Losing my damned mind !

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Celerity

Well-Known Member
I'm shopping around to trade my ZX12R in for a cruiser.

the ZX12R is a marvel of engineering. That said, I have no use for it. IT's too goddam fast, rides with friends have me stuttering along while they struggle to keep up. Riding by myself is great, but the bike's comfort zones are all above the speed limits.

I plan on doing more riding this year with my girl. She hates the back of a sportbike. The 12R is so twitchy that I don't feel to confident with a passenger.

She finds it's better to ride with a sissybar, and she is the same size as I am, so when we ride together on a sport bike, her head is like above mine. It's ridiculous. When I brake we almost endo.

So we do two-up on the Scooter. Which is ok, but It's not great for my balls (I have to sit up on the wierd scooter hump).

I've been looking at a few cruisers lately. I've found the following:

2006 Boulevard M50
2005 VStar 650

That's about all I've ridden.

I had also looked at the Warrior, but it's right back to where I was "Too much goddam bike". I wanna ride an easy, smaller bike. Plus, the airbox and wiring box knocks against my knees. I also looked at the VTX1300, which is also too large to handle with a passenger hour after hour.

So these things are too large to provide the riding that I am looking for. The M50 is close to what I am looking for, but it's really ... Bulky. The 650 Vstar was pretty nice too.

I'm also looking at the Royal Enfield 500cc.

The other bikes (except the Warrior) also have shaft drive, which I'm not a fan of. $6000 or less is my price range.


Any ideas ?
 
Honda-2005-VTX-PerformanceCruiserConcepta.jpg


I wish this was the actual production VTX. Concept bike.
 
why so glum about shaft drive? i love my bike's shaft drive. no bullshit to deal with like a chain and belt.
 
my old Honda was driveshaft too... any my friend's Honda is . Those were low maintainance, but the preferred bike here, the M50, has really maintanence reputations with their shafts. And my ride on the 650 made all sorts of slackey shaft movement.
 
The Boulevards are actually really nice bikes. If you're deadset on getting a cruiser, that'd be the one to go with.
 
my buddy Jerry has a 03 Warrior.. this color but without the windshield, but he's also a 250lb black man w/ gigantic arms.. hahah..

its a really nice bike.. and if i ever got a bike it would be something similar.. i'd want a cruiser not a sport bike
warrior03-1.jpg
 
Warriors are, hands down, the best cruiser ever. The new Raider is supposed to be good too, but the damned thing is like 2.2 liter are something fuckin whacked.

I love the Warrior, but it would take major modification for my legs to not touch the engine. It's also a big boy, 1700ccs. I'm trying to get back into an easy bike to ride with a passenger, something I can do a ride for 6 or more hours on without going numb.
 
If youre looking for a managable cruiser for a decent price...look at the volusia too. A buddy of mine has one and I feel comfortable at all speeds on that. If i wanted a cruiser, thats probably where i would be at.

Another friend has a boulevard 109 (something like that). its nice, but i think its a little too big for me.
 
the M109 is a fucking monster. Maybe if I like the whole cruiser thing I'll pick one up in 5 or so years. The Volusia turned into the C50 and the Marauder into the M50. I forget what the S used to be.
 
oh okay, well look at a c50 then...cause its nice.
 
have u considered a Vmax? not quite a cruiser but not a standard or a sport bike either. lots of low end grunt. comfy for the passenger. fun for the driver! cool looking as can be. that'd be my choice if i was to get a big enough cruiser to haul two around and not be too much bike. it all depends on how hard and fast that throttle hand works. u can tool around all day on it with your girl. she's got a nice seat and at your level to sit on. then , when she's not with u, u still have your performance machine.... to a point. whats nice about v's is that u have plenty of power down low. none of that top end power crap that can't be used without major tickets and jail time.
 
Yeah, I did - And its the same mechanicals with different fenders and body work. Crashbars, different seat (Not a big deal). The REAL thing that attracts me to the M50 is the thinner front fender, swept rear fender, not-so-gaudy appearance, and most importantly the mounting of the gauge. Lots of cruisers have the gauge in the tank. I prefer them on the bars.

Just a purely aesthetic thing, but then again, what really attracts us to a bike ?

With some work I can get the M50 into a look that I am looking for. Right now it's very long, very "thick" appearing and seems like a Harley Fatboy. I don't like the fatboy look. I guess I like Bobber designs:

BOBBER%20Nickel-Sickle.jpg

According to the site I should also mention that this photo appears without the consent of KillaCustoms and KillaPhotography.
 
have u considered a Vmax? not quite a cruiser but not a standard or a sport bike either. lots of low end grunt. comfy for the passenger. fun for the driver! cool looking as can be. that'd be my choice if i was to get a big enough cruiser to haul two around and not be too much bike. it all depends on how hard and fast that throttle hand works. u can tool around all day on it with your girl. she's got a nice seat and at your level to sit on. then , when she's not with u, u still have your performance machine.... to a point. whats nice about v's is that u have plenty of power down low. none of that top end power crap that can't be used without major tickets and jail time.
YES Actually I love VMAXs . thanks for reminding me. The VMAX is unchanged, the gauges are right, and the bike is all business (They don't hide the fact that the gas tank is under the seat)

I will look into them. I found one at my local dealer recently that had all the fake CF replaced with real CF. They wanted $6000 for it. I bought the ZX12 instead.
 
Warriors are, hands down, the best cruiser ever. The new Raider is supposed to be good too, but the damned thing is like 2.2 liter are something fuckin whacked.

I love the Warrior, but it would take major modification for my legs to not touch the engine. It's also a big boy, 1700ccs. I'm trying to get back into an easy bike to ride with a passenger, something I can do a ride for 6 or more hours on without going numb.
What are the issue's with your legs hitting the engine? And if you want to look at something smaller i would take a look at the v star custom. 650 cc shaft drive low maintenance. 2008 Yamaha V Star Custom Specifications, specs, spec
 
steve is pretty much the same size as you justin... you fit fine on it...
 
steve i have an m50 and i love it. if you ever want to take it for a ride before you buy it let me know you can come up and take it for a spin. and as far as the maint. on the shaft it is nothin just change the oil in it and your golden. i will tell you this the only thing you wont like is the seat it gets uncomfortable after about an hour or so of riding. some people have put memory foam in the seat others spend an ass wad and buy a corbin. me, i am gonna try the memory foam trick this year. i bought mine as a leftover and got a pretty good deal on it. the only thing i am gonna do is change up the handle bars this year and do the seat mod and then just ride the hell out of it.
 
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