“They sure are growin ’em big in Japan,” said one
onlooker. He wasn’t talking about gymnasts. The
top-of-the-line V-twin cruisers pack outrageously
large guns these days, with the latest and most
intriguing, of course, being Kawasaki’s gigantic two-
liter Vulcan. “I guess that’s America for you,” he went
on, evidently aware that these monsters were fash-
ioned very specifically to suit consumer taste in this
country and no other. “Everything’s about excess.”
“Excess.’ The word begs to be pondered.
If were talking a little extra sugar on the
beigner, a little more spice to the chili pot,
more is definitely better. But, of course,
there’s a point where more becomes
overkill, and frankly, the direction of these
new bikes opens up that concept for
debate. “Fun” is another word we are
always intrigued by, and these new mega
cruisers are undeniably amusing. We dare
anyone to twist the throttle on any bike in
this trio and not come away with a wicked
smile. So the idea of combining excess and
fun sounded like a logical theme for testing
and comparing these machines. That’s how
we ended up in Texas. Big bikes, big inten-
tions, big state, Big Bend National
Park—you see the thread.
The parameters of the test were simple:
Street-styled cruisers with a V-twin engine
displacement of at least 1700cc, (It is a brave
new world indeed when 1500cc V-twin
bikes can be thought of as middleweights.
Expect a Motorcycle Cruiser test of the
1500/1600cc cruisers to follow shortly.) All
three of rhe big, big twins to make rhe cut
were, coincidentally, new or much-
improved bikes for 2004. The players were
Yamaha’s overhauled Road Star 1700, with
its pushrod twin the only engine here that’s
air-cooled and carbureted. Honda’s eye-
catching, Rune-influenced VTX 1800N
(Neo-Retro) brings an 1800cc, liquid-
cooled, fuel-injected design and a single
overhead camshaft design, while Kawasaki’s
ultimate «unslin»er, the V2K—which
invokes serious piston envy at a whopping
2000cc—is another pushrod, but unlike the
Yamaha, it’s liquid-cooled and injected. Oh
yeah, we invited the Harley Custom Vehicle
Operations’ (CVO) Screamin’ Eagle Ultra
Glide, with the factory’s first fully endorsed
1700cc air-cooled Twin Cam, along for
kicks. But since that bike is a full-boat tour-
ing machine—not to mention virtually
unobtainable at nearly $30K, and with only
3200 units being produced—it really didn’t
fit a slot chat matched our other pegs. (See
page 50 for the Ultras very own testette.)
Like rhe Harley, the Yamaha and
Kawasaki use belt drive to deliver power to
the rear wheel. We believe that shaft drive,
as found on the Honda, is becoming anti-
quated technology on cruisers, and reviving
the simplicity of a belt design is a certainty
for the future. Nor only does the belt
smooth out annoying lash—still present in
even the most refined shaft systems—it also
Our midwinter journey
from California to
Texas was chilly
indeed, but once we
arrived in the Lone
Star state we warmed
up to the crazy-curving
roads and Wild West
vibe. Big Bend is off
the beaten track, but
that’s one of the rea-
sons it’s so enjoyable.
Below: We made our
usual stop at 1-10’s
“The Thing,” but didn’t
buy any snakeheads
this trip.
opens the door for styling opportunities,
and is nearly as clean, efficient and mainte-
nance-free as rhe once-favored shaft system.
Aside from these mechanical varia-
tions, the machines share similar charac-
teristics—all are huge, torque-end
intended and enormously fun to play
with. The Yamaha is the deal here at
$10,999. The Kawasaki is $13,399 and
the Honda is $13,499 to start, but
adding factory-installed options to the
VTX can raise the price substantially.
Any cruiser this big should be able to
double as a tourer, so we asked each manu-
facturer to deliver its machine with factory-
distributed bolt-on saddlebags and wind-
shields already installed. The Honda and
Kawasaki both came with rigid-mount
leather bags, while Yamaha opted to show
off its new model-specific, color-matched
hard-bag line. The windshields were a var-
ied lot—from the Hondas stylishly small
fly screen to the Kawasaki’s big, ill-fitting
prototype (V2K accessories were still in...