Buying a Motorcycle Guide Part 2 - Touring Motorcycles and Cruisers

In my last post I talked about standard motorcycles and sportbikes. In this one, I will go over two different kind of beasts…

Motorcycle Buying Guide Part 2 - Touring Motorcycles and Cruisers

Below, I discuss two different types of bikes: touring motorcycles and cruisers. Each addresses different styles of riding and your selection of either one strongly depends on how you want to spend your time on a motorcycle.

Touring Motorcycles

Touring motorcycles are appropriate for people who belong to tours that travel 500, 700, 1000 or sometimes even more miles per day. As you can imagine, this demands an ultra-comfortable ride and there could be no more perfect vehicle for touring than a touring motorcycle.

Usually much larger than standard motorcycles and way bigger than racing motorcycles, touring bikes are heavier and have longer wheelbases too. Just one tour bike could weigh in at 500 lbs (which is average, the Honda Goldwing the “King of the Touring Motorcycles” weights more than 800 lbs) and it could stand just shy of six feet long. You’ll find two seats on this kind of bike for both the driver and the passenger — that is, seats designed with long periods on the saddle in mind.

What really makes this kind of bike stand out from the rest is the position of the handlebars and pegs, as well as a component called the fairing. The whole design seems to scream out “laid back comfort.” The flared composite that you’ll see surrounding the front of the bike is known as fairing and it’s on almost every touring bike made (as well as a larger gas tank). Fairing is what reduces drag but at slow speeds, it does little more than just look cool.

Windscreens are essential accessories since touring for long periods of time can make riding unpleasant without one. Sure, a helmet could take care of a few “buggy” problems, but I’d rather wipe these things off my windscreen than off my faceplate! In some touring bikes, the protection from the wind offered by the windshield is so good, that you can even smoke a cigarette while riding (with this, I am not saying you should do so, smoking is dangerous for your health and doing it while riding is even more).

Some of the higher end touring bikes come equipped with all kind of features and gadgets you can imagine: sound system, air conditioning, GPS, travel computer, CB radio and other cool stuff.

BMW and Honda are two well-known brands that have made touring bikes seemingly from the beginning of time but there are also other brands that have entered this arena (an example is the Suzuki Cavalcade LX). Interestingly, you can find sport touring bikes (Ducati makes a very cool one) which are smaller models with smaller engines but well equipped and configured for long trips. You can also find cruiser/tourers which are a combination of the above and what I’m about to introduce below.

Cruisers

The cruiser is a more of a category of motorcycle than a specific type of motorcycle and it includes almost everything that emerged from the early 1930s until about 1970. So what we’re really look at here is traditionally big, heavy, solid choppers, retro, and standard. These bikes typically weigh in at 600 lbs. and they sport low seats. Their engines (normally 1100 cc and bigger) are larger than what you’ll see on other types of motorcycles and even their wheelbase is longer than average.

With forks raked at a greater angle than usual, theses bikes are definitely not for off-road travel. They’re for stability on the open road and city boulevards. Even though they are powerful and offer tempting high speed possibilities, they are not suitable for fast cornering on twisty roads.

You can add a lot of accessories (saddlebags, sidecar, etc.) to cruisers since manufactures have provided ample room for them.

The most famous kind of cruisers are Harley’s, but even Harley Davidson has some competition in this category as well. Think Victory motorcycles, Suzuki Boulevard, Kawasaki Vulcan, Honda Rune and others.

Within the sub-categories of cruisers you’ll find power cruisers, choppers, custom motorcycles and more.

Can you use a cruiser to tour? I say you can but warn that touring bikes are more comfortable.

Well, this is it for the moment. It’s Saturday and I have to go for a ride.

In my next post, I will talk about off road motorcycles: enduro and motocross bikes.

Have a good weekend and enjoy the ride!

Rider
WorldWideMotorcycles.com

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