And yet I never see you in the Road Trips section where people do post about trips, ask questions about places to ride, and give info on good rides. Nor do I see you in the geographic sections where people post about trips, ask about different sections of the country and share their their riding experiences in their particular areas of the country.

You seem to just hang out here slamming people that have concerns about their rides.

Bill

 

Whenever you try to compare Goldwings and HD, it will always come down to individual preference and your own experiences. Wife and I both had Goldwing Lehman conversions for a number of years and many great miles.

First temperature issues still happens on wings, try western desert with temps 105-110 and stuck in traffic (like I10 into Palm Springs, or Vegas or Phoenix, etc) Her 1800 was the one that had to pull over while friends on harley's patiently waited for it to cool down. This happened more then once.

Before the Rushmore series, would agree on the power, not any more. Since we sold our 1800 to a friend, have done a several side by side comparison, from a stop to 2nd he had 1/2 bike lead, 3rd we went even. On the open road, starting at 70, freewheeler had the lead all the way. Not a hard core race, but both trikes are close enough now to depend more on rider.

Biggest issue we had was service, Honda will not touch the wing after the conversion. Had to find local independents to work on it, which even in southern cal not easy to do. Wife changed her view when she had a flat front tire while traveling, and even after I told the honda dealer I would put a blanket over the back, he still would not change the tire, sold us a tire and said he was sorry about the flat and didn't know any one local that could change it. (we did find a independent within free towing range)

Noise, yes HD wins with the best sound and loudness, music issue is solved by head phones, why bother others with personnel taste in music. Funny thing even on wife's new triglide, still hear her songs when she is next to me at any speed.

Smoothness of ride does go to the wing but still only time we will give up our HD trikes will be to trade them in for newer HD models which also expect to be lower cost then wings.

 

Sure Wings can over heat, some of the earlier models of the GL1800 had temperature issues, I believe it was 06 or 07 when they did something to deal with it. I've found the biggest thing that impacts temp on the wing is when traffic doesn't allow you to go 25 - 30 mph, if your forced to put along at 10 - 15 mph your toast unless you can stop for a minute. I can watch my temp gauge get 3/4 of the way towards hot in this type of traffic. Give it a minute and you can see it drop right down. Another thing impacting cooling is lack of attention, not changing the coolant when it should be, keeping bugs and crud from impeding air flow through the radiators.

Now the friend on Harley's who waited for the Wing to cool down may not have known just how hot theirs was running, they might have been pretty warm also. You wife had a temp gauge tell her there was a problem, on a HD you can ride it right into the ground and not know it until it happens.

A freewheeler will have a nice advantage since it weighs several hundred pounds less than the triked Wing. The biggest thing I noticed between the Triglide I had, which wasn't stock, and my triked wing is low end grunt and abilities to pull a loaded trailer up a steep grade without down shifting. The 2010 I used to have was making more torque than a Rushmore, so I do know what they are like, IMO they still come up a little short in the bottom end grunt dept vs the Wing, but then its 6 cylinder not a twin.

I won't do the head phone thing to listen to music, its illegal in most states, not to mention I don't care to have my hearing impaired when I need to listen to traffic. Any kit triked bike is tough when it comes to dealer service, that is one thing the Triglide and the Freewheeler has going for them, HD dealers will service them no matter what. A kit triked Harley, Honda, etc may be an issue for some dealers.

I wasn't intending this to be a Harley vs Honda thing, I replied to an inquiry and a comment made. Comparing an air cooled twin against a liquid cooled 6 cylinder is like comparing an apple to a watermelon. I made my choice based on what I wanted, I don't regret it one bit, actually its the best move I've made to date. Others may not be quite as happy, but then that is why we have choices.

 

As far as passenger heat goes I guess I am pretty lucky in that department. My better half is shorter (5'4") than most gals, so I installed the higher foot board supports that Harley sells and she has never complained about any heat at all. And as far as motor heat, well I guess that was taken care of when I did the stage one from Fuel Moto (including the cat less header). I do run a fan (Lenale) and just flip on the ACC switch when in traffic and flip off again when back on the open road. This trike has NEVER dropped the rear cylinder since I did the install of items three years ago. I did install the Harley oil temp gauge, just to see how well the fan works, and it works very well. Now I know there are people on this forum that feel you shouldn't have to do these things to a new bike and I understand that. But, I am the kind of guy that would buy a brand new car or truck and the very next day put different exhaust and intake on it. Heck, every Harley I have owned since 1976 I have changed or added stuff right after I got them home. I don't think the Harley-Honda thing is even worth talking about, as to each own and what you are happy with. One thing I have noticed on this forum and others is that for every guy that went to a Honda from a Harley, there an equal amount that went from a Honda to a Harley! I am usually not this windy.

 

LOL ... my gal pal ... 5 foot nothing ... I put the adjustable mounts on too ... so she can reach them

 

Well Bill, I've been a member of this forum since 2005. I have posted on the road trips pages when I was on 2 wheels. When I started following the trike boards I noticed that most (even the Mods) posted their trip pictures here on the Trike Boards. I do not hang around slamming people that have concerns, I try and offer what help I can to those that have problems. I do get a bit tired when the 43rd thread starts up about the heat, rear tire on the front. fans, buffeting, cats, lifts, and all the testimonials.