Motorcycle touring vs. cruising

[Grayeagle]

I split a ton of miles (~120k) tween an older Goldwing ('78) and a then new '88 Honda Shadow 1100 ..used both for back an forth to work when I had 93 miles to go one-way.

Spend a day goin to different dealers, sit on the bikes that interest you ..test drive 'em if they'll let you.
There isnt any other way to tell if its a good fit or not.

Wife and I rode on the Goldwing up to Reno air races
for a few years while we were in Socal
.. was a day trip, and she fell asleep on the way home
on one of the rides ..that's how comfortable it is.
(She woke up as I was passin a silver BMW car doin ~125mph
on a long straight 2-lane ..he kept crawlin up my butt so I slowed down till he passed me ..then he slowed down .. so I blew by him and 'cruised' till I could not see him anymore.. you will run across jerks now an then)

The old 'Wing had a Winjammer fairing and bags, lotsa chrome..was a good ride.

The Shadow was actually more comfortable for longer distances with me solo on it. I put a small windscreen on it because the windblast at anything over 70mph was tiring across the shoulders and neck.

I really liked the shaft drive on both for -zero- maintenance,
the aluminum rims on both for -zero- maintenance
(no spoke adjustments, ever
..and they looked nice
..I ran mobil 1 oil in both (5w-30)
..only maintenance I did on the two of them was tires,
oily change ever 5k, plugs every year,
and the 'Wing I changed out the timing belt
when I got it just to make sure it was ok.

I had two near misses ..one with each bike.. was *very* glad I had rode motocross when I was younger because reflex is what kept me from bein a statistic.

I sold my bikes to get a car so the family could travel across the U.S. when I came to work for Kesmai .. long ago. (we dint have a car capable then

-GE (someday .. may get a cruiser ..dunno)

[bj229r]

Originally posted by tedrbr
Dang!  An original Suicide Shifter?  I've actually seen some later retrofitted Hogs with suicide shifters added (by the tank, although one was down by where the passenger foot peg would have been --- guy had to reach down and back to shift.....).   Guess they are making a comeback?  Nice bike bj229r.
Kickstart?!  I haven't had a bike with kick start for 15 years or more.  My Hammer is 1634cc's.... it'd take three of us jumping up and down to kick it over --- almost as bad as trying to kick start a Boss Hoss.  

"Flashlight batteries taped together to get home" -- adventures in motorcycling.  Flat tire repairs along side the road.  Power shifting home after clutch cable breaks.  Bypassing blown fuses.  Blown headlights.  Zip ties in place for bolts that have worked loose and fallen off.  1,001 used for 100mph tape.  Fouling spark plugs.  

Fun.

It's not really suicide, the clutch pedal has counter springs which (theoRETICally) hold the pedal right where ya leave it--ya have to adjust clutch fingers to match it. It's safe enough to put left foot down at a stop light, but a little iffy to just walk away from bike whilst in gear. When it was built in 1962 it was a police bike, been toying with buying enough stuff to make it look just like that, but kid going to college in a year-and-a-half:cry

(PTHhhh, fuses are for girls, NO fuses!)

[ariansworld]

Originally posted by Black Sheep
I'm torn as to which direction to go. I guess it depends on how much I'm gonna be riding - I bought a Rebel 250 with a few mods to see if I was gonna stick with it. So I am going to get something larger and more comfortable for longer excursions and less vibrations. I'm not getting into anything new - but I am leaning towards either a used Harley 883 or a BMW R1100. Or split the difference and get a Ducati Monster. All have pros and cons. I can go longer distance with the BMW and still feel my butt afterwards. Harley is a Harley. Loud and a head turner. All have touring field trips. Just want to see what kind of bikes people on here are riding.

Get a Fatboy,  but not a newer one because of the bigger back tire.

[Softail]

Since we're showin em off ;-)  this is with the stock seat...I put a corbin on it about 2 months later.



Softail

[Maverick]

Here is my current bike. I tried to post it as a photo here but it doesn't seem to be coming through. The links work however.

I removed the heated Corbins on the bike for the stock seats. That's the first time I have had a beemer with somewhat comfortable stock seats. The Corbins were really nice looking but hard as a freaking rock.


http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7970&stc=1&d=1169859611

http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=7969&stc=1&d=1169859451

[bj229r]

Mav the link is trying to go thru the forum---ya can probably right click on the actual photo and save it, then do the photobucket thing

[Maverick]

HHhmmmm when I click on it all I get is the picture, no forum page at all. Dunno what I did wrong. Don't have a photo bucket account or anything like that.

[Xargos]

We need an account to view that site.

[Maverick]

Sorry, I'd drop the post but it's been over 2 hours.