King Kong Meets Godzilla

King Kong meets Godzilla

WHO’DA THUNK IT? WHO WOULD EVER HAVE IMAGINED THAT someday, in a cruiser market packed to the rafters with close to 100 V-Twin models, Harley-Davidsons would be considered “small”? Yeah, like that's going to happen. Strange as it may seem, though, it has. Since 1999, H-D’s various Big Twin cruisers have rolled off the assembly lines with 1450cc engines and weigh between 600 and 700 pounds. But these days, those practically qualify as tiddlers. The Japanese are now cranking out gi-normous cruisers, some weighing more than 800 pounds and powered by V-Twins that hover close to or above the 2-liter mark.

Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 Classic LT vs. Yamaha Star Stratoliner

PAUL DEAN

And the biggest of that breed are these two behemoths, Kawasaki’s Vulcan 2000 Classic LT and Yamaha’s Star Stratoliner. Both are “touring cruisers,” weekend wanderers created by bolting a windshield, bags and a passenger backrest onto each company’s top-of-the-line cruiser. The Vulcan’s motive power is a 52-degree, liquid-cooled, eightvalve pushrod V-Twin displacing a whopping 2053cc, thanks to a bore just over 4 inches (4.06) and a stroke that’s close to 5 (4.85). The Stratoliner’s air-cooled 48-degree Vee also is an eight-valve pushrod motor; and while it displaces “only” 1854cc, it still is the second-largest of its kind currently on the market, with 3.94/4.65-inch bore-and-stroke dimensions.

Weight-wise, the aluminum-framed Star, with its 4.5gallon tank topped off, is an 830-pounder, while the steelframed LT crushes the scales at 879 pounds with its 5.5-gallon tank brimming. So, with their stretch-limo wheelbases (68.2 inches for the Vulcan, 67.7 for the ’Liner), these two cruisers are almost as beefy as an 895-pound Honda Gold Wing but 1.3 and 1.8 inches longer.

Fortunately, they rarely feel that massive unless you’re pushing one around the garage or attempting a full-lock U-turn. Their enormity is apparent when you first straddle them, but once under way, they steer and maneuver with surprising ease and exhibit no top-heaviness whatsoever.

They also handle well for bikes of such length and weight. Thanks to their low centers of gravity, wide handlebars and not-too-fat rear tires (190/60-17 on the Star, 200/6016 on the LT), they don’t require a Schwarzenegger bench press on the grips to flick around city corners or bank through country-road turns. The Star offers more cornering clearance than the Vulcan, but both allow you to crank in more lean angle than dozens of other cruisers.

KAWASAKI

VULCAN 2000 LT

$14,499

Price...... .....$14,499 Ups Dry weight.. ...... 843 lb. ▲ More torque than some cars Wheelbase.. ......68.2 in. A Can remove key while Seat height. ......27.0 in. ignition is on Fuel mileage — 36.4 mpg A Has 12-volt accessory outlet 0-60 mph .. .....4.3 sec. 1/4-mile ... ... 12.97 sec. Vo owns @ 101.56 mph ▼ Predictable styling Horsepower. .....96.9 bhp T No tach, only one tripmeter @ 4895 rpm T Grips buzz lightly at freeway Torque..... . 123.2 ft.-lbs. speeds @ 2910 rpm ▼ May crack your garage floor Top Speed..

When handing out rear-suspension rebound damping, the engineers must have been on a tight budget, because both bikes occasionally wallow mildly in bumpy corners. That condition is largely resolved on the Kawi by turning the shock’s adjustable rebound to its highest setting. There are no damping adjustments on the Star, so its rear sometimes gets a little sproingy, though not terribly so.

But these bikes aren’t about cornering; the signatures of these mega-cruisers are their huge V-Twin engines. The Vulcan is the torquer from hell, pounding out the kinds of numbers ( 122.8 foot-pounds at 2900 rpm, 96.9 horsepower at 4900) that legions of H-D owners pay big aftermarket bucks to obtain. The Yamaha is no slouch, though, producing 1 10.3 ft.-lbs. at 2200 rpm and 86.6 horses at 4700.

This translates to fabulous roll-ons and snappy acceleration for bikes of such mass. Obviously, the bigger-inch Vulcan rules this category, needing only a twist of the throttle to yank the rider’s arms straight and slingshot around slower vehicles in a heartbeat, all without any participation by the shift lever. The Stratoliner does roll-ons that are almost as impressive, and thanks to its EXUP exhaust power-valve, it even revs out a little more freely than the Kawasaki. But despite the Star being 49 pounds lighter than the LT, that weight advantage can’t quite compensate for the Vulcan’s massive torque.

Both engines also pump out wonderful V-Twin exhaust music. The Kawasaki’s note is the deeper of the two, powerful-sounding but somewhat muted-“soft” is how some termed it-though still very pleasing. The Yamaha’s exhaust, on the other hand, is downright raucous, with a sharp, powerful bark that mimics the bellow of big-inch Harley engines exhaling through aftermarket pipes. What’s interesting, though, is that only the rider and passenger hear this symphony in full; to bystanders, the Strato seems very little louder than any other stock V-Twin.

There's a bit of raucousness about the Kawasaki, as well, but it’s in the transmission rather than the engine. The LT's gearbox clunks, whines and groans incessantly, noises made all the more noticeable by the windshield, which funnels those noises up to the cockpit. The tranny shifts easily and consistently but just makes a lot of racket along the way.

The Star’s gearbox is way quieter and more civilized, only giving off an occasional thunk during a first-to-second shift.

Ergonomically, both bikes are similar but different in a couple of important ways. The Yamaha has a more natural bend to its ultrawide “beach” bars, but the reach to the grips

YAMAHA

STAR STRATOLINER

$15,180-16,580

Dry weight... ..801 lb. A Ups Styling is love/hate but well Wheelbase... . .67.7 in. Integrated Seat height.. . .28.5 in. A Has 12-volt accessory outlet Fuel mileage. 38.7 mpg A Can remove shield, bags, 0-60 mph ... . 4.0 sec. backrest in seconds without 1/4-mile____ 12.89 sec. tools @ 101.45 mph Horsepower......86.7 bhp Vu owns @ 4600 rpm ▼ Shock preload adjuster hard Torque......110.7 ft.-lbs. to access (under engine) @ 2150 rpm ▼ No shock rebound Top Speed.......116 mph adjustment ▼ “Madonna’s Bra” rear turnsignals look silly

is an inch or so too distant for most riders under 6 feet. You sit atop the Roadliner but down in the Vulcan, a fact evident in their seat heights: 27.0 inches for the Kaw, 28.5 for the Star. But the rider’s seat on the Vulcan is so deeply dished and short front-to-rear that it firmly and inescapably locks the rider into one position; after an hour or so on the road, butt-ache begins to set in, and aside from pulling over and climbing off the bike, there is no reasonable relief. The Yamaha’s saddle remains comfortable for longer stints and permits just enough fore-aft movement to help mitigate the effects of sore buns.

While the windshields on these machines are optically perfect and do a decent job of protecting their riders from the elements, they also cause buffeting around the helmet area, more so on the Vulcan than the Star. Plus, glare from glittery pieces behind both windshields reflects in the shields right along the rider’s normal line of sight. During the daytime, the reflections are of the chromed bezels around the bikes’ tank-mounted instruments and, on the Star, the chromed handlebar mounts and top triple-clamp; at night, the Star’s instrument lighting is the culprit. The Vulcan’s windshield is height-adjustable over a 1.8-inch range, and sliding it up it to its highest position helps reduce some of the buffeting but none of the glare. The Stratoliner offers no height adjustment, though its shield can be removed by merely unlocking it with the ignition key and tilting it forward, off its mounts. So too is the ’Liner’s backrest a snap to remove; just open its security lock with the ignition key, lift two small levers and rock it forward. The leather-covered hard bags also lock and quick-detach via a trio of quarter-turn thumbscrew fasteners inside each bag. The LT isn’t so thoughtful, as its shield, backrest and leather bags all are bolted in place. And the bags have no locks; each lid secures with two Fastex-style plastic buckles hidden behind the big metal buckles.

Those features are symbolic of the key differences between these two machines. The Yamaha shows evidence of having been thoroughly thought out and purposely designed in every way, from its functionality to its styling to its sound and feel. The Kawasaki, conversely, seems less inspired and premeditated, as though much of its hardware is there because it was readily available and filled the need.

Both of these bikes are excellent machines for their intended purpose, even if they are bigger than they really need to be. The Vulcan clearly wins any contest involving the dispensing of brute power, but in just about every other way, the Stratoliner emerges as the top dog in this clash of the titans. It’s more comfortable, more visceral, more stylish, a little bit smoother and a lot more satisfying. It’s the complete package, top to bottom, nose to tail, inside and out.