So, after determining that my shocks had no air, I went to True Value and bought a bicycle pump. I attached the pump to the fitting and tried to pump up the shocks. I met with back pressure on the pump. So much so that I couldn't press the plunger further than half way. It was obvious that no air was getting to the shocks. After looking at the thread depth on the pump fitting and the threads on the shock fitting, there was no way the plunger was going to depress the stem inside the shock fitting enough for air to enter the system.
I had to remove the shock fitting from the bracket on the bike so enough of the threads were exposed that the pump fitting would work.

I probably didn't explain it well enough. But, does that sound familiar to anyone?

 

Get the Harley air pump. you'll never look back! It has a no leak feature on the valve fitting and allows you to make very small changes in pressure more so than the bicycle pump you are using. Plus the bicycle pump may damage your shocks because it can pump a greater volume of air that your shocks can withstand.

 

I understand what you are saying. Did the pump have a pressure gauge and if it did what pressure did you set your shocks.

 

Two slow pumps gives you 16 PSI. I need to let out about 6 pounds and it should be just right for my 178 Lbs. frame.

 

Dr. Plastic,
As I had no air in my shocks and I wanted to ride today, our HD shops aren't open on Sundays, I chose the next best thing, the bicycle pump. I'll do the HD pump this week. I did pump exceedingly slow to reduce the flow rate of the air entering the shocks.

 

It doesn't do any damage to ride with no air pressure.

 

That's cool! I made it a point to have the pump included in the price of the bike when I purchased mine. And I have also ridden on 0 psi as an experiment and I weigh around 175 and had no problems. The book recommends 0-15 psi solo!