Scott Williams
Member
Hi Guys,
Now have 3000 miles on my 2014 basic model. All is fine. Wife and I just returned from 18 days in Nicaragua. Attented a 3 day Hog Fest with 300 "Harleros" at San Juan del Sur on the Pacific coast, then went off on our own thru the cafe and cacoa towns in the mountains. Nice B&B's make it a real fun trip. We tried our AirHawk cushions this trip and experienced much less squirming. Not necessary on shorter trips. The bike is getting stronger. Now she pulls smoothly and strongly in T mode with 2 up from 2500 up to 5000 rpm in top gear. I am shifting less and less. I noticed that I can swing back and forth from T mode to S mode by just backing off the throttle. Neat. The Battlewings are fine for my 90% pavement riding. The engine sound is growing on me. It has a snarl to it. She stalled twice in the first month. I think I should have slipped the clutch more. There is NO hesitation, stuttering, stammering, leaning-out or lack of power in any of the gears during acceleration...in either mode.
I have no way of comparing to earlier model years, but there is a hell of a lot of power for passing with 2up in T- mode. Down here you often get just 3 or 4 seconds to pass a vehicle. She seems to pass just as quickly in T as she does in S, and I often switch back and forth while underway to check. S mode is surely more sensitive and twitchy and I have (so far) no reason to use it on this model....even with 2 up.
I have my dealer wash the bike down after every trip, then cover it and put it away. So far, no non-starts. They use a pressure washer at low power to rinse. As to vibration, I switched to Gel grips, then wrapped a thin layer of Cinelli cork handlebar grip over that. It looks fine and cuts vibration in half. I also have learned to sit back more erectly with less weight forward on the bars. Then I also put my feet up on the highway pegs to help sit more erectly. With the cruise control, there are times I move my hands inward from the grips to lightly grasp the bars. This factory cruise control is fantastic. Never had CC on a bike before. Wouldn't surprise me if it adds carry- forward value, being under warranty and all. The passenger handles and the center stand are being added this week, so now she is almost where I want her. The last thing i want is a GPS for getting through these God- forsaken towns and cities with no street signs. It's on order, and yes there are SD card maps available thru TravelMaps. Now i'll be able to go from the Mexico border to the bottom of Panama without having to turn her around.
By the way, my vibration problem may be my fault. Both hands , mostly left, got messed up in a 15 bone accident last July in Nicaragua. Just finished PT. The six broken ribs were the worst...took six weeks to sleep w/o drugs. That was on my Majesty 400, which suffered only a bit of cosmetic damage. Thank God I was alone. The bike slid. I rolled. 2 new parts and she looks like new again. I'm satisfied with 95% for me. Going a bit slower now....too many things can happen here in an instant.....and no one signals. And what's the rush? I'm retired now. There are now 5 S10's in Honduras.
Good luck and safe riding to all of you.
Scott Williams
Roatan,
Bay Islands,
Honduras
Now have 3000 miles on my 2014 basic model. All is fine. Wife and I just returned from 18 days in Nicaragua. Attented a 3 day Hog Fest with 300 "Harleros" at San Juan del Sur on the Pacific coast, then went off on our own thru the cafe and cacoa towns in the mountains. Nice B&B's make it a real fun trip. We tried our AirHawk cushions this trip and experienced much less squirming. Not necessary on shorter trips. The bike is getting stronger. Now she pulls smoothly and strongly in T mode with 2 up from 2500 up to 5000 rpm in top gear. I am shifting less and less. I noticed that I can swing back and forth from T mode to S mode by just backing off the throttle. Neat. The Battlewings are fine for my 90% pavement riding. The engine sound is growing on me. It has a snarl to it. She stalled twice in the first month. I think I should have slipped the clutch more. There is NO hesitation, stuttering, stammering, leaning-out or lack of power in any of the gears during acceleration...in either mode.
I have no way of comparing to earlier model years, but there is a hell of a lot of power for passing with 2up in T- mode. Down here you often get just 3 or 4 seconds to pass a vehicle. She seems to pass just as quickly in T as she does in S, and I often switch back and forth while underway to check. S mode is surely more sensitive and twitchy and I have (so far) no reason to use it on this model....even with 2 up.
I have my dealer wash the bike down after every trip, then cover it and put it away. So far, no non-starts. They use a pressure washer at low power to rinse. As to vibration, I switched to Gel grips, then wrapped a thin layer of Cinelli cork handlebar grip over that. It looks fine and cuts vibration in half. I also have learned to sit back more erectly with less weight forward on the bars. Then I also put my feet up on the highway pegs to help sit more erectly. With the cruise control, there are times I move my hands inward from the grips to lightly grasp the bars. This factory cruise control is fantastic. Never had CC on a bike before. Wouldn't surprise me if it adds carry- forward value, being under warranty and all. The passenger handles and the center stand are being added this week, so now she is almost where I want her. The last thing i want is a GPS for getting through these God- forsaken towns and cities with no street signs. It's on order, and yes there are SD card maps available thru TravelMaps. Now i'll be able to go from the Mexico border to the bottom of Panama without having to turn her around.
By the way, my vibration problem may be my fault. Both hands , mostly left, got messed up in a 15 bone accident last July in Nicaragua. Just finished PT. The six broken ribs were the worst...took six weeks to sleep w/o drugs. That was on my Majesty 400, which suffered only a bit of cosmetic damage. Thank God I was alone. The bike slid. I rolled. 2 new parts and she looks like new again. I'm satisfied with 95% for me. Going a bit slower now....too many things can happen here in an instant.....and no one signals. And what's the rush? I'm retired now. There are now 5 S10's in Honduras.
Good luck and safe riding to all of you.
Scott Williams
Roatan,
Bay Islands,
Honduras
