[quote=Casper;8685647]Screwball, Msocko, Oldmsocko....you guys play nice now...

We all need each other too much, lets not get like some other sections of this board and other boards....we're better than that....
quote]

You are correct, we will play nice. I took offense to the constant reference to racing. M3 and I enjoy working on the Trikes. We both are very mechanically inclined and M3 is extremely knowledgeable about MC. If I would want to race a motorcycle I sure wouldn't own a TG. IMHO the 09 & 10 have a problem getting out of its own way. I am all for having a group hug and putting it behind us.

 

Similar story as Casper. Same event. Running up those hills with my 2009 TG I was constantly shifting.Even had to pull a few hills on I90 in WY/MT in 4th.

After 29,000 miles I changed the sprocket to the 30 tooth. Just returned from Strugis. Ran across I90 at 65-70 mph in 6th gear @2700-2900 rpm. Never had to downshift at all. AND my mpg was right at 36-37. Last year the same trip was 28-30 mpg do to all of the downshifting and grabbing throttle to make it up hills. The price to swap out the sprocket will quickly be payed for in fuel savings alone.

So is it worth swapping out on the 09/10's? No doubt about it.

 

What are you guys judging front tire wear by? Tread depth? I know they square off really bad, but to be expected. But all the rear brake issues are caused by the rotors. They groove and squeal bad. If you run your finger over the surface it feels really rough.

But i have been know to be very ****....

 

I have a tire depth gauge which I bought at an HD dealer and measure the depth at the wear bars.

 

I just use a Lincoln penny!

 

Like my dad I use the HD tire gauge which comes with the tread depth gauge and measure on the wear bars. The front tire on his was just a tick in the yellow away from the red at 20,000 miles, taking a wild assed guess we think it might have made another 5,000 before it would have been shot. My front tire at 15,600 miles still is in good shape, should get another 5,000 easily.

The brakes have been a bone of contention with many folks. Mine had about 2,500 miles on it when a kid at Subway chased me down and said my brakes were bad. I looked at him and said it's a Harley.... Hogs squeal. Harley had quite a few complaints about brakes so they released pads with more surface area and updated rotors for the 2011's. My rotors had some grooves at 10,000 miles when I swapped the rear pads for the Lyndalls, I decided to go with it and leave them on since Harley wouldn't warranty them and I knew a new set would more than likely do the same thing. Since changing the pads and removing the parking brake I have had zero brake squeal. I kind of view the rear brakes as supplied by Harley as something an old jalopy car would have on it, gets the job done but has much room for improvement. Some folks have spent the big $$ and put the Performance Machine replacement rear brake kits on their Triglides and seem very happy with them.

 

[quote=screwball;



I won't insult you, your father, or the other guy questioning your ability to ride, riding style, or anything else. I've been a member here a long time, I just don't set my keyboard on fire posting a lot. I'm sure you have seen lots of "closet mechanics" offering a zillion suggestions to people that have no idea what they are doing. I'm sorry these threads have come to the point of questioning the abilities and character of the posters.[/quote]

I'm not an electrical engineer, had state and federal certifications to meet Certification requirements for the the mining industry. I have been what you might call a shade tree mechanic for years and I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

The bitch was hot when I got mine new in August of 09, granted they are all hot that time of year especially during the break in! Bottom line is mine is not hot now and I never spent the $2 grand to get it where it is. It don't bother me if someone says the heat was in my head and I wasted my money. I did the 30T and have a hard pulling cool ride that I hope to get some extended service life from. I and several others have the oil sampled and we are getting some good numbers, plus the rider comfort is far better than when I picked this thing up in 09. Mine is the 10 that had the cat.
For the people with either imagined or real heat problems this forum has a fix, nobody says you have to spend a dime and if you like your stock Tri "if it ain't broke don't fix it"
I will put my Tri against any stock 2010 and let the stock owner ride mine "that has very little modification" except for the 30T and some cooling mods" tell me if they can feel the difference in performance and heat reduction. I have some friends with 100,000 on evo engines pre EPA and I expect to get some decent numbers on mine. People cool em off for different reasons or not. I feel the under $1000 I spent on cooling was well worth it for peace of mind, "extended engine life" and rider comfort!
Using the auto analogy no one on the performance threads is expected to perform every mod that is posted, it's just a forum. Read to learn or a kiill my day kind of thing.
Most Harley owners are not satisfied with one right out of the box and I guess I fit into that mold, the last Harley's and metrics I owned got tore into until I get them where I wanted them. Never would expect everyone to fit that mold. However it seems odd that you are a little condescending and scoff at the idea that many of us feel they are hot and made some common sense mods to cool them down. If yours works for you in stock form, by all means enjoy your Trike. Mine is a pure joy to ride now and runs as cool as my old 03 FLHT and I don't really care if anyone ever does a mod me or several other's on here have done. I actually bought mine with the intentions of not turning a bolt on it, I just wanted a touring trike and never expected to spend a dime on anything extra but chrome.

It never tuned out that way for me and several of the guys on this forum helped me get mine to where I can actually enjoy it now. To many to list but they know who they are. I hope we can keep the foum civil for the stock riders and the guys who like to wrench on them, we can agree to disagree and there is no reason both camps can't still enjoy the other threads that don't pertain to performance or cooling.

I for one however would think the forum would get boring pretty quick without the cooling and performance threads, at times we got people coming online and asking about both. I try to just direct them to the cooling sticky or the 30T sticky and not beat a dead horse. I don't really care if an electrical engineer thinks I am wasting their time or their money. If they are old enough to own and ride a Tri Glide I figure they are old enough to know if it's hot or underpowered or not and old enough to make the decision on doing the cooling mods and wasting their money! Or Not!

 

Only 3000 on my 2011 so far, but glad to report 0 problems!

 

Msocko3 went to the Lyndall site, they have nothing listed for Trikes. What pads did you use? Is there some site that lists which pads fit the 11 models?

 

I had to email them for the part numbers.