A cruiser life for me
Monday, April 17th, 2006 at 10:05 pm by AngiPants
I was asked today why I ride a cruiser, why I don’t get a sports bike. I realize that most women my age aren’t cruiser riders, that younger riders tend to gravitate more to the sports bikes, and that I am the exception.
I ride a cruiser for a few reasons. The first is riding position. I knew I would be riding my bike long distances, and that my bike and I would go on many long road trips together. I researched this when I was first looking at bikes, and read over and over that cruisers were much better suited for long distance riding.
However, you need to find a cruiser that is comfortable to you. I have something like a 32 inch inseam, which equals very long legs. I found that riding longer than 300 miles on my Vulcan was very uncomfortable. My foot pegs were in quite close and I didn’t have room to stretch out my legs. The pegs were also higher up than most, which caused my knees to be higher than my butt when I was seated. This put a lot of pressure on my lower back and hips.
On my Shadow, my foot pegs are further forward and I am able to stretch out my legs. The Shadow also had roll bars that I can put highway pegs on if I wish, which I will when I get the time. Hmmm, do I see a pic tutorial coming up?? Because of how the frame on my Vulcan was set up, highway pegs were not an option, and the Vulcan 500 has almost no aftermarket parts to speak of.
I also choose a cruiser because of the vast variety of styles and the assortment of custom work you can do on one. A sports bike is just made to go fast. I never really saw the point of making it flashy, when no one can see it as you zoom by at 90 mph. A cruiser, however, is made to be looked at.
Another reason for the cruiser is the speed. I know you all are thinking “Huh?” I knew that if I bought a bike capable of speeds 120 mph +, I would be going 120 mph +. I am a speed demon, and love to take on any guy on a bike. With a cruiser, I am imposing a limit on myself. No wheelies and stopies for me. I can still hear my dad often telling me that the average life span of a new rider on a crotch rocket is 90 days.
I have to admit that I have never even test ridden a sports bike. I did take a SV 650 around a parking lot when I was thinking of buying a friend’s, and I did sit on quite a few Ninjas when bike shopping, but that is the extent of my sports bike experience. I love the high seat height on SB’s, but don’t like having a lot of my weight on my arms when riding. The first time stopping on the SV 650 was a little trippy. I felt like I was going to tumble over the handle bars! Definitely something to get use to after the upright position of a cruiser.
If I had the chance, (and the garage space) I would have a sports bike and a cruiser. I would use the SB for commuting to work, and the cruiser for the weekend.
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Interesting. I do the exact opposite. I commute on the comfortable bike and weekend ride on the sport bike - well…until I parted her out. I found that with sport riding, comfort is not to bad if you are moving around on the bike. It’s the long straight stuff that is painful.
I went to a sport-touring bike in an attempt to have an all-in-one. There are compromises at each end, but it is working well so far.
I had a Valkyrie not too long ago and its a great bike. I sold it bacause it had about a 150 mile range with a tailwind. I will get another cruiser when my wife is ready to get back on (took a break for us to have two kids) as our two-up machine.
There are a lot of sport riders who make their bikes (very) flashy, yet do not know that they go through turns. We have a new driver at work and he has a new CBR600RR with lots of chrome and a squared off rear tire like I have never seen before. My guess is that he can pull a badd-ass wheelie, but would kill himself in the mountains.
There is nothing more comical (and enviable) than sport riding along with a guy who has highway pegs on his 1200 Bandit!