Type of riding: cruiser or other?

[ragin cajun]

Lots of reading and questions today; sorry about that but thanks for reading and helping a new guy out.

Saw this post:

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You're putting the cart before the horse... Deciding which type of motorcycle to buy before you really know what TYPE of riding you're looking to do. 

If you plan on taking long day rides or trips, that will require a slightly different focus than if you want a bike to commute to work on and ride around town or nearby roads on. 

One 'feature' of a cruiser is that the ergonomics of the bike make it inclined to go in a straight line with little effort. The offset of that is that it takes a good deal of muscle input to get it to turn, so it will be hard on you if you plan to stick around town to ride. 

OK, I'm looking for something mainly to cruise around the neighborhood and parking lots while I get used to actually riding. I won't use this to commute as I travel alot. Once I get to a comfort level, I'll do some highway (not interstate) on some two lanes on the outskirts of town. These should be up to 2 hours long at the most for pleasure and just to get out on the bike. Later on, I will probably look to do a longer ride (4 to 6 hours one way) to visit some friends, this will entail highway (4-lane) and interstate riding.

I've been set on cruisers, but should I look for something else possibly based on what I read in this other thread? thanks for your opinions on this.

[Sev]

It's all relative, I was fine on my cruiser for around town, I'm fine on my standard for around town. My friends both ride cruisers around town and on the highway, they have no issues.

[jstark47]

I have both a standard and a cruiser of approximately the same weight and engine size. The standard (Bonneville) is definitely easier to maneuver low speed than the cruiser (Marauder), but it's not like the cruiser can't do it. You just need to put a little more "push" into turning it. It's not a big deal. Tons of people use cruisers for around-town riding.

[jmillheiser]

a standard is a good starting point for a new rider who is not entirely sure what type of riding they will be doing.

Most new riders start out just riding around on surface streets and the standard is about perfect for that. Eventually you will probably want to go out of town, this is where your likely to find out what type of riding you REALLY want to do. The upside of a standard is you can do pretty much anything on them.

Standards are also good for riders who need one bike to do many things like myself. I love to hit twisty canyon roads, but I also could see myself doing some touring.