DG Rider
Member: Triple Clutch Club
Lifetime Member
Yesterday i took my bro-in-law and his 2 kids for about an 80 miler through the desert ( bringing me to 1050 miles or so total ). This was the most weight i have had on my Pioneer ( on the trail ), and i wondered how it would do...
The answer is: Flawlessly.
In anticipation i set the rear pre-loads up one notch and set the rear tires at 10 PSI cold and the fronts at 8. Too bad i can't do this for the front shocks, as i did bang a few rocks with the front skid i wouldn't normally hit ( mostly braking for crossing washes ). You could tell it had much more weight than usual, but once i got used to it, it was business as usual. Had plenty of power to climb anything ( no high elevations this day ), and seemed to use about the same amount of gas.
One thing i am noticing as the temps warm up is that this engine is noisy when it gets nice and toasty. Rincon guys will tell you this is normal. Having the rear seats up didn't help this, but i think i will use 0-40 Amsoil next oil change just to see if it helps a little.
By far the biggest thing was storage! I never i thought i say that a machine as big as the Pion needs more room ( especially since the kids like to "collect" things at every stop ), but having those rear seats occupied kills most of the storage space and forces you to get creative. I always take "the bag", which has waters, some extra clothes, TP, phone chargers/GPS/Camera/GoPro and whatever lunch i may have. It also has a .45 ACP if you'd care to mess with me. I also carry a small bag with tow strap, small compressor, and 1qt of oil. I almost always carry either a 5 gallon can of gas or my 4 gallon fuel pak, today being no exception.
With the extra passengers we would have liked to take my big cooler, but there was simply no room for it, so we made do with a small soft one. A tailgate extender like Honda offers would be perfect for this, but its way too pricey. Maybe someone will do one cheaper.
Luckily, "the bag" is actually a SAC brand intended for a motorcycle backrest, so it fit it on my headrest and strapped it up, while hanging the small cooler off the other. The tow strap bag sit between the kids with their sticks, flowers, and rocks, and the fuel pak was behind the rear seats. Somehow we got it all stuffed in nicely.
Next time, i am thinking of picking up one of those cargo-net devices for cars and strapping it to the roll bars so we can stuff lighter items overhead under the hardtop.
All told, 2 very happy, dirty kids at the end of the day...and 2 adults as well.
Our family does not put pics of their kids on the internet, so i only have one to post, and no ride report...but this is area i have posted on before elsewhere.
The answer is: Flawlessly.
In anticipation i set the rear pre-loads up one notch and set the rear tires at 10 PSI cold and the fronts at 8. Too bad i can't do this for the front shocks, as i did bang a few rocks with the front skid i wouldn't normally hit ( mostly braking for crossing washes ). You could tell it had much more weight than usual, but once i got used to it, it was business as usual. Had plenty of power to climb anything ( no high elevations this day ), and seemed to use about the same amount of gas.
One thing i am noticing as the temps warm up is that this engine is noisy when it gets nice and toasty. Rincon guys will tell you this is normal. Having the rear seats up didn't help this, but i think i will use 0-40 Amsoil next oil change just to see if it helps a little.
By far the biggest thing was storage! I never i thought i say that a machine as big as the Pion needs more room ( especially since the kids like to "collect" things at every stop ), but having those rear seats occupied kills most of the storage space and forces you to get creative. I always take "the bag", which has waters, some extra clothes, TP, phone chargers/GPS/Camera/GoPro and whatever lunch i may have. It also has a .45 ACP if you'd care to mess with me. I also carry a small bag with tow strap, small compressor, and 1qt of oil. I almost always carry either a 5 gallon can of gas or my 4 gallon fuel pak, today being no exception.
With the extra passengers we would have liked to take my big cooler, but there was simply no room for it, so we made do with a small soft one. A tailgate extender like Honda offers would be perfect for this, but its way too pricey. Maybe someone will do one cheaper.
Luckily, "the bag" is actually a SAC brand intended for a motorcycle backrest, so it fit it on my headrest and strapped it up, while hanging the small cooler off the other. The tow strap bag sit between the kids with their sticks, flowers, and rocks, and the fuel pak was behind the rear seats. Somehow we got it all stuffed in nicely.
Next time, i am thinking of picking up one of those cargo-net devices for cars and strapping it to the roll bars so we can stuff lighter items overhead under the hardtop.
All told, 2 very happy, dirty kids at the end of the day...and 2 adults as well.
Our family does not put pics of their kids on the internet, so i only have one to post, and no ride report...but this is area i have posted on before elsewhere.
