bike dialed-in. Then, make sure they fix things right ($0 cost to you).

2. Screw the dealer (lesson learned) and look into lowering options. Mean City Cycle can mod the seat (awesome to work with), Burly makes lowering shocks/kits and there's even boots w/thicker soles. Whatever works to make bike comfy to ride.

3. Sell the bike and get something that works...

Good luck to you and hope #1 works.

 

Like you, I found the shorter shocks to have a worse ride.

I have a reach seat myself, and that helps. But reach seats vary in comfort. I've an older comfort stitch reach, which blends the combination well. The later reach seat is much less comfortable.

There are seat customizers and aftermarket seats. You can also hack up one yourself. But your skills will dictate the quality of that hacking.

I can say based on my own experience, the Corbin Close is not. It seats me a good inch plus back from where my comfort stitch reach seat places me. It's no lower.

I also did install a reverse gear. Not cheap, but tremendously helpful for an adventurous short legged rider like myself.

 

Reach seat, they should have demo seats at your dealer. Get boots with thicker soles.

 

I didn't know it was even possible to have a reverse gear installed. When you say not cheap how much are we talking? I am looking into mean city cyles, I have heard a lot about them so I might give them a call to redo my factory seat.

 

You are 100% correct, I do not take offense lol. I was concerned about this and my downfall was that I didnt get it in writing I just trusted the dealership to do the right thing. Lesson learned. I am doing a combination of option 1 and 2. I am supposed to get a call from a manage, the issue I am having is it was the parts manager the suggested the seat and shocks. I called a friend before I bought, who has a street glide and we are close to the same height. He said the dealership should have options to solve that, I got a seat to fix that. So when they suggested a seat it made sense and I was ok with it.

 

I found a opened but not installed Motor Trike reverse on ebay for about $600. http://www.motortrike.com/trikereverse.aspx

Yelvington makes a reversing sprocket for the rear wheel. $1995, ouch! But it's a quick and easy install. Can't say that about transmission mounted reverses. https://www.yelvingtonusa.com/produc...anical-reverse

Baker Drivetrain has a very nice reverse, with a low ratio. $1700 (there is a further discount via this forum). https://bakerdrivetrain.com/collections/reverse-gear

And on ebay and the web you can find a number of them, in the $1000-1400 range. Just search "harley reverse" or "harley reverse gear".

Yelvington has likely the easiest to install reverse, since it just mounts on the rear wheel. Looks like you'll likely be done in an afternoon.

All the transmission mounted reverses involve opening up the transmission, but the work is done on the bike. There can be fiddly games with offsetting the pipes, moving the floorboard out, etc. These can take a weekend, or two.

Gear ratio on the transmission mounted ones is problematic, as they are generally far too tall a ratio, being in between 1st and 2nd gear ratios. Baker's is far lower, keep that in mind. With my Motor Trike reverse, I have to slip the clutch carefully to keep the speed controllable. It's far more difficult to back up as a result than it should be.

Build quality varies. Mine required removal and re installation three times before I got it all right. The unit was gummed up with permatex, the reverse gear didn't lift quite high enough to fully disengage (teeth knocking), and the shift lever would slip on the non-splined shaft (locked it finally with permatex red).

Install the reverse gear was still very worthwhile, to me. I use it pretty regularly. I do not sweat it about going down odd trails now that I might not be able to easily turn around in. Same pulling into parking spaces and such.

 

Maybe air ride is a solution. It is adjustable on the fly. Plus a nice ride. I use skully.

 

 

I had alligator bob in northern Illinois lower my seat by at least an inch . he installed a pad that made the ride just as comfortable as before . he is one of the vendors you should call for advise