Originally Posted by grbrown

An alternative I have fitted to my dresser are Fournales air shocks. They have a high pressure 'air spring' which provides fine tuning of the ride. They don't have a steel spring.

Boge used to make self-levelling Nivomat shocks for BMW bikes, which were brilliant, pumped themselves up after half a mile and had virtually no sag.

Originally Posted by FastHarley

Depending on the shock is how you should set up your riders/bike combined sag. A HD or pretty much almost of the shocks used on this form by its members, do not have the technology to determine the combined pre-sag & riders sag as a standard number.

A much better shock found on sport bikes and especially in the aftermarket such as Penske, Ohlins, [Elka,(sport bikes only)] all have the ability to use the spring to keep the "axle in place" and the spring plays almost no part in the actual suspension movement, the shocks controls the compression and rebound.

In stock HD, Works, Progressive, and all of the popular usual shocks found on HD, the shocks are cheaply engineered and can not support the bikes suspension role without relying on the spring. That is why the aforementioned shocks make your Harley ride the way it does.

With stock HD, Works, Progressive, and all of the popular usual shocks, just try to find the most comfortable spring compression setting you can and compromise on the road conditions not covered by the current spring pre-load setting. Do not expect to ride "a silk purse when you start with a sows ear".