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First Ride Thoughts

765 views 5 replies 6 participants last post by  Hoopdc 
#1 ·
Well, I finally got my Tour DCT Airbag out for a couple hundred kilometers. Here are some of my first thoughts:

The Good

This bike is easily the smoothest ride I've ever had. It really is something to pass over those bumps and not feel them in the steering. I've never ridden a Beemer with similar front suspension though (I suspect it's at least as impressive as the GW).

The DCT is great. It took very little adjustment time for me and I love it. This is the main reason I opted for the new bike - and I bought it without even trying the DCT first. Good gamble.

Heated grips and seat are waaaaay more than enough, and wind protection is great for me all around. I don't think I'll be crying for more anytime soon.

Torque.

My girl likes the stock rear seat just fine - she says there's plenty of room and had no problem sitting back there (she's 5'2" and somewhere less than 130 lbs - I don't ask).

A radio is not high on the list of things I need on a bike, but this is the first radio I've been able to hear with any kind of clarity at full highway speed. She could hear too - not real well, but well enough to complain about the songs being played.

Walking speed assist... super good in either direction.

The Not As Good

The seat doesn't feel real good to me. I'll give it some time but I may have to do something about it... of course that something may be directly related to the...

Bar position seems to be a little to far forward for me (I'm 5'10 and not long limbed). I think the HeliBars will resolve this, and maybe even make the seat more comfy too.

The seat height is just a smidge higher than ideal for me (31" inseam). I'm glad I'm not any shorter! It's not really the seat height so much as the width, which feels substantial at a stop, but perfect when I'm under way.

The GPS first led me down some dirt roads... then wouldn't allow me to enter an actual street address in a nearby small town... after entering the street name it sent me to the start navigation screen. There's a super high probability of operator error here, but it wasn't intuitive at any rate.



Overall, I'm thrilled to pieces! What a machine! There's lots of talk about the re-vamp of this beloved bike, but I gotta tell you, I'm 47 years old and this is very nearly EXACTLY what I was looking for.

Freezing rain here today. Sigh.
 
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#2 ·
The Helibars do make a lot of difference. Well worth the coin. I agree the seat sucks. I am in line with RDL to get that taken care of. Once you get used to the Nav system, it was OK for me. Many complain about the Nav system. There have been several updates to the Nav system, so you may want to be sure you have the latest update. Also, if you have an iphone, you can link it in and use Google Maps through the bikes display. I do not have an iphone, so many others on here can give better advice.
 
#4 ·
Yep, good impressions and similar to my own as well, with a few differences though:

- The GPS is lacking, no two ways about it. My previous Harley Road Glide Ultra's GPS put the Wing's to shame.

- I installed Helibars on my Wing for the same reasons you stated above, and it was worth every penny. Helibars completely fixed the "forward" bars for me, and now it's so incredibly more comfortable. The bike should have the bars like this from the factory IMHO.

- My seat seemed to "break in" after the first 1K miles or so, it's more comfortable now than it was at first. I was considering upgrading it when I bought the bike but now I'm going to keep it stock. Maybe someday I'll get it padded out, its low on the list for me now though.

- Seat height is higher than I'm used to coming from Harleys but its not too bad for me. I'm used to it now, but sometimes its hard to get both feet flat footed.
 
#6 ·
It seems your "not as goods" are really nothing at all. A very good thing. NO bike EVER will fit everybody the exact way they might want it to. I'm small. Just a bit
over 5'7". The way the Wing feels is like almost all other bikes I've owned. The bikes are not too tall, I'm too short. So.....you adjust.

Congrats on the bike !!! Have had mine for about 6 weeks now approaching 4,000 miles. I've taken two long trips so far and never even tried the NAV. I just plug in my IPhone and use that. Your phone ( well......at least an IPhone ) will ALWAYS be better that any NAV in a vehicle. SUPER easy to use and it downloads and updates new software automatically.

Anyway.......good luck !! Love this new Wing although I COULD NOT get the stupid oil filter off doing my first oil change. The thing was on way too tight obviously. Went to my local dealer and had them just crack it using what THEY use. And they had to gorilla it to crack that seal. Yes, I bought one of THEIR cup-type wrenches.
The one I had just kept slipping.
 
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