Boxerworks.com

1982 R100RT
I ran the bike ‘nekkid for most of this season & recently got the fairing back on and noticed that the front end runs much lower with vs. w/o the fairing [not too surprised]. [The bike has HD fork springs [installed 2-3 yrs ago] with the nylon "spacer" thingies on the top & bottom of the springs.]

Because of the above, two other things became apparent:

1. It handles better w/o the fairing and
2. My wrists and hands go numb after 30+ minutes in the saddle

The numb hand/wrist thing has always been the case with this bike –when the fairing is installed. I’m ok with the fairing off.
The more nose-down attitude of the bike shifts my weight forward and puts more weight on my palms, it seems. Being a person of small stature it will be easier to mod the bike than to mod me or my riding position.

I know that handle bar risers are a possibility but want to explore if there is a way to get the forks not to compress so much, because the ride & handling is better with less nose-down.

Would air-assist in the forks be a possible solution? Can you cram a bunch of spacers in the fork tubes to get it to not sag so much?

Your thoughts/harangues are appreciated.

Do you have RT bars? It's hard to imagine your weight being on the bars of an RT unless you have different bars.

One may be related to the other, but it seems like you might be dealing with two issues.
The RT fairing will make a difference in fork sag.
Simple physics – you're hanging more weight on a system with a given spring-rate.
But since you haven't really mentioned any criteria
other than the fact of a noticeable difference pre-fairing vs post-fairing ...
Only you can know where the suspension is at relative to spec – with or without the fairing.

I would not even consider dumping additional money and parts into the forks
unless I was assured that the current parts are
1) up to snuff and 2) appropriate to the task.

Suspension set-up should consider the desired stability, controllability, and maneuverability of the bike
as it goes down the road and reacts to (anticipated) riding surfaces –
not necessarily your enjoyment of the experience.

Air-assist will NOT compensate for mis-aligned forks, sacked springs, improper preload, wrong oil,
incorrect spring rate, worn seals, worn damper components,
or any other neglected / faulty components of the system.
The stock forks in good condition work reasonably well !

Under no circumstances would I consider suspension changes
as a solution to an uncomfortable riding position.
On an otherwise properly set-up suspension, your chosen "comfortable riding position"
will be a matter of personal preference and usually a matter of seat, risers, or H-bar choices.

The first thing I would do is take your fork springs out and see if they are within spec for length, and also to see what kind of spacers you already have in the top of the fork. My /5 came with aluminum spacers about 1/2' thick, a set of RT forks I bought off ebay had spacers about 1 1/2' thick.