Cruiser + Touring Motorcycles
Cruiser + Touring Motorcycles includes two of the most popular motorcycle categories, accounting for nearly three out of every four on-highway motorcycles sold in the United States. According to sales data from the Motorcycle Industry Council for 2012, motorcycles classified as “Cruiser” accounted for 32.3% and those classified as “Touring” accounted for 41.9% of total on-highway units sold. As discussed in Cruiser motorcycle guides, most cruisers are classically styled motorcycles that highlight the exposed engine–usually an air-cooled V–twin–and metalwork such as chrome exhaust pipes or heavy fenders. They typically offer a relaxed, feet-forward riding position favored by riders who, as the name implies, enjoy cruising down Main Street or their favorite back road. Touring motorcycles, which includes some cruisers as well as other types of bikes, are designed for long-distance travel. Touring motorcycle reviews look for typical details like a windshield (and sometimes a fairing) to protect the rider from wind, a comfortable seat and attached luggage, such as hard or soft saddlebags and possibly a trunk. Baggers, a nickname for motorcycles equipped with saddlebags, straddle the cruiser and touring categories and they’re very popular today.
2011 Harley-Davidson FLSTC Heritage Softail Classic Road Test Tour
Clement Salvadori
June 7, 2011
story and photography by Clement Salvadori [This 2011 Harley-Davidson FLSTC Heritage Softail Classic Road Test was originally published as a Tour Test in the April 2011 issue of Rider magazine] Softie is doing well, its 96 cubic inches knocking out more than enough power to take me over 4,050-foot Laguna... Read more »
2011 Star Stryker 1300 Road Test
Rider Magazine
June 2, 2011
photography by Riles & Nelson [This 2011 Star Stryker 1300 Road Test was originally published in the January 2011 issue of Rider magazine] The Texas Hill Country around Austin is the perfect venue for a leisurely winding cruise aboard Star's latest 1300 custom. Cruisers, baggers and cruiser tourers... Read more »
2010 Honda Shadow RS Road Test
Rider Magazine
March 27, 2011
photography by Brian J. Nelson [This 2010 Honda Shadow RS Road Test was originally published in the September 2010 issue of Rider magazine] The 2010-Honda-Shadow-RS in action. Remember when a 750 was one of the big boys, a hefty handful that you had to work up to? These days 1,600cc is the new 750.... Read more »
2010 Kawasaki Vulcan 1700 Voyager Road Test
Donya Carlson
August 6, 2010
Riding the 892-pound Kawasaki Voyager around town is a little like taking a Carnival Cruise ship across a pond. Once on the open road, though, the big touring cruiser transforms into a comfy companion, with 10 gallons’ worth of lockable packing space in each saddlebag and a top trunk that will hold... Read more »
2010 Triumph Rocket III Roadster Road Test
Rider Magazine
August 6, 2010
story and photography by Mark Tuttle [This 2010 Triumph Rocket III Roadster Road Test was originally published in the August 2010 issue of Rider magazine] 2010 Triumph Rocket III Roadster Remember the scene in Blazing Saddles when the hulking, dim-witted thug Mongo (football star Alex Karras) rides into... Read more »
2010 Honda VT1300 Interstate, Stateline and Sabre Comparison
Rider Magazine
May 26, 2010
photography by Kevin Wing [This 2010 Honda VT1300 Interstate, Stateline and Sabre Comparison was originally published in the July 2010 issue of Rider magazine] 2010 Honda VT1300 Interstate Last year when Honda introduced the 2010 Fury as an early release model, it mollified riders who were “furious”... Read more »
2010 Harley-Davidson XL1200X Sportster Forty-Eight Road Test
Rider Magazine
May 24, 2010
2010 Harley-Davidson XL1200X Sportster Forty-Eight photography by Rich Cox [This 2010 Harley-Davidson XL1200X Sportster Forty-Eight Road Test was originally published in the July 2010 issue of Rider magazine] Darkness is spreading among the 2010 Harley-Davidson lineup, but that’s a good thing for... Read more »
Middleweight Cruiser Motorcycle Road Tests
Rider Contributor
May 11, 2010
2010 Honda Shadow Phantom 750 Middleweight Cruiser motorcycle road tests and reviews. Great middleweight beginner motorcycles for advanced new riders with some miles logged behind the handlebar. o 2010 Honda Shadow Phantom 750 o 2007 Honda Shadow Spirit 750 C2 o 2004 Moto Guzzi Nevada 750 (744cc) o... Read more »
2010 Star Stratoliner Deluxe Road Test
Rider Contributor
April 30, 2010
photography by Riles & Nelson If you’re into cruisers and have kept your eyes open, you may have noticed that baggers—cruisers with saddlebags (and often fairings, too)—are replacing radical customs as the latest trend. According to Yamaha, it’s because riders have found radical bikes too... Read more »
2010 Honda Shadow Phantom 750 Road Test
Rider Magazine
April 30, 2010
photography by Kevin Wing [This 2010 Honda Shadow Phantom 750 Road Test was originally published in the June 2010 issue of Rider magazine] Dramatist Seán O’Casey said, “All the world’s a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.” This profound insight applies to me more often than I... Read more »
