New Touring Bike (long)

Touring, for us, was a bust in 2020 due to the covid thing. We went to Sturgis, then on to Yellowstone, Craters of the Moon Natl Monument, then to Glacier Natl Park before heading home.

We couldn't get into Canada due to the border closure. Part of Glacier was closed and couldn't make the loop to East Glacier.

We hope things are better in 2021, and wife wants to go back to a heavyweight touring machine and ride two-up. In the Harley we were thinking about a new Ultra Limited, but wife saw a TriGlide at the dealership yesterday and she likes that. So we tried it out.

They set up some cones on their practice course to practice steering it. This might seem basic, but it's a good idea to do that. You have to get used to the effort on the bars to turn it. It does not have finger-tip touch handling like the Ultra Limited. We both practiced figure 8's around the cones, maybe 8-10 laps. Until you get used to that you'll tend to under-steer it.

Out on the road, wife on the pillion, the first thing I want to note is that the brakes were way better than I thought they would be on a trike. We turned right out of the dealership and took the road going north that has some curves and hills. I slammed on the brakes without warning my wife from about 45 mph. It doesn't have the stopping distance of the Ultra Limited simply because with me and my wife on it it was probably around 1,600lbs. The bike is advertised 1,260 wet, I'm 200, wife is 140. But what I did find out is that with the extra rear weight, plus two tires back there instead of one, it can handle considerably more rear brake than a regular motorcycle without the bike wanting to swap ends. How much of that was the linked brakes and ABS, plus Harley's drag torque limiting system, I'm not sure, I didn't feel them pulsing. But the brakes were not a disappointment at all.

We took it out on the freeway at 75 mph, not much exciting there. It is just a rock solid comfortable ride. We turned off the freeway and went thru the construction zone north of town. On the gravel it was much more stable than a motorcycle. On the lanes where they got the blacktop sheared off at different heights right in your lane, absolutely no tendency to sidetrack or wander like a motorcycle does going over those cutoffs and the grooves in the road

Overall ride quality is as good, or maybe even a bit better, than the Ultra Limited. Especially on the washboard gravel where it seemed to handle that with no problem at all.

We swapped positions so wife could drive it. She was at first not comfortable with the side loading in a corner either driving or riding pillion. She wanted the bike to bank into the turn, and with me on the back it was different than practicing on the cones. I really had no problem with it. At no point, even in a couple tight turns, did I feel like the inside rear tire wanted to come off the blacktop, or the bike was tippy. It was surprisingly stable. It will definitely corner with a two-wheel heavyweight touring motorcycle any day. It has some feature with a lateral load sensor in it, and (I think) what they call corner enhanced traction control where it applies more torque to the outside wheel in a turn. Whatever they call it, and however it works, it does work.

I would like to test it to the limit of cornering to see if it tends to want to roll over, or if it breaks traction and skids. The seat of the pants feeling was that it would probably break traction before it rolls over. Not a good idea to try that on their demo bike but I took a couple sharp turns on the two lane at better than posted speed and it is ZERO problem in the turn even if you do something stupid like suddenly drop power and climb on the brakes. Able to maintain the line in the turn no problem at all.

One plus with the TriGlide, and this is a really big one - it has the equivalent luggage capacity of pulling a small trailer with your Ultra. But because it's built-in it's safer than pulling a trailer. And I would bet gets better gas mileage than pulling a trailer due to the air drag. EPA is 42mpg highway for the TriGlide. We've seen TriGlides, you know how it is - you glance at them, somebody is riding one, whatever. But we've never actually LOOKED at one until yesterday. When my wife seen the inside of that lower trunk she said, "I like that." Matter of fact, I do too. It can hold 50lbs of "stuff" in it, plus has the regular Tour Pak.

The room (both legroom and overall) is typical Harley Ultra. It is big. Room on the pillion for my wife to look at her laptop and browse the internet while we're cruising.

The bike has traction control, but that can be turned off with a button on the right handlebar and a yellow TCS light comes on on the dash. With that turned off the new Milwaukee Eight 114 is pretty impressive. From a rolling start in low gear at only 1,200 rpm, simply whack the throttle open and it will squeal the rear tires and pull the front off the blacktop (and give your wife whiplash). With TCS turned on it will accelerate hard but won't squeal the back tires.

While the Twin Cam 103's were silky smooth on the highway, they did transmit some vibration to the bike at idle. The 114 doesn't do that - it is perfectly smooth at idle and you wouldn't know it's running if you couldn't hear it.

When we got done testing it, wife told the sales lady we're not buying the 2020 because she don't like the color (blue and silver). There was five colors for 2020. But we're buying a new TriGlide if they can come up with the color she wants (Dark Candy Red). Turns out they can come with that in the 2021's.

We ordered a new 2021 TriGlide Ultra. With covid shutdowns when H-D was closed for two months they can't pull that lost production out of their hat. All the dealer pre-orders go in in Jan 2021 and we can expect delivery sometime in March 2021. Five months to wait for a new bike seems a lot, but with the economic chaos in the market and some supply chains are broken for manufacturers, the best they can do at present is demo 2020 models at the dealer and sell on pre-orders for 2021.

It is obvious at this point that Honda is never going to replace the Silver Wing, maxi-scooters are dead and a thing of the past. They don't build any decent middle-weight touring motorcycles that my wife likes and can ride anymore for individual bikes. We already got 70,000 miles on our Silver Wings in only three years. So it's time to move on to something else.

It was either the Goldwing Tour or a Harley. We looked at the Goldwing Tour first and it is a non-starter for us. Way too cramped for both the rider and pillion, and has no luggage capacity anymore compared to the older ones. The TriGlide, for us, was everything we wanted. Wife can ride it solo if she wants, she can't handle a heavyweight two-wheel motorcycle. Much easier for me to handle two-up for a huge touring machine. It is big and comfortable - about like riding an Ultra Limited from the front seat, baralounger comfort on the pillion. The air vents on the lowers are adjustable for either heat off the radiators for cold weather riding, or fresh air for hot weather. Silky smooth on the road. Better gas mileage and range than our combined Silver Wings. More luggage capacity. And TriGlides are in high demand and better resale than the Ultra Limited.

Sounds like you sold yourself a TriGlide and if mama is happy well

oldwingguy wrote:

Sounds like you sold yourself a TriGlide and if mama is happy well

I never thought I'd like a trike, always thought of them along the lines of the old Honda 90 three-wheelers. It has been my wife that has wanted one. After actually trying the TriGlide I was impressed. Very impressed. Couldn't believe the ease of handling a big touring machine. A fully-loaded Ultra Limited in touring trim with me and my wife on it is right around 1,350 lbs. The extra 300 lbs of weight in the TriGlide to add those "training wheels" makes all the difference in the world in feeling safe and in control of that big of a machine!

So our Silver Wings are going to be taken off touring duty (they have made excellent touring bikes) and just used for commuting and general running around. Over half their miles gets put on doing that anyway. We were going to get a couple little Burgman 200's for general running around and errands. But we decided it would be smarter to get a big two-up touring machine for road trips and use the SW's instead for utility bikes. That will cut the miles back on the SW's and get them to last a few more years. At 70,000 miles they're starting to have some plastic rattles and minor issues and can definitely tell they're not new anymore. It will provide some peace of mind on the road if we have a problem to have a new bike that's under warranty again.

I almost converted my Goldwing to a trike but liked it as a two wheeler better, HD has an advantage IMHO in that it's a factory original not a conversion and your original warranty is a factory warranty for a trike.

oldwingguy wrote:

I almost converted my Goldwing to a trike but liked it as a two wheeler better, HD has an advantage IMHO in that it's a factory original not a conversion and your original warranty is a factory warranty for a trike.

That's true. The warranty on the TriGlide is 2 years unlimited mileage and it covers everything. Can buy a 5 year extended powertrain warranty thru the Motor Company any time during the first two years.

According to the service manager at the dealership the tire life on the TriGlide is considerably better than an Ultra Limited. He said it's not unusual to get 50,000 miles out of a set of rear tires on it. That is another big worry on the road is getting a flat tire. Front is not too bad, and I feel a lot safer on the TriGlide losing the front at speed. But the rear is major. If it can't be plugged due to hitting something on the road that punctures a big hole or sidewall damage, the bike has to be towed and get it changed at a dealership. There is no way to change a tire on a big machine like that on the side of the road.

The TriGlide, simply jack it up and whip out the impact wrench. Any tire shop can service the rear tires. They are 205/65 R15's. Dunlop Signature tires come on them standard. Most people put on Michelin Pilots (according to the service manager) when they come due for replacement.

They've come on a bit from the old servi-car trikes of days gone by.

steve_h80 wrote:

They've come on a bit from the old servi-car trikes of days gone by.

Yeah, there's still a lot of those running too, that have been restored. They pop up for sale every now and then.

Good to see Harley is finally smoothing out those vibrations.

two things to remember with trike #1 how your trike tipped over as a kid #2 How Honda had to take 3 wheeler ATV off market.....not idiot proof.

I have about 100,000 km trike experience (but mine had heater) 2 Messerschmitts, one new, pusher type a little safer but inside front wheel could come up if you were not careful. One advantage with Harley in US----lots of dealer still in US to help with the little things that go wrong---- Too bad Harley stopped their sidecar (probably because of skill required to operate sidecar out fit safely) I bought new HD factory sidecar outfit 1966 fun but engine unable to get rid of excess heat----blew up engine twice, trying to ride it like my BMW twin!

There are now trike conversions which have two wheels at the front. Luggage space kept and no alterations to the transmission

john grinsel wrote:

two things to remember with trike   #1 how your trike tipped over as a kid   #2 How Honda had to take 3 wheeler ATV off market.....not idiot proof.

Surprisingly (to me) it doesn't have any tendency to do that. We tried a couple hard corners at well over posted speed and I'm pretty sure it would skid before it attempts to roll over. Other owners have backed that up - none we've talked to have ever had the inside tire come off the ground in cornering.

Not sure of the cornering G's it can pull, but on our test ride it exceeds what most cars can do, and is pretty close to being equivalent to a sports car.

With the electronic stability system turned off, it's probably different. But it has a quite advanced torque balancing and traction control system in it, controlled by a computer. And it works. With that turned off the bike has enough power to easily break the rear tires loose in a hard corner if you really get on it. The torque delivery from the 114 is incredible and don't really need to run it above 2,500 rpm. But with the TCS turned on it limits how much power you can get from the engine in cornering, as well as adjusts it side to side, so you can't really exceed the trike's limits no matter what you do.

The Harley dealer has a three-wheel training course, taught by an expert instructor, that is included in the sale. We'll both take that when we take delivery of our new trike. But Harley does have a video on their website that explains how the systems in it work, they use both the Free Wheeler and the TriGlide Ultra in the video. The training course is centered on the trike you buy:

https://www.harley-davidson.com/us/en/owners/trike-orientation.html

bikerboy wrote:

There are now trike conversions which have two wheels at the front. Luggage space kept and no alterations to the transmission

That has to pass The Wife Inspection. If she doesn't like it, it's not going to get bought. The Harley is not a conversion. It is a factory trike. Even the steering head and front fork on it is different from a regular Ultra Limited.

Are they still using Harley's adjustable trail fork??

bikehiker wrote:

Good to see Harley is finally smoothing out those vibrations.

Even the old '86 Evo's are silk smooth on the road. But most Harley buyers won't buy 'em if they aren't rough and tumble. They are camming, chipping and piping the Milwaukee Eight's to 160hp with Stage IV kits and whatever, with the engine otherwise bone stock. The engine comes from the factory severely de-tuned from what it can do.

Although I'm not sure why. A 160hp Road Glide would eat up rear tires faster than gas and get the undivided attention of every cop within 300 miles if you actually light it up.

https://youtu.be/2zVjkx8hzZY?t=64

john grinsel wrote:

Are they still using Harley's adjustable trail fork??

No, the TriGlide Ultra has Showa suspension on it. They changed the rake and trail, and increased the diameter of the front by 2mm as compared to the Ultra Limited. It has 25% less steering effort than the older generation trikes did.

Typically a straight-axle trike is not going to ride as good as a comparable two-wheel version of the same motorcycle. However, Harley has an advantage in that the TriGlide is not a conversion. So they didn't have to use a standard motorcycle frame and swing arm, and purpose-built it from the ground up as a trike. It is air suspension, has no springs in it.

Did you ever consider looking at one of the Can Am Sypders? They have a new RT model out this year.

EvilTwin wrote:

Did you ever consider looking at one of the Can Am Sypders?  They have a new RT model out this year.

No, we did not. Wife has to like it. The TriGlide trips her trigger, the Spyder doesn't. I could ride and try anything, but since she's half the equation the equation has to balance or it don't get bought.

I think I might be married to your wife's twin sister.

bikehiker wrote:

I think I might be married to your wife's twin sister.

Didn't know she had one

There's things that strike her fancy and the TriGlide just happened to be that thing. The bike is big, but with the V-twin it has a narrow profile that makes it less intimidating, and she was able to handle it with ease, the torque of the Big Twin makes it easy to let the clutch out and just go without killing the engine so starting out from a stop and handling the clutch and brakes in tight quarters was easy for her. The transmission is positive "clunk" type shift so it's hard to miss a gear, and quite easy to find neutral.

The dash is not "busy" with buttons scattered all over the place and uses analog gauges, which she liked. The touchscreen display is very easy to use with gloves on, another plus.

After doing her practice laps around the cones she already liked it. Out on the road the feeling of the G-force pressing to the outside of turns was a little hard for her to get used to and she wanted to lean into the turn. But after finding out the thing is just rock stable and very easy to hold your line in a corner she quickly got used to that.

The biggest thing that excites her is that she's able to ride it solo so if it's sitting in the garage and she wants to run downtown to get groceries she can - that would be impossible for her with an Ultra Limited.

And finally, she likes the styling, looks and color (that we ordered). Harley does not limit the customer to only two colors for a model year like Honda does with the Goldwing, and thru the CVO (Custom Vehicle Operations) you can get any color you want on a new Harley.