I posted a similar thread the other day but that was before I decided which direction to go. The same day, "07streetbob" posted his, almost new, 12" Progressive 412's with full chrome covers for sale. I bought them from him but I do not have them yet. Prior to buying them, I had almost decided to go with some 11" 412 heavy duty shocks. But, I'm not sure lowering the bike that much with my height and weight (6'4"/240) was a good idea. The shocks I bought should lower my FXDC about a half inch over stock. They are not the heavy duty versions. So, my question is this: should I be okay with standard 412's given my weight as far as not worrying about bottoming out? It seems progressive recommends heavy duty models for people over 200 lbs. However, I've seen several people say they are over that not including a passenger and love their Progressive shocks. My wife does ride with me on rare occasions and she adds about 110 lbs. But, we generally don't ride far or hard when she's with me. Any thoughts?

 

i bought the H.D. and i'm glad i did. i come in at 200 and the girl frined wt and i load it for trip they work great .i use the first setting and they dont bottom out or anything . and the bike is alot smoother going down the road. but mine for standard ht.

 

I'm probably comparing apples to oranges but I was looking at it this way: I'm sure my stock shocks are not heavy duty and I was riding around with them on the lowest setting for months before I even knew they were adjustable and never had any bottoming out issues. Plus, I heard the HD shocks ride a little stiffer especially when riding solo.

 

you should be ok but you may have to crank them up all the way
However I thought chrome covered ones are 11" I could be wrong if they are 11 you may have clearance issues

 

Apparently they are available in both sizes. Because he is selling the 12"ers in order to purchase the 11"ers for himself.

 

I have 12" regular 412's and weigh 190, with my wife ( 125 ) We ride 2up a lot and I set them on '2' but recently went to #3 for a stiffr ride; 4 is max. I think you will be fine, they are good shocks.

 

I am 240 also. I switched to the Progressive 412 HDs and there is a ton of difference. I couldn't be happier with the results. They are stiffer (of course) but it's in a good way. It's not bone jarring or anything. They ride alot sportier but they are still very comfy.

I also noticed that I can lean deeper in corners without dragging pegs....due to less shock compression. It also helps that I switched to progressive front springs and heavy oil.

My wife rides with me alot. She's 130. She also says it's alot more comfy now. No more bottom outs over railroad tracks either.

I can't comment on the standards, but I'm very happy with the Heavy Dutys.

 

I’ll compare apples to apples. I bought a set of Progressive 12” 412’s with the standard spring to replace the stock shocks on my 07 SB, which are also 12” stock. The SB shocks were actually not bad until I started packing a 120# passenger. I’m at 180#. Solo I would ride with the shocks on the 2nd adjustment. With passenger I rode with the spring on the 4th adjustment. After a couple of rides riding double, the stock shocks had sagged enough that I needed to leave the settings on 4 while riding solo. This was with about 12k miles on the stock shocks. That’s why I bought the Progressives. Set on 1 or 2 the Progressives bottomed out regularly. Set on 3 I have bottomed once with such impact that the bike slammed. The cause was not a pot hole or a speed bump, but a dip in the road. For whatever reasons what I could just feel with the stock shocks will really upset and over power the Progressives. I called Progressive Suspensions and they said that I could have blown a seal and thus have no damping. There is no oil leak and I can feel the damping work on relatively smooth pavement. Theses shocks just can’t compensate for any kind of real road imperfections. Maybe a longer Progressive would be better but with the same basic specs as stock, they are not as good. I have used Progressive 412’s on other bikes with much better results, so this comparison only applies to this specific bike.

 

U SHOULD BE FINE!!!!!IM 265 WITH THE STOCK 12" SB SHOCKS I SET THEM AT 3 0R 4 AND MY OL AT 180 RODE FINE BOTTOMED OUT MAYBE 3 TIMES

 

Okay some of you guys have confirmed some of the doubt I had to begin with. I don't want to have to run the shocks on the highest setting all of the time and still be concerned about bottoming out some of the time. I could put these on and have no problems but there will always be that doubt. I have an extremely bad back and bottoming out badly could be painful not to mention very unnerving at certain speeds.

I've gone ahead and ordered some 412 HD 12"ers from Eastern Performance and arranged a trade for the other shocks with another forum member.

Thanks for the feedback...