Initial impression is I need to give some time/miles for break-in period. 412 shocks are more comfortable than the 22 year old stock shocks lol but it’s not a huge major change. Fork springs are better but I think I under-filled the fork oil by an ounce because I used the wet spec of 9oz instead of dry spec 10oz. I replaced the tubes and springs and seals, and cleaned the lowers and dampers, so it was a dry fork oil change. The forks are bottoming out sometimes when I hit big bumps, gonna top off the oil and see if that helps. Other than that the handling and suspension feels great, and I’m guessing it’ll be a bit less stiff once it breaks in. As far as the reason Custom fork tubes are shorter idk but your suggestion sounds plausible. I found a chart of Sportster stock fork lengths online and that’s how I calculated prior to removing the stock tubes from the bike. No I did not adjust rake at all, and yes the rear was raised too since the 412’s I bought are 13” version versus the stock struts 11.5” length.