This site is meant to serve as a record of my return to motorcycling. I have ridden a number of motorcycles, and have owned a handful: Volusia 800, Bandit 1200, CRF250X, VFR800, GSX-R1000 and WR250R.
The GSX-R1000 was the most sophisticated, most potent, most outstanding of the group. The Bandit 1200S was the best of the group.
This time around, I was really longing for a cruiser again, but I wanted to make sure that, whatever I ended up getting, it didn't fall short where the Volusia fell short: power.
I was drawn to the ~1700cc class of cruisers, and had difficulty deciding between the touring rigs and the classics. At the top of the list were the Suzuki Boulevard C90, Yamaha Road Star S, and Kawasaki Vulcan (Classic and Nomad). Each had merits.
The Suzuki was the least expensive, and it showed in the fit and finish. I didn't realize what it was missing until I compared it to the equivalent bikes from Yamaha and Kawasaki. For the same price as the base-model Yamaha and Kawasaki bikes, though, I could get a C90 complete with bags, windshield, lowers and passenger backrest.
The Road Star had a beautiful look to it, arguably the best/most comfortable seat + seating position of the group, and a huge OEM and aftermarket following. Where it fell short was air-cooling, and lazier overall manners (based on reviews).
The winner for me was the Vulcan 1700 Classic. It's new, it's powerful, and it has a number of great features: rear air-adjustable shocks, belt-drive (good and bad, depending on your personal preferences), water-cooling, great electronic goodies (fuel gauge, range/distance to empty, fuel economy, dual trip-meters...). The downside was the somewhat bulbous styling. I learned to look past that pretty quickly.
Here's a photo of my bike sitting at the dealership, waiting to come home.
While we're at it, here are some photos of the bike as it sat on the exhibition hall floor at the motorcycle show this winter -- the first time I had seen the 1700 Classic "in person."
It didn't have a ton of people milling around it. That, in itself, was kind of nice, too. Yeah, it might have implications for later resale (although I hope not to have to sell this bike any time soon). It might speak to the fact that this bike isn't the "new hotness." It might even speak to the polarity of opinions about the styling of this new classic cruiser. Whatever it is, it's alright with me. As far as 1700cc-range cruisers go, this bike is solidly at the top of my list.
