I have a 1983 FLHT that Ive bought a hard pipe/solenoid unit to add air forks to it. Can someone give me a rundown on the solenoids wiring and how it actually works? The solenoid has a short black rubber pipe attached which Im guessing goes to a valve?

 

I believe the solenoid was wired to the front brake switch ,

the solenoid closed ( reducing air volume) when brakes were applied to reduce "dive"
Here`s a pic from 1985 model when the crash bar served as the reservoir
Some years used the handlebars
Don`t quote me that was a while back ")

 

That’s a cool concept… I wonder how well it worked & what the response time is?

Many cars have electro dynamic shocks. There is a magnetized fluid, such that shock rate can be adjusted in real time. Wouldn’t it be cool, if the bike had an accelerometer, and based upon the rate of deceleration the front shocks were made progressively stiffer?

I had the experience of doing a high speed full brake lock this morning. I was in the HOV lane and all the adjacent traffic was crawling…maybe 5 mph. This always concerns me, that some asshat will decide to pull into the HOV lane in front of me. So, instead of my normal 80 Mph…I was only doing about 60mph…when some asshat in an old pickup truck, of course with no passenger, pulled into the HOV lane in front of me about 20 Yds ahead of me. I instantly grabbed all the brake lever and foot brakes as I could. The ABS kicked in, and the bike kept going straight. As he slowly meandered into the lane, I was able to do a hard left swerve and squeeze between his truck and the center barrier. I really didn’t think I’d fit, and if there had been any bugs on my left and right saddle bags they would have been squished. I know the forks nearly fully compressed. And when I backed off on the brakes, and swerved, the front tire kept traction. But, I wonder how it would have handled if the fork hadn’t compressed as much under that emergency braking.

Anyhow…my sphincter was so tight, I think I creased the seat.

 

Had it on an FXRT
Response time was good as electricity moves pretty quick
Worked just fine

And was less complex than the anti dive systems created by the Asian manufacturers

TRAC AVDS etc