I finally let my husband take my new TG out for a ride. I jumped on the back and now have a opinion on being a passenger.

First, we bottomed out (something on the underside hit the alley dip). We are not heavy weights #160 and #130. That never happened to me riding by myself, so I guess it doesn't take much weight for this to happen?
Lift kit sounds enticing, although 99.9% of the time I ride without anyone on the back.

The passenger grab rails...absolutely horrible. How does anyone hang onto these? I could only get half of my hand and thumb down around them without twisting my arms backwards. I jarred my thumbs a couple of times going over bumps.

Other than that, it was fun to be a passenger for a change, although it'll be a long time before that happens again,anytime soon...LOL

 

Wow, If you bottomed out with that kind of weight I would say your shocks are empty. How much air is in them? We typically run 40 lbs of air when 2up (235 & 200 lbs) and I have the lift kit. Haven't scrapped yet.

 

On the Grab handle part 2 thoughts come to mind. Is you tour pack located to the rearward most position thus giving the grab handles a more forward position. I have installed this part number on ours (and they do fit) giving it a larger around grip area.
Passenger Handrail Covers-91668-05

 

X2 on the passenger handrail covers...wife took an immediate like to them over
the stock rails...much better grip!

 

Hmm, makes me wonder too. I've only had the trike for a couple of weeks. I have had it in for the first service already and after paying $520 for that I would have expected the dealer to ensure that it was set properly.
I will check it out tomorrow.
Thanks

 

Thanks, I'll check on both of these.

Another thought while I was on the back, was, geez, it's pretty cramped back here.

I guess I'll always be comparing my TG to my Goldwing trike and for myself and for as little as i was a passenger on either, the GW is way, way more passenger friendly. There is alot more room and no need to hang on as the GW seat really wraps around the passenger.

Two totally different machines with great attributes on both.

 

After I read this post, I checked with my rear seat commander (a.k.a. Wife). She said she rarely holds the hand holds. Only when we are really doing some aggressive twisties does she hold them. She said they don't bother her , and she has rheumatoid arthritis. She has actually been known to fall asleep in her perch.

 

Im close to 280 and decided to check out what the passenger seat was like. I hopped on back, wife took over and we proceeded to take a 25 mile ride. I personally thought it was very roomy and comfortable back there. I never tried the grab handles didn't need them. Now if I can only get my spot back is another thing.

 

Mine came back from service with 9lbs of air in the shocks and I went back and they pumped them up to 35lbs which made a lot of difference.
I bought a pump which was cheaper and just as good as the HD version.

 

After you ensure the pressure of the shock is good, if you still have the bottoming out, you may find what we did.
The HD shocks are not very good, we tried the lift kit, and although that did help, it was not stopping all the bottom outs.
We then changed shocks to:
Progressive Suspension 416-1643A 13" shocks.




We have a 2013, and after installing these shocks with the lift kit we have put on 7,000 miles, rode over many rough roads, and never bottomed out, plus the ride is great. The wife said we should have done the shocky thing upgrade as the first upgrade. If and when we do get a new Tri Glide, this would be the first thing we would put on along with the lift kit.