Zach26

It's been a while since I've visited the forum since recruiting for the Air Force has kept me VERY busy (COVID has negatively affected this too, along with everything else. This might be the first year we miss our targets since 1999). Any updates on your opinions on the Pan America? I saw one in person for the first time a couple weeks ago and I must say it looks even better than in photos. What a great looking bike!

You'd be surprised. I'm not big at all and I picked up my 760 lb harley off its side. It's all about technique. A 90 pound woman can pick up a 1,000 lb bagger harley if the correct technique is used. There's a video of it.

I have a cheap one I bought off Amazon on my bike. It seems pretty sturdy and is made from aluminum. I decided it would be a good idea after a good sized bird hit just above the radiator and made me realize how exposed it is on this bike. If that bird had hit the radiator I'm pretty sure it would have done some serious damage.

As the title says, I just wanted to tell you guys about an incident that happened to me today that could have ended very badly as a reminder to all of us to ride safe, stay vigilant, and practice important skills regularly. First, I will describe the the road I was on and then I will describe the incident. The road: Here in West Texas there are a lot of back country roads with high speed sweeping curves, many of which are blind. This one in particular was a right hand curve that was lined with trees on both sides blocking my view of the exit. The speed limit on this road is 75 MPH and the recommended speed for the curve was 55 MPH. The incident: As I was approaching the turn at approximately 78 MPH I began to trail brake and slow to about 65 MPH, which was the speed I planned on maintaining through the turn. Well, I made it about half way through the turn when what seemed like out of nowhere a combine tractor appeared, traveling the opposite direction, and was blocking both lanes completely. I didn't have much time to react but since I already had my hand on the front brake I squeezed it harder to reduce my speed as much as I could hoping the farmer would move over to allow me some space but he didn't have much time to react. So my only choice was then to go off the shoulder and into the weeds at somewhere between 50 and 55 MPH. I still have no idea how I was able to keep the bike upright over the transition from the pavement onto the gravel shoulder, through the weeds and brush and then back over the gravel shoulder and transition back onto the road. I'm generally a pretty careful rider (occasionally I like to do a bit of spirited riding) and I always make it a point to practice at least one important skill such as emergency braking, braking on a turn, swerving, or going to an empty parking lot to practice some slow speed maneuvers. I believe that this practice is what saved me from having my torso removed from the rest of my body by this tractor. This is the closest call I have ever had on the bike and the first one in quite a long while and it scared the crap out of me. As time slowed I had visions of me being cut in half by the tractor which was at about the level of the headlights on the bike. It wouldn't have been a pretty sight. Anyway, I hope this can serve as a reminder to all of us to ride safe and practice important skills regularly.

You should be riding with ear plugs anyway if you want to preserve your hearing. The common consensus is that the noisy gears are just the nature of the beast and that there is no real "fix" for it. As far as I understand it the noise comes from the straight cut gears in the transmission and from the counter balancer shaft that triples have.

Here's another photo in the sun light after I fixed the crease in the front of the bag that was bugging me. It looks even better now.

I'm not familiar with the mounting system for the factory side cases so I can't say for sure. Based on some pictures it does look like the sides of the bag might interfere with the top of the side cases though.

Yeah I actually ordered the 1450 at first but then realized the tunnel was too narrow so I ordered this one the same day. I'm still waiting for the wrong one to show up so I can return it. For it being universal for it almost fits like it was made for this bike. They also have the regular non "tactical" version.

It's a 2017.

Just installed my new saddlemen 1620 tunnel bag and I think I'm going to like never having to wear a backpack. I'm still tweaking the mounting so that it's rock solid but still quickly removable but it's almost there. The only real negative is having to remove the passenger handles but they never get used anyway so no big deal. (Just noticed this is the wrong section. Mods, please move to appropriate section)

This has me curious. I might have to give this a try before buying a new seat. I think the main thing that causes me discomfort is the heat.

I agree with you that McCruise looks like a great product and I have no doubts about how well it works. But as an add-on it doesn't look quite as good as factory integrated cruise control and is a bit expensive. However, event though is expensive, I'll probably be buying it in the future because it makes more financial sense than trading up just for that feature.

The only thing that tempts me to trade up is the cruise control. Everything else is easy to improve and cheaper than getting a new bike (mine is about to be paid off). I know there are aftermarket solutions for cruise control (the only one I know of is mccruise) but it doesn't look as good as factory and it's quite expensive. My only other complaints with the bike are the seat, which is an easy fix just need to finally decide on one, and the suspension which isn't horrible but could use some improvement.

I didn't even know this was a thing. I've used standard mode almost exclusively on my 2017 (bought new in 2019) since I don't like the abrupt throttle when going from closed to open in A mode. I have used B mode maybe twice in bad weather. I always thought that it just stayed in the mode it was in last. I guess I'll confirm for my own info in the morning.

Haha for some reason, while typing my reply I was thinking it was the 20-30 group that hadn't had anyone yet, not the <20 group. I guess I'm just an old man in a young body lol. I always felt that way with the Harley too. I bought that at 23 years old.