Reflections on a road trip
#1
04-27-2010, 08:57 PM
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Braselton, GA
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Reflections on a road trip
Thought I would share our experience with our 2010 TriGlide. We just returned from a week in Florida, including a couple days at the Leesburg bike rally. A total of 2,172 miles: North Atlanta - Jekyll Island - Daytona Beach - Fort Lauderdale - Key West - Leesburg and back (with a few excursions in between). The Trike was fabulous overall, although a little cramped for me at 6'3" for that long. The ride is smooth as silk (unless you take a bump in the back seat). It's her Trike, so she got a lot of front seat time and now should be ready to go by herself (I must say the back seat is quite a comfortable ride). We have no engine mods, but a VPC (70T) for easier clutch pull and pull back bars and chrome. We carried a couple light bags on the tour pak rack and had a ton of stuff with us. We picked up some Motolights at Destination Daytona, and I feel good about the visibility they bring.
OAT varied from high 70s to mid to upper 80s. I was never bothered by engine heat, and she only mentioned it once when she drove a short spin in shorts. Gas mileage had a large range. The first tank was worst at 24. I think now the cheap, no-name gas was just bad. We ran that tank mostly at 70 mph. Our best mileage was a bit over 39 on the Key West 12 hour trip. There seemed to be a big correlation of better mileage at 50 mph than faster speeds. Most tanks got 30 to 34.
We experimented with power and gears and figured out that fifth gear pulls well at least up to the 70s. Sixth gear is nice for chugging along at 65, but not enough torque. Cruise control holds very nicely, even in 6th with moderate inclines.
The metallic rattle on the right side of the gear box was noticeable and annoying. It was there at all speeds, it seemed, but more noticeable at slow speeds of course. We hit one major rain on the way back for about a half hour. I was very disappointed to find that the trunk leaked even in just a rain storm. It was very heavy, blinding rain, but still....
So now it's in the shop for a (belated somewhat) 5,000 mile checkup. I told the dealer about the leaking trunk (it's a 2010, so it already has the new seal) and the rattle. I won't hold my breath.
We clearly like the Trike!
OAT varied from high 70s to mid to upper 80s. I was never bothered by engine heat, and she only mentioned it once when she drove a short spin in shorts. Gas mileage had a large range. The first tank was worst at 24. I think now the cheap, no-name gas was just bad. We ran that tank mostly at 70 mph. Our best mileage was a bit over 39 on the Key West 12 hour trip. There seemed to be a big correlation of better mileage at 50 mph than faster speeds. Most tanks got 30 to 34.
We experimented with power and gears and figured out that fifth gear pulls well at least up to the 70s. Sixth gear is nice for chugging along at 65, but not enough torque. Cruise control holds very nicely, even in 6th with moderate inclines.
The metallic rattle on the right side of the gear box was noticeable and annoying. It was there at all speeds, it seemed, but more noticeable at slow speeds of course. We hit one major rain on the way back for about a half hour. I was very disappointed to find that the trunk leaked even in just a rain storm. It was very heavy, blinding rain, but still....
So now it's in the shop for a (belated somewhat) 5,000 mile checkup. I told the dealer about the leaking trunk (it's a 2010, so it already has the new seal) and the rattle. I won't hold my breath.
We clearly like the Trike!
#5
04-28-2010, 06:37 AM
#6
04-28-2010, 08:20 AM
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Braselton, GA
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Motolights is a brand of small lights you put on each side of the front fork. When seen from the front they give two more bright spots to notice lower down. They do produce some additional lighting at night to see forward, but my main reason was the visibility to oncoming cars. For touring frames they attach to the brake calipers. We had them hooked to the aux switch. My pictures won't load (maybe too big), but Google their website and you will see plenty of pictures and videos. There are other choices out there, but these are made very well. I think they are about $400 for the parts. We paid a couple hundred for installation
#7
04-28-2010, 09:58 AM
Motolights is a brand of small lights you put on each side of the front fork. When seen from the front they give two more bright spots to notice lower down. They do produce some additional lighting at night to see forward, but my main reason was the visibility to oncoming cars. For touring frames they attach to the brake calipers. We had them hooked to the aux switch. My pictures won't load (maybe too big), but Google their website and you will see plenty of pictures and videos. There are other choices out there, but these are made very well. I think they are about $400 for the parts. We paid a couple hundred for installation
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#10
05-02-2010, 01:51 PM
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Tranny noise, leak
Got the trike back from the 5k checkup. They said the noise was from the heat shields. I expressed my skepticism, but on the initial run of about 20 miles, the noise is gone. We'll see. They replaced the seal on the trunk with another of the same kind (ours IS a 2010 model) with "better glue". I had taken the bottom liner out of the trunk before taking it in to dry out from our trip, and I should have checked the trunk before I left the dealer, because - yep, water beaded up on the trunk floor from the washing.