I have 5k miles on my 2016 TG and lightly scrapped a rear muffler coming out of a gas station one day. A riding buddy had just recently installed a pair of DK Custom Comfort Lift Kit parts on his 2015 TG and was raving about how transformative the mod was. The only sad part of that story is that the local dealer had charged him 3 hours labor for the install and that seemed excessive but I did not know much about the job.
I called Kevin at DK and had a great conversation with him about the Comfort Lift Kits and a range of other topics. Kevin seems to have a great mixture of common sense and a passion for actual data rather than guessing (his recent thread on high airflow kits and dyno tuning is a good example). Kevin had advised that his installing dealers were finding that the install of the Comfort Lift Kits was generally taking an experienced tech between 45-60 minutes and that some of us older geezers could do it in 90 minutes or less if we read the instructions and had done it at least one time before.
The key it seems to folks having a challenge with the install is in not reading the instructions before install which is clearly recommended in the accompanying step-by-step instruction sheet. I called another Harley dealer a couple of hours from the house who was not familiar with the DK product but seemed interested in the proposition of learning and installing the kit. I brought my TG and kit to them and gave the tech $20 in advance and asked that he just thoroughly read the instructions before attempting the install. I felt like the tip was an incentive for him to not feel hosed in having to read instructions which many guys just don't seem to want to do.
Well, the story was a pleasant one with the install taking about 75 minutes and this was for a first-time install with an experienced tech. The tech said that the install was easy and the only thing he got hung up on was that the shocks were not quite aligning properly so he backed up on the instructions and read 12b where it states "If all the bolts do not line up easily, (no force on the shocks or bracket is needed) then go to the General Notes below regarding the swingarm and exhaust)". He said that after he loosened a specified muffler clamp identified in the instructions that everything lined up without force and the job moved along swiftly.
It seems there is a take home message in this. RTFIThumbUp
Now for the rest of the story. The increase of 1.25" inches height on the rear shocks translates into 1.6" at the rear of the trike and the ride is so amazingly better! The first thing I noticed in the dealer's parking lot was that the change in rake by just lifting the trike 1.6" made the steering forces feel to be at least 30% less than stock by the seat of my pants and arms. The stopping power of the front wheel increased because more weight was being put on the front wheel with the change of rake. The ride is a bit less harsh due to the change in the shocks travel geometry but this did not seem as significant as the other two changes. Lastly, the riding position and view over the top of the windshield has changed a fair amount. Riding home, it took a while to get used to the changed view of the gauges, handle bars, tank and forward direction.
As a FYI, I am very slow to make any changes to my bikes without doing a lot of research because I don't want to go backwards in performance when it comes to messing with the original engineers' design decisions. Engineering is always a compromise task and some compromises can be bettered with innovative products such as the DK Comfort Lift Kit. This to me is a highly recommended product IMHO. I do suggest talking with your installer about reading the instructions carefully before install if you have someone else perform the work.
At age 67, there are some jobs that I just don't want to crawl around on the floor and do myself. This was one of them and it was performed magnificently by the installing dealer. I let the service writer ride the bike and he came back with this huge grin on his face. I think they plan to become an installing dealer because they reportedly sell a lot of trikes.
I called Kevin at DK and had a great conversation with him about the Comfort Lift Kits and a range of other topics. Kevin seems to have a great mixture of common sense and a passion for actual data rather than guessing (his recent thread on high airflow kits and dyno tuning is a good example). Kevin had advised that his installing dealers were finding that the install of the Comfort Lift Kits was generally taking an experienced tech between 45-60 minutes and that some of us older geezers could do it in 90 minutes or less if we read the instructions and had done it at least one time before.
The key it seems to folks having a challenge with the install is in not reading the instructions before install which is clearly recommended in the accompanying step-by-step instruction sheet. I called another Harley dealer a couple of hours from the house who was not familiar with the DK product but seemed interested in the proposition of learning and installing the kit. I brought my TG and kit to them and gave the tech $20 in advance and asked that he just thoroughly read the instructions before attempting the install. I felt like the tip was an incentive for him to not feel hosed in having to read instructions which many guys just don't seem to want to do.
Well, the story was a pleasant one with the install taking about 75 minutes and this was for a first-time install with an experienced tech. The tech said that the install was easy and the only thing he got hung up on was that the shocks were not quite aligning properly so he backed up on the instructions and read 12b where it states "If all the bolts do not line up easily, (no force on the shocks or bracket is needed) then go to the General Notes below regarding the swingarm and exhaust)". He said that after he loosened a specified muffler clamp identified in the instructions that everything lined up without force and the job moved along swiftly.
It seems there is a take home message in this. RTFIThumbUp
Now for the rest of the story. The increase of 1.25" inches height on the rear shocks translates into 1.6" at the rear of the trike and the ride is so amazingly better! The first thing I noticed in the dealer's parking lot was that the change in rake by just lifting the trike 1.6" made the steering forces feel to be at least 30% less than stock by the seat of my pants and arms. The stopping power of the front wheel increased because more weight was being put on the front wheel with the change of rake. The ride is a bit less harsh due to the change in the shocks travel geometry but this did not seem as significant as the other two changes. Lastly, the riding position and view over the top of the windshield has changed a fair amount. Riding home, it took a while to get used to the changed view of the gauges, handle bars, tank and forward direction.
As a FYI, I am very slow to make any changes to my bikes without doing a lot of research because I don't want to go backwards in performance when it comes to messing with the original engineers' design decisions. Engineering is always a compromise task and some compromises can be bettered with innovative products such as the DK Comfort Lift Kit. This to me is a highly recommended product IMHO. I do suggest talking with your installer about reading the instructions carefully before install if you have someone else perform the work.
At age 67, there are some jobs that I just don't want to crawl around on the floor and do myself. This was one of them and it was performed magnificently by the installing dealer. I let the service writer ride the bike and he came back with this huge grin on his face. I think they plan to become an installing dealer because they reportedly sell a lot of trikes.
