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Well I'm a cruiser guy through and through, I've always hated sport bikes, untill I went and sat on one. I can definatly see the appeal of going up on the dragon or the BRP on one of those... I might buy a suzi for a second bike and take for a dragon and BRP trip and get a cruiser afterwords...

Get a power cruiser

Yamaha street rod or nightrod come to mind, as does the Mean streak, Yamaha Warrior and the vtx1800. All of these bikes can be made to handle like a sportbike without humping the tank.

Did you see the vid of that Goldwing doing the dragon

If he can do it on one of those, I bet it can be done on a cruiser just as well.

or get a standard. Still not humping the tank but better power and handling than a cruiser. A honda 599 or 919, yamaha Fz6 or Fz1, Suzuki SV650 or SV1000 or bandit 600 or 1200, these all would have a more comfortable riding position than a sportbike and handle almost as well as a sportbike. Most are also offered in a 600cc size and a liter bike size depending on how much power you want.

power cruiser could be cool too. Sounds like the mean streak has consierable cornering ability from what Zootech has been saying. A V-max could be pretty fun as well, a little more raked out than a normal standard but by no means a cruiser and loads of torque from its V4.

I'm toying with the idea of the V-max, currently. I've almost talked myself into it...haha.

The V-max has a good deal more power than any of the V-twin cruisers except the V-rod (the V-Rod and V-Max are about even in the power dept but the max is lighter)

Snake wrote:Well I'm a cruiser guy through and through, I've always hated sport bikes, untill I went and sat on one. I can definatly see the appeal of going up on the dragon or the BRP on one of those... I might buy a suzi for a second bike and take for a dragon and BRP trip and get a cruiser afterwords...

The Great Smoky Mtns will do that to you. Just another case of going over to the dark side. Some cyber friends whom I hooked up with the past four years to ride the BRP and Dragon and many other roads down there just as good as those have done the same.

One has replaced his Voyager XII with a Futura, another added a FZ1 to his Valk, another replaced his HD cruiser with a B12 and his wife added a Ninja 500 to her Meanie and she totaled out the Ninja at Nelson Ledges Race Track here in NE Ohio last month and replaced it with a S2R Duc.

I've also seen some ride those mountains with large cruisers like they were on sportbikes.

I'm still hanging in there with the GS500s I rode down there, but I can tell you those mountains can turn your front rotor blue on such a modest bike. The blue wears off in a couple days though.

Right now, I've got a Honda 1981 CB650C, it needs gaskets on the carbs, brake pads and fluid and needs lots of miles. This upcoming June I'll have my licese, and my dad, his friend, and his friends cousin are taking me down to the blue ridge motorcycle campground (www.blueridgemotorcyclecamp.com) Which is just off of the BRP, and then we're going to the dragon. That'll be my first trip, I'm pretty syched.

I'll look for anouther bike in about 3 years or so, thinking of a Suzi M50.

Snake wrote:Well I'm a cruiser guy through and through, I've always hated sport bikes, untill I went and sat on one. I can definatly see the appeal of going up on the dragon or the BRP on one of those... I might buy a suzi for a second bike and take for a dragon and BRP trip and get a cruiser afterwords...

From one Ohioan to another, you don't want to make the trip from here to the Dragon on a sportbike. My dad and I just did the trip, 1019 miles in all, and I'd consider my bike more comfortable than most (though not quite GoldWing comfy) and it's pretty hard on ya. Once you're there you'll wish you had a sportbike, but if you rode one down there you'd be too crippled to handle the Dragon anyway!

Snake wrote:I'll look for another bike in about 3 years or so, thinking of a Suzi M50.

Very good choice. Those look awesome, handle great, and can be made very comfortable with a Mustang seat (or reasonable facsimile thereof).

ZooTech wrote:From one Ohioan to another, you don't want to make the trip from here to the Dragon on a sportbike. My dad and I just did the trip, 1019 miles in all, and I'd consider my bike more comfortable than most (though not quite GoldWing comfy) and it's pretty hard on ya. Once you're there you'll wish you had a sportbike, but if you rode one down there you'd be too crippled to handle the Dragon anyway!

That is true for some, but not for others, zoo. Sportbikes get a bad rap in the comfort department, but some people are built for sportbikes. I'm far more comfortable over long rides leaned forward than I am sitting straight up. My only complaint in the comfort area for sportbikes is the lack of alternative foot positions. you can get creative in that dept. though by using the passenger pegs, etc.

I guess if you were shorter you might be able to lay out on the tank a bit.

I personally prefer the position on a standard. I find it quite comfortable. Sportbikes hurt my wrists and can't seem to get into the whole cruiser thing.