Please help me pick my second motorcycle

Morgan3820

Morgan3820

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New Bern, NC
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El Conquistador
Four years ago you guys help me get started in motorcycling. I eventually opted for a new Suzuki V Strom which I very much enjoy the bike and plan to keep it. My wife has also picked up the hobby, eventually settling for a Honda rebel 1100 DCT. Motorcycling has taken us several places. Riding in the Appalachian mountains. We have done some motorcycle touring in Ireland and even to the Isle of Man TT. This February, with any luck will be a motorcycle tour of the south island of New Zealand.
The Suzuki V Strom does everything really well except for highway touring. It will do it. It just doesn’t like it. Going to riding events often has me wishing that I had something more cruiser like with a lot of chrome.
To that end, I am asking for the groups input into what to get for a second motorcycle.
Looking for a midsize cruiser, my requirements are first off, it needs to be pretty. Not weird looking but certainly eye catching.
It needs to be water cooled, electronic ignition, fuel injection, somewhat less than 650 pounds, I would really like shaft drive.
With me being a bigger fella, I don’t want to look like a circus bear on a scooter so I would like something with the wheelbase 64+ inches. While I do want a V twin, it doesn’t need to be a Harley clone wannabe. It should look good in its own way. And kinda as a side thought I’d prefer hard cases over soft.
My kind wife has suggested a budget of less than $5000. Which there seems to be a lot of these cruiser styles on the market so I’m hoping that shouldn’t be too much a problem.
Thank you
 
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Suzuki Boulevards
Yamaha Vulcans/Roadliners or FJ/FJR
Victory
BMW K-series

That’ll get you started down the path.
 
If you’re not completely set on a V twin, consider a Honda Goldwing Tour. I’ve had my current Goldwing since ‘21, and love it. It’s the third Goldwing I’ve had since I started riding in the 80s, and it’s the best version yet. They knocked a fair amount of weight off from the previous generation, and it handles like it’s even lighter than it actually is. The engine, transmission and suspension are fantastic. The only thing lacking is that the saddlebags are on the small side compared to previous ones.

I’ve done 700+ mile days on this one no problem, as well as tear up canyons, and use it as a grocery getter. It does it all well.

The current generation has been in production since 2018, so it’s not exotic or unobtainium when it comes to service, parts and accessories (although it is perfectly fine without any add-ons).
 
Honda Shadow 1100. It meets everything you are looking for including shaft drive. There are tons of different styles and colors abd they are way more reliable and cheaper to own than a Harley. That said, many still like a Harley for it's look and sound. The honda shadow is close bit it's is still a clone and will always be looked down on by the harley crowd. I personally love my shadow 750 but my riding is all backroads. The 1100 is better on the highway.

If you are doing mostly highway then a Honda goldwing seems to be the top choice. You don't tend to get that same open road/air feel riding one though. It's more akin to driving a cadillac than a sports car.
 
I had a Suzuki Boulevard C50T. They are 800 cc, look large and have an appearance to match. But, like Tim Taylor, I needed more power.

I now ride a 2006 Honda VTX 1800. Yep ... it's heavy but it has great power and the ride is tremendous. Electronic ignition, fuel injection, shaft drive, water cooled, and fairly easy to maintain (being a Honda means there isn't too much to maintain. The 1300 VTX is not as heavy but it has a carb, not fuel injection.

www.motorcycle.com

2006 Honda VTX™ 1800R Spec 3

2006 Honda VTX™ 1800R Spec 3 pictures, prices, information, and specifications.
www.motorcycle.com www.motorcycle.com

I've considered a Goldwing but they seem more like a two wheeled convertible than a motorcycle ...
 
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kmacht said:
Honda Shadow 1100. It meets everything you are looking for including shaft drive. There are tons of different styles and colors abd they are way more reliable and cheaper to own than a Harley. That said, many still like a Harley for it's look and sound. The honda shadow is close bit it's is still a clone and will always be looked down on by the harley crowd. I personally love my shadow 750 but my riding is all backroads. The 1100 is better on the highway.

If you are doing mostly highway then a Honda goldwing seems to be the top choice. You don't tend to get that same open road/air feel riding one though. It's more akin to driving a cadillac than a sports car.
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I saw this. Is it carbureted or fuel injected? Is the 1100 the same thing a the Shadow Spirit?
So confusing.
 
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Vulcan 900 owner here. Put a windscreen on it and cruise for hours.
 
Yamaha's FJR1300 fits your description, and will last forever.
My 1986 FJ1200 is still going strong.
 
Don’t overthink it. Just get an FJR and ride.

I’ve considered buying a bike for touring, but my tastes are a bit more retro. I really like the Indians. I suspect, however, that SWMBO will poison my coffee if I buy another pricey toy.
 
Ashara Keliyn said:
Yamaha's FJR1300 fits your description, and will last forever.
My 1986 FJ1200 is still going strong.
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I have lusted after the FJR1300. Unfortunately nice ones are north of 10 grand. And at 140 hp. I’m not sure it’s a good idea longevity wise. Besides, as Halffast said, SHMBO Would probably delete me if I bought another expensive toy.
 
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Morgan3820 said:
I have lusted after the FJR1300. Unfortunately nice ones are north of 10 grand. And at 140 hp. I’m not sure it’s a good idea longevity wise. Besides, as Halffast said, SHMBO Would probably delete me if I bought another expensive toy.
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Unless it’s your longevity we’re talking about, that kind of HP isn’t an issue. My Multistrada pushes 150 at the rear wheel and it hasn’t been an issue mechanically or physically in a decade of ownership.

But if it’s out of budget, it’s out of budget. From a reliability aspect, any of the Japanese cruisers are going to do the trick.
 
Morgan3820 said:
I have lusted after the FJR1300. Unfortunately nice ones are north of 10 grand. And at 140 hp. I’m not sure it’s a good idea longevity wise. Besides, as Halffast said, SHMBO Would probably delete me if I bought another expensive toy.
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I believe you said your wife has given you a $5k budget. If you, in turn, will allocate $5k to her, then you’ll have a $10k budget. Just means you’ll always ride two up.
 
Looking into the model history, the last year of the 1100 is the 2007 Shadow Sabre 1100. 67 hp, 554 lbs. Disc brakes front and rear. Still carburated. If I need fuel injection, that comes later, about 2010ish with the 750, 43 hp. ABS is even later. While the 750 will get down the road, not sure 43 hp is enough. Compromises.
 
TCABM said:
Unless it’s your longevity we’re talking about, that kind of HP isn’t an issue. My Multistrada pushes 150 at the rear wheel and it hasn’t been an issue mechanically or physically in a decade of ownership.

But if it’s out of budget, it’s out of budget. From a reliability aspect, any of the Japanese cruisers are going to do the trick.
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With 140 hp., I might lose my license.
 
Can't argue with an FJR, but if you can up your budget and get in to a BMW RT, that is something you can ride all day and all night, and be comfortable on. They are light for a sport tourer, and have razor sharp handling. They aren't sportbike stupid fast, but fast enough. I could outpace the typical sport biker on the twisties when I had mine.

I get it that you like the looks of V twin cruisers, but you can either get the look you want, or have something that handles well and is comfortable. I have yet to meet a CHP motor cop that actually enjoys riding the Harleys. To the individual they will take an RT hands down.
 
Sac Arrow said:
Can't argue with an FJR, but if you can up your budget and get in to a BMW RT, that is something you can ride all day and all night, and be comfortable on. They are light for a sport tourer, and have razor sharp handling. They aren't sportbike stupid fast, but fast enough. I could outpace the typical sport biker on the twisties when I had mine.

I get it that you like the looks of V twin cruisers, but you can either get the look you want, or have something that handles well and is comfortable. I have yet to meet a CHP motor cop that actually enjoys riding the Harleys. To the individual they will take an RT hands down.
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Looking at CycleTrader, That is quite a budget bump. BMW dealer is 2.5 hrs away. The Yamaha Honda Suzuki motorcycle dealership is under an hour away.
Spending that kind of money it would be hard to justify keeping the V Strom. I have it just the way I want it. Purchasing a under $5000 cruiser means that I can keep them both.
Did I mention the $9K I just spent to annual the Arrow?
 
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I'll provide a few thoughts.

If you're wanting a traditional cruiser, I had a Honda VTX 1800 a bit over 15 years ago. The bike was heavier (and on the top heavy side) but I did enjoy it. It had lots of power, was water cooled (as you mentioned for a preference/requirement). Mine had a windshield on it which gave reasonable wind protection. There was no cruise control so I fitted a throttle lock, but it did have some saddle bags and a large windshield. I rode it to Oshkosh and back from Pennsylvania (the trip in total was around 2k miles) and I was happy with it.

Some folks have mentioned the FJR 1300 on here. Around the same time I spent a few thousand miles on one of those. My only complaint with it was that the engine was too smooth - too much of a sewing machine. Oh, and again, no cruise control. But, it's a very good bike, hard to argue with.

However, I would suggest that you look at either a BMW or a Harley. You will probably have to up your budget some, but a used R1200RT would be a good choice for your riding. Really the air/oil cooled variants would be fine, although the liquid cooled is better. The things are built to last forever, and they pretty much do. I'm not a fan of the K bikes as much personally, but some people love them. Maybe I would if I was doing a lot of highway miles. But, my R1250GSA is the best bike I've ever owned on road or dirt, the one thing it's not optimized for is long highway days but it still does fine with them.

Harleys - I know you said you want water cooled and they can be polarizing, but unless you're sitting in traffic for extended periods of time with any regularity, this really isn't a big deal. I owned an Ultra Classic and my wife owned a Street Glide for about 10 years. We never had any overheating issues with them, and the things in that timeframe were reliable and worked well for us. The things always started up, and they did have a good build quality. The one negative both of the bikes had was the batwing fairing on them, which did cause buffeting issues with the helemts we had for a while. This is heavily dependent on your helmet though, and I wouldn't expect that with a Softtail or a Dyna. $5k might be a bit low, but you can still find some in the 4 figures - again if you don't mind a few more years on them.

I'd buy another Harley, and in fact peruse marketplace from time to time for good prices on a Road Glide. Although really I'm more looking at a KTM 1290 Super Adventure R.
 
Yamaha FJR
Yamaha Stratoliner
Honda VTX
Honda Valkyrie/Goldwing/F6B
BMW K1200/1600/R1250

I've even seen a few 2015-2018 Indian Scouts and Chieftain bikes in the $8-$10K range lately that might scratch your itch for chrome without going HD. The Victory bikes often sell in that price range too, since Polaris killed off that brand in favor of Indian. Victory Magnum/Cross Country may be a good fit for V-twin bikes as well.
 
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My neighbor has a Victory, and he really likes it. The ergos are much like a sport tourer, and it's fairly fast. He came from a Goldwing. It's probably one of the only cruisers I would consider.
 
You like the WeeStrom, so why not a big V Strom. Same bike, higher 6th gear, and more power. I'm not a cruiser guy. If it can't go where I want to go, then it has too many limits. So ADV bikes are for me. That said, its really hard to beat a Gold wing, or Valkerie for what you seem to want.
 
Sac Arrow said:
My neighbor has a Victory, and he really likes it. The ergos are much like a sport tourer, and it's fairly fast. He came from a Goldwing. It's probably one of the only cruisers I would consider.
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I understand that Victory isn't making bikes anymore so not sure how support & parts would be obtained. Nevertheless there is one not far from me that I've considered looking at. Very nice! The price has come down on it over the last couple of weeks:

 
From a friend who's folks had a Victory dealership, the new Indians are really Victorys, and seeing one up close they're a pretty nice looking bike. Not cheap. Well, maybe cheap compared to an airplane. They also look like they're pretty quick for what looks like a "standard" motorcycle to me....111 cu in I believe.
 
Daleandee said:
I understand that Victory isn't making bikes anymore so not sure how support & parts would be obtained. Nevertheless there is one not far from me that I've considered looking at. Very nice! The price has come down on it over the last couple of weeks:

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Polaris still makes parts for them and is required to do so through at least 2027, and there's a decent aftermarket as well. I wouldn't worry about it too much at this point.
 
SoonerAviator said:
I believe they shut down Victory in 2017, so they have to produce parts/support for 10 years afterwards as the OEM.
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Can you cite a law or regulation pertaining to that? RCA was in a similar situation in 1984 when they stopped producing the Video Disk Player. I remember my boss talking about a 10 year rule-of-thumb for support to completely avoid bad PR/lawsuits. RCA ended up promising disk production for three more years, but cut it down to two as the already poor sales dried up completely.
 
flyingbrit said:
Can you cite a law or regulation pertaining to that? RCA was in a similar situation in 1984 when they stopped producing the Video Disk Player. I remember my boss talking about a 10 year rule-of-thumb for support to completely avoid bad PR/lawsuits. RCA ended up promising disk production for three more years, but cut it down to two as the already poor sales dried up completely.
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I don't believe there is anything officially codified in regulations, but generally-speaking most of the insurance companies covering those vehicles for damage/repair are going to pressure OEMs to provide parts for about a decade. It's also in the best interest of the OEM/parts manufacturing suppliers to continue making replacement parts due to the cost of molds/tooling that help amortize those costs. Once the majority of the vehicles are off the road (10 years is probably a bit shy) it makes less sense to dedicate machinery and storage space to infrequently purchased inventory. So, while there's no law that I'm aware of, in practice it seems to be what OEMs generally stick to due to market pressures and general recoup of fixed tooling costs.

There IS law regarding the requirement to provide parts/service to items under manufacturer warranty (Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act), but I doubt Victory was offering 10-yr warranties.
 
Oldmanb777 said:
You like the WeeStrom, so why not a big V Strom. Same bike, higher 6th gear, and more power. I'm not a cruiser guy. If it can't go where I want to go, then it has too many limits. So ADV bikes are for me. That said, it’s really hard to beat a Gold wing, or Valkerie for what you seem to want.
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Fair question, and one that I have pondered. Aside from the looks, My thought is the bigger V Strom is too heavy for its purpose. I have heard of people getting the bigger bike and selling it and going back to the Wee Strom. I really like the Wee Strom except for the longer highway rides plus it doesn’t get a lot of admiring looks. My wife has started us with a group of local, mostly Indian and Harley riders. I feel kind of odd man out, not having a cruiser style bike. If I was gonna go through the trouble of selling the Wee Strom, I would just go and buy the FJR and call it done. But at 650 pounds, I’m not sure the FJR will be good for the tiny twisty roads that I like to ride up in the mountains. The Wee Strom at just under 500 pounds is pretty easy to handle. If I can find a 20 year old cruiser in good shape for under $3000 then I can kind of have the best of both worlds. I am leaning towards the Honda shadow Sabre 1100.
It’s kinda like where I live on the coast, the serious boaters have more than just one boat. One for offshore and one for inshore fishing at least. One boat doesn’t do it all.
 
Morgan3820 said:
Fair question, and one that I have pondered. Aside from the looks, My thought is the bigger V Strom is too heavy for its purpose. I have heard of people getting the bigger bike and selling it and going back to the Wee Strom. I really like the Wee Strom except for the longer highway rides plus it doesn’t get a lot of admiring looks. My wife has started us with a group of local, mostly Indian and Harley riders. I feel kind of odd man out, not having a cruiser style bike. If I was gonna go through the trouble of selling the Wee Strom, I would just go and buy the FJR and call it done. But at 650 pounds, I’m not sure the FJR will be good for the tiny twisty roads that I like to ride up in the mountains. The Wee Strom at just under 500 pounds is pretty easy to handle. If I can find a 20 year old cruiser in good shape for under $3000 then I can kind of have the best of both worlds. I am leaning towards the Honda shadow Sabre 1100.
It’s kinda like where I live on the coast, the serious boaters have more than just one boat. One for offshore and one for inshore fishing at least. One boat doesn’t do it all.
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I dunno, I bet that FJR would surprise you in the twisties despite the extra 150lbs. Might be worth seeing if you can test drive one. Not that it isn't more fun to have bikes that are a bit more specialized to different purposes, but the FJR and BMW R/K series are pretty good swiss army knives in that respect.
 
Trivia: The guy who started boss hoss is a pilot and the plant is based at an airport in Dyersburg Tennessee.
 
Morgan3820 said:
…But at 650 pounds, I’m not sure the FJR will be good for the tiny twisty roads that I like to ride up in the mountains..l.
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This is where your the internet will not be able to help you.

When I had my SV650, I didn’t think the Multistrada would be as maneuverable as the little bike. The MTS is taller, wider, heavier, higher hp to weight ratio, and an entirely different searing position.

On a lark, I bough the MTS and within days my assumptions were entirely invalidated. I haven’t been on a HD type cruiser in decades, but if I was looking at that style I would either rent one for a day or do a test ride to see if I liked the handling.
 
TCABM said:
This is where your the internet will not be able to help you.

When I had my SV650, I didn’t think the Multistrada would be as maneuverable as the little bike. The MTS is taller, wider, heavier, higher hp to weight ratio, and an entirely different searing position.

On a lark, I bough the MTS and within days my assumptions were entirely invalidated. I haven’t been on a HD type cruiser in decades, but if I was looking at that style I would either rent one for a day or do a test ride to see if I liked the handling.
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I would love to get a test ride but short of putting a deposit down, I am not sure how to do that.
 
Morgan3820 said:
But at 650 pounds, I’m not sure the FJR will be good for the tiny twisty roads that I like to ride up in the mountains.
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I can assure you, it'll do just fine. So will an R1250RT (or equivalent), Multistrada, GS/GSA.
 
Well, it looks like I come down to two options.
First, keep the V Strom and go out and buy cruiser, finding room for another bike in the garage.
Second, sell the V Strom ,ugh, then go and get a FJR. Hmmm.
Buying is more fun than selling.
 
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