Need seat lowered on Sportster

I just bought my first bike and I need to put engine bars and lower the seat
I'm a small woman and I'm having a little trouble holding up 501 lbs with my legs.

Do I need to buy a seat lowering kit to lower the seat on a 2000 XL1200cc Sportster or can I just buy the shocks to lower it. I am trying to buy after market items. Any good feedback is appreciated.

seat or chassis

Do you fit from seat to pegs? Is the only problem the ground being too far away? How much do you need? Will 1" do it? White Bros will do that for $85 There are several fork lowering kits. Depends on how far you need to lower the bike.

tools needed for engine guards

a friend is giving me engine guards and I want to try to put them on myself. What tools do I need. Also what are some basic tools that are good to carry with you in case of an emergency.

The TOOL

Vincy888, The BEST tool anyone can invest in is a service manual, even if you don’t plan on doing your own maintenance. The tools that you will need depends on what hardware is involved, you might be able to do it with 1 opened-end-adjustable. Watch out for them left-handed screw drivers.

I would think that D.P. has a fine selection of manuals.

(I think I've had too much time on my hands lately)

Vincy,
Try looking at Progressive Suspension. They have models of shocks that are adjustable and can be essentially custom tailored to fit your needs. D.P. carries them.

engine guards

If I remember right......

9/16" socket short extension and ratchet
I think it took an allen wrench ( might have been a torx ) I don't remember what size. it was english though.

If you are going to do some work on your bike I would suggest a good 3/8" ratchet set with 3/8" to 3/4" sockets ( I prefer 6 point, but some of the real wrenchers might disagree ). A torx set and an allen wrench set. I would also get a set of combination wrenches. Remember in tools you usually get what you pay for, a cheap set of tools from walmart will cause you grief in the long run.

Harley sells a nice snap-on tool set that contains just about everything you need for road side repair but it is a little pricey. The upside is that snap-on is about the best tools you can buy.

Or, consider Cruz Tool kits. They have different packages that fit the bill nicely.

Lowering the 1200 Custom

I've done this many times for short riders, so here is my experience. The rear shocks on a 883/1200c are 12" eye to eye. The Hugger shocks are 11" and there is no problems with interference when bottoming out the shock. Either Progressive or White Bros have springs for the front end that lower it 1 1/2" and with heavy fork oil you most likely will never bottom out the front forks. I even slipped the forks in the triple trees an extra 1/2" so my wifes feet could touch the ground flat footed, she's 5'2" with only a 26" inseam. Where she got the most releif was when I took a 1/2" of foam off the top of the seat in the "bucket area and reshaped the front nose so she didn't have to spread her legs so far around the seat. It's fairly easy to do with an electric knife and the final shaping is done with a die grinder. As for tools, CRAFTSMAN 6 point sockets will do you fine and they can be bought at any Sears store, carry a warrenty as good as SnapOn and you don't have to get a second mortgage to pay for them. The engine guard is only attached with 3 bolts but you have to remove the front engine mount top bolts and replace them with a spacer that has 1 long bolt going throug it. Actually it is very easy if you get all of the hardware with the engine guard. Good Luck and enjoy the ride.