I am trying to lower my girlfriend’s 2016 1200T. Help! Anybody have any workable solutions?

 

I thought the bike was pretty low already.

How much lower does it need to be?

 

Find a lower seat, or have some padding removed from her existing seat, or get her some platform heels. You make a new Sportster any lower and you'll have no lean angle left.

John

 

Heels was my thought but you don't want to end up like Tommy or rather like Elton John!

 

Shorter shocks, along with the other suggestions...keep in mind it might mean a rougher ride.

 

Thinner seat will make it seem lower without losing clearance.

 

Send the seat to Mean City Cycles and they can lower the height by replacing the foam with better, thinner material and they can narrow the seat as well. I had this done to the seat on my Road King and it came out great. IIIRC, the lowering was about 1".

Good boots will also help, as mentioned above.

 

The 1200T seat is pretty thick, so modifying could shave an extra 1 1/2" - 2". You're in Harley country, so I'm sure you can find plenty of shops that mod motorcycle seats.

 

This is the standard seat that comes on a XL1200T. Looks can be deceiving. The side is around 3" tall but the bit you sit on is only 1" to 1.5" thick in the middle.



Link to HD - 2020 Harley-Davidson SuperLow 1200T Motorcycle | Harley-Davidson Europe (harley-davidson.com)

 

I agree with what others have already said. Try working with
the seat first before you mess with "short" shocks. There is
the High Dollar HD "Reach" seat you might reasearch, but if it
comes to having to lower the rear, a cheap way is to use an
adjustable lowering block. This would allow 1" - 2" lower
by moving the lower shock mounting point rearward.

This is not a great pic (really old), but it looks like the following.
You can see how the lower attachment is alot further rearward.






good luck,

T.