Conclusion

Conclusion

SUPER CRUISER shootout

The end of a new beginning

MARK HOYER

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH... FEEL BETTER? I Do. AFTER a thousand miles of sparks, tire smoke and eye-candy, all with a lovely V-Twin backbeat, we're feling pretty good about this whole power-cruiser thing-calm yet excited, cool yet swift. In fact, these are the best V-Twin cruisers we have ever tested. For real riding enthusiasts. you now have the option to cruise.

Each hike here is a huge leap forward in the cruising world, with better engines, brakes, suspension and style. hven the Mean Streak, forced to surrender in the Power War, doesn't do so uncondi tionally. Its sweet handling, good suspension and comfortable riding position redeem it. as does its low 1 price. Plus, this engine has been around for more than a decade, which means the aftermarket is teeming with hop-up options, so you can tune to your wallet's limit -there are even turbos available! But we aren't testing potential here.

One bike definitely not in need of engine work is Honda's King Kong VTX 1800. Last year's Ten Best Bikes Cruiser winner topped only one section in this shootout. which surprised us. but that's more a statement about the class, not this bike. The \`TX still entertains with the delicious pound of its massive motor, its comfy ergos and that BIG styling. The rub was the rest of its massiveness. Think of it as a mega-expression of the tradi tional cruiser. Harley-Davidson and Yamaha both went powertully against the traditional cruiser ethos in very different ways, but to similar degrees. Yamaha tio doubt could build an overhead-cam, liquid-cooled Fwi n to make lOO-plus-bhp. but instead kept an American-style cruiser powerplant with air-cooling and pushrods. They just pumped it full of power and torque for a booming bottom-end whack, then hung it in a totally new kind of cruiser chassis made of aluminum and held it up with sporibike-culled suspension. And its tough yet lovely styling suggests accurately its refined yet elemen tal mechanical nature. For enthusiasts' eyes informed by years of looking at sporthikes and cruisers, the Yamaha is an undeniably appealing visual package with genuine style and muscular grace. all for the second-lowest price in the group. Harley-Davidson. meanwhile. redrew its V-Twin history with a pair of comparatively puny pistons zinging up and down at a very un-American tempo. Its high-revving, dohc, liquid-cooled engine pumps out power like mad, and we're pretty mad about this kind of' power. Many have said, "Big deal. The Japanese were doing that 15 years ago." Well, folks, they weren't doing this. Unfortunately, the ground-breaking V-Rod has proven so popular that they're very hard to come by. And if you're lucky enough to find one, they've been going for some S5K over the bike's S 16,995 MSRP, which is already five grand over the Warrior's.

So. ultimately, in a Rod-less world, the Yamaha would reign. But you can't uninvent a I ()8-megahorsepower Cool Bomb. The V-Rod wins not only for what it is here and now, which is a genuinely gorgeous hot-rod cruiser that acceler ates like a superbike and profiles like a showbike, but also wins fhr what it portends in the power-cruiser class: More motorcycles with character, style and real performance. That's the power of' change.