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Looking to buy the near perfect road bike.
Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:06 pm
by norsseman
Would like to buy a road bike that is easy to work on (easy access to oil filter, battery, and plugs).
Needs to have four major features
1. Shaft drive
2. Liquid cooled.
3. Hydraulic lifters (no valve adjustments)
4. At least around 750cc.
Oh yeah and the bike should have been on the market with few
changes for at least 20 years.
Is there such a bike?
Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:16 pm
by jmillheiser
any of the 1100cc Honda shadows fit all your guidelines, they are shaft drive, liquid cooled, have hydrulic lifters and are over 750cc. The Honda Goldwing and Valkyrie also fit this same bill. The goldwing has been around for over 30 years and the Valkyrie is based off of the goldwing
if are willing to budge on a few things you could also look at an airhead BMW, aircooled and needs valve adjustments, but known to be VERY reliable and the valves are easy to adjust.
Most metric cruisers are known to be quite reliable and usually have shaft drive.
Posted: Tue Jul 11, 2006 9:51 pm
by TechTMW
Check out Moto Guzzi (Stone touring or Breva) if you can overlook liquid cooling. They meet all other requirements (including lifters).
Or, of you want to go Super Nutz, check out the Triumph RocketIII (Tho it's a new design)
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:26 am
by KingRobb
TechTMW wrote:
Or, of you want to go Super Nutz, check out the Triumph RocketIII (Tho it's a new design)
would hardly call it a road bike at under 30 miles to the gallon tho.
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 1:13 am
by Nibblet99
well it has enough weight to coast quite nicely when you're up to speed. that should save a bit of fuel

Thanks for the info on the Honda Shadow's
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 9:44 am
by norsseman
Like that Honda Shadow with its Hydraulic Lifters, Shaft drive and
Liquid cooling, but decided on the Kawasaki Vulcan 750, a bullet proof bike that has lots of power and leaves me with over 2 grand to
purchase my true love... a powerful 250cc dual purpose dirt bike also.
Lookin at the Kaw KLX250s dual purpose, the Suzuki's didn't seem
to have as much quality built in, and the Honda's were more of a dirt bike than dual purpose.
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:58 am
by KingRobb
kaws do give a lot of bang for your buck....they seem to be really popular on this board especially.
Re: Looking to buy the near perfect road bike.
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 11:27 am
by sharpmagna
norsseman wrote:Would like to buy a road bike that is easy to work on (easy access to oil filter, battery, and plugs).
Needs to have four major features
1. Shaft drive
2. Liquid cooled.
3. Hydraulic lifters (no valve adjustments)
4. At least around 750cc.
Oh yeah and the bike should have been on the market with few
changes for at least 20 years.
Is there such a bike?
You've pretty much described the Vulcan 750. With those things you mentioned it also is one of the few cruisers that still offers a center stand and offers a fuel guage.
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:12 pm
by Bachstrad37
A Kawi eh....oooh yeah!
Sat on the recommeded Honda 1100cc Shadow Spirit
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2006 6:06 pm
by norsseman
Went down the road to my Motorsport Dealer (who never deals)
and sat on the Shadow Spirit, liked the bike but the handle bars
are set to far apart for my reach and I'm 6'4".. but I guess new
bars could be put on easily enough?
