So I got the road king air shocks, sundowner and tall sissy bar installed this weekend. AMAZING IMPROVEMENT. May not look as good but rides great. Wife said for her it went from a 2 on a 1-10 scale of comfort to a 9 after riding on the back a bit this weekend. Only issue for me is it did raise me up a bit to where I'm not totally flat footed anymore and the front went from feeling fine to feeling totally sloppy so I'll now need to address that. Yeah the pillow pad doesn't really go with the sundowner but I'll change it. The price couldn't be beat. Ebay got me the seat and shocks for about $200 all together, and the entire sissy bar set-up I got for $100 on the classifieds at xlforum. Thanks to all those that made these mods before me and raved about them. I would have never thought I could use road king air shocks. Worth every penny and highly recommend all the changes I made. Now lets see if I can get before and after pics to load.

 

Did you find the seat moved you forward, or higher any? I put the air shocks on mine too, and got a "medium low" backrest and pad, my wife said it was a huge improvement too. Only complaint I hear from her now is about the rear of the seat being narrow and not padded very well.

One thing I found after putting on those air shocks, the front feels pretty rough... progressive springs did the trick on mine. Not too expensive either.

 

I was thinking I was definately going to have to do the progressives in the front, definately noticed the rough front after all the other installs. It's hard to tell about ride height because of going from stock custom shocks to the 13 inchers...I'm up some but I think it's mostly the shocks. As far as being forward more I'd say a little, but the seat is more scooped out so I sit in it, and my wife was always pissed that I'd gradually slide back onto the pillion with the stock seat cramping her already cramped ride. Sundowner keeps me in place and is really comfy for me and the wife. No bottoming out and she wasn't sliding all over on that narrow stock seat. She stayed still, quiet, and was just leaned back on that tall pad actually enjoying the ride.

 

Use some lowering blocks with those air shocks...will get you back down to the stock height, you will find the ride will be even smoother also.

 

Your right about the being tall.
I put on a Sundowner mid size back rest and progressive 440. The 440s are better, but still pretty stiff. How much sag do you get with the RK setup?
I have about 1/2" with the 440s. I only weigh about 160. Maybe I should gain 50 lbs.

 

do those shocks come in black?

 

Yes.

I just did a search on ebay using "harley touring air shocks", it brought up 31 results.

Here is one of them-

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Harley-Touri...#ht_836wt_1396

 

so in order to make these work right for a sportster you also need a lowering kit, correct?

 

They will work without the lower blocks. Lowering blocks will make them lower or back to the stock height. Depending on if you get shocks that are 12 or 13 inches.

 

You can send your RK shocks off to Bitchin Baggers and for @$175 they will shorten the shocks and recondition them. Pretty sure they are the only ones out there offering the service. Haven't done it myself, but a few guys on here have raved about it. Definatley my plan once I have the coin.....