My wife is 4' 11". She just bought an 883 Low, but it's not low enough. I purchased a "Lowering Kit" which is a bracket that lowers the shock by 1". Have any of you done this and did you experience any problems with handling, cornering, etc?

 

There are heeled boots available from H-D and the like, which will give your wife a better footing when her feet are down. Take a look at their website and the Shop tab. I suggests starting with her rather than the bike! I also suggest those bars look too tall and she would be better off with lower bars to bring her hands and shoulders down 3-4", to a more relaxed position.

 

Burly slammed shocks? not sure how much lower they are than the stock shocks. and yes, lowering an already "low" bike, it's gonna scrape. as suggested, maybe boots with stacked soles.

 

I've done the burly slammed shocks and front end kit on my wife's 883 low. Its like riding a hardtail! Be careful of tire to fender clearance if you use the lowering brackets

 

Have you tried a "Reach" seat.

My daughter is 5'1", she was on tip toes on her stock 1997 Sportster (not even a hugger), put a Corbin reach seat on and she can flat foot the bike. It is a very firm seat. But lower and just as important, narrower that the stock seat.

Any time you lower the suspension on a bike you are going to have a worse ride and less ground clearance in turns.

My daughter likes leaning in corners and hates scraping hard parts so she won't let me put a lowering kit on it.

 

Suggest higher sole/heel boots and narrower seat before lowering suspension. Lowering suspension will negatively affect ride unless you use quality shocks with better travel and rebound. You also need to watch for clearance as noted above and bottoming out. You probably have11" or 11.5" rear shocks as I did on my 1200L, but you can measure to be sure. I initially used 10.5" burly slammers and it did have tire-fender clearance issues. It was okay around town and short distances. I ended up with 11" Bitubos from DK Customs...no issues with clearance and good travel/rebound.

In this pic, I had DK's 11" Bitubos with Burly lowering springs and DK's Intiminator Fork Values. I have a Mustang Wide Vintage solo with backrest for comfort.


In the pic below, I believe I still had Burly slammer shocks and front lowering springs and Mustang Tripper solo with backrest which was lower and narrower.

 

I put 11" progressive shocks on my bikes. You can also lower the front of her bike an inch or so.

Reduced reach seat to lower her and push forward, or take the seat she has to a car upholsterer and have some of the foam taken out to lower.

Harley boots with a 2" heel. She should be good to go.

 

I had a local upholsterer with lots of bike experience redo the stock seat on my Dyna for the same reason. He lowered it about 2" by reshaping and using memory foam and denser filling. I'm not a big fan of altering the suspension, you don't have a lot of clearance on that bike to start with.