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aicpjim

aicpjim

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Sold a '14 K1600 to buy my R18. I love the R18's styling and the "oohs and ahhs" it gets everywhere I go, BUT.... The wife told me yesterday that she hates riding pillion on it! She is asking me to think about selling it and getting another K1600. :-(
 
Very sorry to hear about your situation. Guess you really need to decide which is more important to you at this point, the wife or bike!?! :D

To be honest, the OEM seat on the Pure FE was totally miserable for both my pillion and myself and made riding it really He!!. I bought a Weekender seat and it made all the difference in the world. Now we both truly enjoy longer rides on it and she will enjoy it even more when the Roadstyler backrest and rack arrive this week. Seriously, if it is just the seat, a replacment one might make it far more comfortable for her. If it is spacing/room, leg placement, etc, then it's time to let it go...
 
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I've got the weekender seat. She complains about two things... The Roadstyler backrest I bought isn't tall enough, it only rises up to a few inches on her lower back. And the wind buffeting, even though I have a much taller aftermarket windscreen. And she liked having a radio on the K1600. I'd love to consider a GS 1250 Adventure, but again, no radio, and I'm not sure how comfortable I can make her seat.
 
Thanks for the feedback on the Roadstyler backrest. My pillion isn't terrbily happy with the low backrest on my Rocket 3 GT. It is also short and catches her lower back whenever I grab a handful of throttle... Hope the Roadstyler for my R18 is at least somewhat better. I also have 2 Roadstyler backrests coming for a couple of my Rocket 3 Roadsters. Unfortunately Triumph stopped making their factory backrest many years ago. New ones are non-existent and even used ones are incredibly scarce and EXPENSIVE. WTH! Maybe I just dropped a bunch of bucks on some things that might be merely "okay". Won't be the first time though...
 
aicpjim said:
Sold a '14 K1600 to buy my R18. I love the R18's styling and the "oohs and ahhs" it gets everywhere I go, BUT.... The wife told me yesterday that she hates riding pillion on it! She is asking me to think about selling it and getting another K1600. :-(
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Trade it for the Transcontinental, she will love the seat on it. Much more comfortable than any of the K1600 seats.
 
aicpjim said:
I've got the weekender seat. She complains about two things... The Roadstyler backrest I bought isn't tall enough, it only rises up to a few inches on her lower back. And the wind buffeting, even though I have a much taller aftermarket windscreen. And she liked having a radio on the K1600. I'd love to consider a GS 1250 Adventure, but again, no radio, and I'm not sure how comfortable I can make her seat.
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Radio is an easy fix with Senna, Cardo, BMW, etc. comms systems. (there are several with Bluetooth/MESH. Options are Radio, Pandora, personal; playlist, etc.
I cured my seat issues with a Corbin seat. The backrest is simply removable. I owned 26 other bikes through the years, including 7 HDs, many Hondas, Kawasakis, and a '70 Norton Commando I still regret selling. (Just married and twins on the way). I was just bored with my HDs "insulated" ride. I am no longer bored. My "R" makes me smile again. Good luck!
 
motoring said:
I would take her to a Bmw Shop and test ride the new K 1600 and new 18 TC and see if she has a preference. Which ever she likes make mama happy
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We did this. Our ride was an R1150GS (now it's my ride!). She loved the R18 TC. I thought the K1600GTL would be THE bike for us, but I after riding both I actually prefer all aspects of the TC, and of course, so does my wife. YRMV.
 
aicpjim said:
I've got the weekender seat. She complains about two things... The Roadstyler backrest I bought isn't tall enough, it only rises up to a few inches on her lower back. And the wind buffeting, even though I have a much taller aftermarket windscreen. And she liked having a radio on the K1600. I'd love to consider a GS 1250 Adventure, but again, no radio, and I'm not sure how comfortable I can make her seat.
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For the buffeting, also look at removing the windscreen. Sometimes having one creates more turbulence than not. Some have also added lower deflectors that cuts some buffeting coming from lower on the bike.

For the radio, have you considered using headsets and then playing music thru them? The Cardo Packtalk offers both intercom and shared music streaming between rider & passenger. Much clearer sound than one can get from speakers on the bike.

For the back rest, I assume your old K16 was a GTL or you had the top case added if it was a GT? A top case provides a much larger surface area for your back, so it'd be hard to compete with just a back rest. Since you have the Weekender seat, the seat itself is higher due to more cushioning on the pillion, making the effective height of the back rest lower. There may be other back rests available beyond the Roadstyler that have more height. I know Wunderlich makes one. You could also see if putting the original pillion on created more back rest height.
 
Of the two bikes I have that carry passengers, my sweetie much prefers riding on the back of the Triumph Speed Twin over the R18. The seat and suspension on the R18 is just not as comfortable. As well, it takes only a few seconds to adjust the preload on the Triumph and a bit longer to do so on the R18 when changing over from single to double occupancy.

I get it. I really assumed the R18 would be my goto bike for long distance or carrying a passenger and it hasn't worked out that way. Too pretty to sell just yet though, gonna try to sort the ride out.
 
Dealer won’t offer you enough to trade it in towards the new ride…one figures to make it worth wild. Else more to be made selling it yourself maybe.
Nice color on the new ride. I have been afraid of the stain flat colors…mostly since I never grew up with them but do like how this color sort of changes based on lighting a bit.
 
aicpjim said:
So, I just bought the 2022 Transcontinental after test riding it with the wife. She LOVED it. Got the Manhattan green metallic color. LOVING that Marshall sound system! Now I'm going to sell my R18 Classic First Edition.View attachment 6694
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Congrats! This colour really doesn’t photo well, it’s much nicer in person. Reminds me of the river rock grey denim that HD did a couple of years back. Enjoy 👍🏻
 
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