Not to sound like an a$$, but if you were concerned about seat height, perhaps you should have ordered a shorter shock.

 

Mike, you really leave me speechless! You've gone to the expense of buying some of the best shocks on the planet and are using them with lowering blocks? What on earth for FFS? If you want to a lowered ride, Howard will build you shorter Ohlins.

You are most unlikely to get those shocks riding right with those blocks. Throw them as far away as you can! That leaves you with a problem. Either get them riding properly as they are, or confess to Howard you didn't tell him the whole story and get them rebuilt to the length you want.

 

I also have a 30" inseam and can flat-foot my SG with the 13¼" #2-3's, though barely, and your shocks are a tad shorter. You know the position of your feet and what is comfortable for you, so I'm not arguing with you about that at all. My bike has a different frame (changed in '09) and I have a Mustang solo seat, which sits me lower than the stock seat, and that may be the difference.

I would call Howard again and mention the lowering kit. It may be a factor in this problem.

 

Remove the lowering blocks and buy a Reach Seat. With the blocks, you wasted your money on the Ohlins.

 

Good suggestion on the seat. Some third-party seats (e.g., Mustang and Corbin) lower your seating position enough to make a difference. Buying a new seat is an expensive proposition but may be one option for the OP.

 

Shitcan the lowering blocks. If your shocks were meant to be at that angle, they would be. They aren't, so they shouldn't be.

There is no way Howard will be able to give you good advice without having all the info about your bike.

Ditch the blocks, and get shorter shocks, and/or a lower seat.

Jeff

 

I do not know where you guys get your info on how lowering blocks ruin the ohlins,, but it is a bunch of b......t, I have run torsion bar sprint cars for years, with adjustable shocks, and every one has multiple mounting holes all along the torsion arm, exactly like the holes on lowiering blocks, and it has a very small effect on softening or stiffening the shock, but does not affect the function of the shock at all...it is done every day, these Harley's are not space shuttles....you can put those same shocks on another bike, and guess what the attach points will be different...if the blocks lower the bike to the point where the tire hits the fender,now that is a different issue......but that is not the problem here

 

Totally agree with this statement...proof positive was my shocks. Mounted the shocks right out of the box and the bike rode almost undetectably different than the stock air shocks. Hand carried them to the Ohlins office (Hendersonville NC) and they completely disassembled each shock, then reassembled them making sure that they were set exactly to factory specs. and the difference was amazing.

Can't compliment the people at the Ohlins plant enough, courteous, professional and the plants work area was as clean as an operating room. But the biggest plus was, they fixed my shocks.

 

Do you also have lowering blocks on your bike?

I'd also like to ask dstrat1 if his adjustable suspension was such that with the shock kicked back at the lowest setting, did it still put the shock at an angle that allowed for good shock geometry, and then you move it forward to make the suspension taller, and put the shock more plumb so to speak? Just seems to me that taking a shock that I should imagine has been placed an an angle determined by an engineer to to work optimally, and kicking it back AWAY from the swing arm pivot, is not going to do good things for the shock performance. JMO, and we all have one. I'm sure that mine smells as bad as anyone else's.

If the OP wants to drop a load of money on Ohlin's shocks without fully informing the expert he's ordering them from, so he can set them up perfectly, then I guess that's his business.

Jeff

 

I was assuming, it goes without saying, that you have to make sure that the shock and mount do not interfere with each other, and this can be an issue with some lowering blocks.... But if you look at a variety of motorcycles, you will find that the mounting geometry varies, it is not set in stone. It is my opinion that moving the lower mount back a inch will have little effect on overall action. Of course, it is better if you can avoid the blocks. I am currently running the ohlin 2-2a s which are shorter to begin with, but ran blocks for a year with no problem, in the second hole, which is more extreme geometry than we are speaking of here....one more point, if these Harley were engineered optimally, we would not have to replace all the suspension components to get an acceptable ride. Why a 20k bike can not come with adjustable rebound and compression front and rear, must be a marketing decision based on profits.......JMHO.....I still think he either has a bad shock, or the sag is incorrect...