I have now called Progressive Tech 3 times first 2 times on 12" shock and this last time on 13".
I said about the same as the other 2 times that I'm not looking for the very best shock ever made, but I would like a shock that would give me a noticeable smoother ride on small sharp bumps on my Road King,
He said the 13" 412 with standard spring would give a much smoother ride then the stock 13".
1 of them said I get this same call over and over every day and that I would be surprised how many call back and tell them how much better the 412 are over the stock Harley shocks. I said is that including the stock air shocks, he said yes. All 3 said the fact that I ride solo only and I'm under 200 lbs makes the 412 a good shock for me. Not one of them even tired to sell me on a higher end shock.
I was expecting them to at least try to push me in to a 430 or 440 but they never did.
So I can get them for just over $200, If I decide to do this I will give a report on them after I get some good miles on them.

 

I have the 13" 412's with standard springs on my '05 RK and I love them, like you said not the best but definitely not the worst. The price was right for my wallet Too. I'm 200 And my wife is 150 and set on the 3rd setting we've bottomed once. I know to set the preload higher next time. I'm not a sport rider, so these work great for me.

 

Fatbob - interested why you switched from the stock air shocks in favor of the 412s? I still have the stock air shocks, and ride two-up often, so would be nice to hear what improvements you noted from the change.

 

How dose it ride solo? Is it smoother then stock?
Progressive told me if you ride 2 up that the standard springs could be to soft. I'm 185 lbs and never ride 2 up, I wonder if the 412 SD springs still might be to stiff for me.

 

My stock shocks seem to have locked up and would not move. I could put 30lbs of pressure and they would stay the same height. Before they would adjust with the pressure change. Almost seemed like i was running solid struts on the rear!
We ride two up about 30% of the time, even my wife noticed the difference, no abrupt hits through the seat. I just have to preload more with the 2 of us. As i said I've only bottomed once with two of us on, but the preload was set on the 3rd out of 5 preload notches.
With the 412's I've regained the smoother ride that we used to get. Again I'm not a speed demon so these shocks worked out well for me

 

Ahhh. Got it. Thanks for the info.

 

I just got the 412's and what a difference, I got the 11.5 inch with the heavy duty springs.....I was worried at first because I read alot of threads on here with people not liking them and was worried about bottoming out 2up (me + wife = 450) but not once did we bottom out and I took the same roads I took with the stock shocks and we were bottoming out so bad the tire would squeak like I locked up the brakes, and the ol' lady said she felt every bump....but she loved the new shocks. So for the price I couldnt complain.

 

I didn't think the height of the shock or bike would change when adding pressure. Am I missing something?

 

I think the key here is that you ride solo. They sound like they will work great for you.

I had some progressives for awhile, but I ride a mixture of 2-up and solo, and found the process to change the progressive settings too much of a PIA.

I went back to the stockers, just to have the convience of air...I can change pressure without removing the bags. You have to remove both bags to change the preload on the progressives.

 

I'm lost on that too.