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MotoF150 wrote:the heavy steering on a cruiser bike will physicially wear you out and you have to fight a cruiser bike for it to handle.

I feel sorry for you. It must be hard to go through life as such a skinny little pencil-neck that steering a small bike like an M50 will wear you out..... maybe you should consider a Vespa?

What about a touring or sport-touring bike?

Plus with cruisers... they are extreamly stable on the open road, you wont get fatigued by trying to keep it going straight. You should never have to fight a bike during cornering. Ive seen both huge cruisers and giant honda goldwings take really sharp uturns... and the rider makes it look graceful and perfect. Its never the bike, its the rider.

Take a look at the low speed competitions the police do... now thats amazing stuff.

Edit: I still feel that sport bike and standard bikes will have a smaller turning radius and will be easier to turn at any speed, but I just want tol convey that cruisers arn't like a bus(Ever see the "fun bus" that wheelies on a 1/4 mile sprint? hehehe) or a boeing 747 (you know, they can do barrel rolls, and nearly fly the speed of sound with the right altitude and engines).

OK I am a little confused here.

I understand when all the sport bike guys say cruisers aren't fast enough or light enough for serious body surfing type manuevers, but to say they aren't comfortable is just confusing to me.

While I am in pretty good shape I am by no means an Olympian and I ride an 800 lb harley around town and distance riding. I rack up about 10000 miles a season and have yet to experience any back or hip pain. As with any bike if you are getting worn out by turning you are not turning the bike correctly, you are trying to wrestle it over.

For highway mileage I do recommend the windshield, but hey as always you know what you like. ride your ride.

Oh yeah and ignore everything Moto says

MotoF150 wrote:Mr. chwilson0607, A cruiser bike is uncomfortable for long trips, any cruiser bike is harder to handle than any sport bike, the heavy steering on a cruiser bike will physicially wear you out and you have to fight a cruiser bike for it to handle. Im switching from a cruiser bike to a sport bike cause I want a comfortable long distance ride.

"A cruiser bike is uncomfortable for long trips,"... I suppose you've NEVER been to STURGIS or DAYTONA or BIKETOBERFEST? I have freinds that ride to sturgis and NEVER come back with anything worse than sunburn....

..."any cruiser bike is harder to handle than any sport bike, the heavy steering on a cruiser bike will physicially wear you out and you have to fight a cruiser bike for it to handle."... I suppose they could, IF YOU SLOLUM AROUND THE BOTT'S DOTS!! (they're those little plastic centerlane disk's...) LIKE AN OLYMPIC SKIER!!!

..."Im switching from a cruiser bike to a sport bike cause I want a comfortable long distance ride"... hey, its cool..ride your own ride, I personally perfer to kick back like i'm in my favorite comfy chair rather than splayed out, face first with all my weight on my wrists and my back twisted up....

on every cruiser bike the footpegs are placed in a forward postion where you have to stretch ur legs to the limit to even reach the footpegs, and when you do rest ur foot on the footpegs the bottom of ur boot isn't flat on top of the footpeg so you have to force ur legs and ur foot to hold on the footpegs, thats uncomfortable. Next, any cruiser bike with the big fat front tire is hard to steer and control. Next, a cruiser bike is too heavy and it refuses to respond to the riders body weight, like leaning it over on curves, Next, on a cruiser bike you sit very low on the seat and ur forced to reach for the handlebars,.Next, the cruiser bikes are underpowered compaired to the sport bikes, and the fun factor wins with a sport bike. No more crusier bikes for me, im buying a V Strom 1000

MotoF150 wrote:Mr. chwilson0607, A cruiser bike is uncomfortable for long trips, any cruiser bike is harder to handle than any sport bike, the heavy steering on a cruiser bike will physicially wear you out and you have to fight a cruiser bike for it to handle. Im switching from a cruiser bike to a sport bike cause I want a comfortable long distance ride.

My cruiser is VERY comfortable for long trips. I've gone on many 600+ miles days and ride over 15,000 miles a year. I'm a woman and ride a very heavy cruiser (over 650 lbs) but it never wears me out and I don't have to fight it either. Personally I see the cruiser as the most comfortable way to ride long distance. I have highway pegs so that I can change my foot position and stretch out. I have a windshield (small one) that takes the brunt of the wind off of me, comfortable grips with very little pressure on my wrists or hands, a seat with an adjustable backrest and plenty of luggage. I can pretty much go forever. I like the stablility of a cruiser especially in the wind.

Now that I defended cruisers in an earlier post in this thread, I'll add a little something about sportbikes. Alot of riders have heard complaints about putting pressure on the wrists. It is actually your position of your hand upon the handles that can contribute or relieve this feeling. Also holding your body up with your legs/thighs hugging the tank will relieve both your wrists and back. When you are on a sportbike, you use different muscles to hold yourself upright than say a cruiser and even a standard.

I have problems with my lower back when on most cruisers. But I think its because of the stock seat arrangments. I think if I were to sit on a seat with a forward slope, it would position my lower spine in a more natural position. Like that of standing straight.

Koss wrote:Now that I defended cruisers in an earlier post in this thread, I'll add a little something about sportbikes. Alot of riders have heard complaints about putting pressure on the wrists. It is actually your position of your hand upon the handles that can contribute or relieve this feeling. Also holding your body up with your legs/thighs hugging the tank will relieve both your wrists and back. When you are on a sportbike, you use different muscles to hold yourself upright than say a cruiser and even a standard.

I have problems with my lower back when on most cruisers. But I think its because of the stock seat arrangments. I think if I were to sit on a seat with a forward slope, it would position my lower spine in a more natural position. Like that of standing straight.

I hated the feeling of my palms getting 'pins & needles' and the feeling of my arms always holding up my torso when I used to ride a sport bike.
So I would start to take the edge off by squeezing the tank; all that did was transfer the stress from one part of the body to another.

Don't get me wrong - sportbikes are great for some people, but if one wants a more relaxing ride (physically) then I'd submit a sportbike isn't for that person.

chwilson0607 wrote:I just purchased a previously owned Kawasaki Vulcan Classic 1500. I had previously been riding a 2005 Suzuki SV650S. After riding this past year, based on the kind of riding I was doing, I decided a cruiser would be better for me. IMHO, sports are just really not that comfortable for travelling longer distances.

With that, what kind of changes can I expect in riding a cruiser v. a sportbike? (cornering, for example)

Also - the previous owner had some custom foot pegs and gear shifts installed. Your feet are sort of stretched out in front of you. I was thinking of getting some new ones and moving them back to a more "stock" position. I am new to body work - is this something relatively easy to do or does it vary according to bike manufacturer? Thanks...


Carl

In my opinion the best thing in the life is when you have in your garage at least three bikes: sport, enduro and cruiser. In such a way you will have an opportunity to have sport adrenaline and speed, enduro passability and cruiser comfort for long distances. I plan to have my second bike a sport one. As you can see the third will be enduro!!! IMHO.

I chose chopper as I always liked comfort. Although having only 250 cm3 it will be difficult to have fun riding hundreds of miles, I bought it as my first bike to study how to ride. Of course a bit later I'll have more powerful chopper, but I never forget the dream about three bikes in my garage!!! And can you imagine - you will have thrice more biker friends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!