Old Fat Guy

3 hours ago, betoney said:

With all of these questions about ease of lifting vs the Goldwing, I am SOOO curious... how often do you drop the Goldwing and how often do you anticipate dropping the Niken?  Is that a normal thing?

Usually when riders have a question about a new bike they ask questions about reliability, comfort, fuel range etc., ease of lifting it up every time you drop it doesn't seem to ever enter the conversation. 🤷‍♀️  The question really took me by surprise.

In the 20 years and 200K miles I had the GL1800 I'd GUESS I've dropped it ~ a dozen times? for a variety of reasons ranging from rider error when making a tight parking lot turn to finding the dirt road I'm on deteriorating into baby head stones heading uphill (this was riding 2 up with luggage on a mountain pass in Switzerland) to making a panic stop and swerve to avoid a car that ran a STOP sign. And sometimes we do some "dual sport" type backroads or tow our tandem MTB behind.  The GL1800 also is about 1.5" higher than stock because it has Tranxxion Dynamics Racing suspension which, amoung other things, raise the bike so it has more ground clearance for corning - but this makes it a little harder to get your foot down and to pick it up after tipping over.

I appreciate both of your responses.  The Niken seems to be quite a bike!

I uderstand that it is MUCH lighter than my wing and thus much easier to pick up.

The thing I'm curious about is whether the double front forks/wheels act or are configured in such a way that they make lifting it MORE difficult or LESS difficult than a similar bike of the same total weight with a conventional front end.  I'm thinking that, depending on how the forks are place on a dropped bike could help or hinder lifting it.  IF the down side for is compressed it would seem that @ 45 degrees and higher it MIGHT be less difficult???   OR IF the down side is extended if would be harder to lift???   OR maybe the system somehow assists in the lifting process???

THANKS!

I just joined today because I very interested in the Niken.  I'm a 77 year old experience road and dirt rider that is looking to downsize from my GL1800A and the Niken look INTERESTING!   

I'm in fairly good shape for an OLD guy but struggle to pick up the GL1800 if I drop it.  One question I haven't seen seen asked or answered is: 

Is the Niken harder/easier/same difficulty to pick up once dropped compared to a "standard" sport tourning bike of the same size/weight?

Thanks for any help :>)