Speaking from experience I would not buy performance shocks primarily for the purpose of reducing body roll. This is because in order to do this you have to set the shock spring preload so high that it adversely affects ride comfort. I thought I would be willing to give up ride comfort for better handling in the turns but after a year of rattling the fillings in my teeth with every bump I finally gave up and set the preload back to to an acceptable level. Unless your primary goal is to maximize handling in turns at any cost do not purchase performance shocks just to reduce body roll. Instead first use a high performance anti-sway bar and possibly the shock relocators and accept the fact that a little body roll is perfectly normal and does not adversely affect handling all that much. It's only the sensation of the roll that my cause you to back off a bit on turns. For most riders it's just not worth ruining your ride comfort over.
Now with that said, the primary reason for purchasing performance shocks should be better handling over bumps. High quality shocks have much better valving and heat dissipation characteristics so that you will experience significantly better performance when tackling rough roads at higher speeds. You will be able to ride in the worst road conditions with more stability and control. If the shocks you choose have adjustable damping you can further tune the performance more precisely.
So bottom line:
- To reduce body roll: first use a performance anti-sway bar, and possibly shock relocators. If this doesn't reduce the roll enough for you then increase spring preload (you do not need high performance shocks to do this) until you reach the limits of your tolerance for lack of ride comfort.
- If you want significantly better handling in rough road conditions then consider performance shocks.
- To reduce sway in high wind/highway conditions first try a performance anti-sway bar and shock relocators. If this doesn't work enough for you then consider a higher spring preload and performance shocks.
