Best Bagger

Iam a baby boomer and already own a KLR.
KLR are great except for two up. I will be attending the Vancouver B.C.
Show at the end of this month. The trip is to check out the baggers offered these days.
I have owned a G/W 1100 and liked it. However I haven't rode a new 1800
or a H/D Electra Glide. Kaw has a new bagger for 09 but it's first year.
I never buy first year anything.
So can any of you/all comment on the choice between a H/D and GL1800?
If this has been discussed before point me in the right direction

Have you looked at the other offerings like the Victory and BMW

Best Bagger ?? That is a good one. oser I don't think there really is a bad one out there.

Here are my thoughts for $.02

I had an Eletraglide and it was a great bike. It has the biggest bags out there I think. I just could not get comfortable on the long days.

I now have a GL1800. The bags are a wee bit smaller than on the Harley but for me, I find it more comfortable. If you are Tall however you might not get along well with the wing.

I chose the GL1800 over the BMW LT for only one reason. Cost and frequency of maintenance. The LT is a great bike and a comfy all day rider. Bags are a little smaller than the GL.

I rode a Vision and it was an OK bike. I did not like the styling much and being only 5'10" it was a stretch to reach anything. Again smaller bags than the LT.

Try and ride them all and see which one fits you the best.

Again check on maintenance cost. The difference between the GL1800 and the LT was staggering. Harley's also have very low maintenance requirements.

Good luck.

Marc

CB - In 2006 I decided I needed to get a 'real' touring bike. I'd always wanted a Harley growing up, so I did a bunch of research and manged to take a few test rides (Ultra Classic and Road Glide). I sold off my Vee-Strom and was all ready to go down the the local H-D botique when my wife suggested I at least test ride a Goldwing.

Three days later I took possesion of a Dark Red '06 GL1800. Power, handling, and ammenities all sent me to the Goldwing. Oh, and price. I put 38.5K miles on it in just over 18 months and decided I'd had enough of baggers, and now have a naked sport bike and another V-Strom. Go figure.

If you really want to ride miles, and like corners it's hard to beat the 'wing. If on the other hand your 'tour' is never longer than a 300 mile day, and your just not that excited about going fast, one of the H-D baggers definitly have the cool factor all over them.

I won't commment on BMW rear drives except to say that I looked at and sat on a RT but didn't buy one because of what for me is a reliability issue. The Vision has gotten some good reviews, IF you like the looks. One finished the Iron Butt Rally in '07, and Andy said he had a good ride.

Another worth looking at if you like the 'cruiser' style in the Yamaha errr... Star.. Royal Star Venture. Sharp looking bike IMHO.

Good luck, and enjoy whatever you get!

Ok lets put this another way.
If you/all were to leave southern B.C. head east to Atlantic Canada, down the coast to Florida, west to San Diego up 101 to Canada and home.
What would you ride with 400 lbs of people, staying in motel along the way.
Iam thinking H/D, regardless of the size of the bags.
Like I mentioned the KLR stays. Iam off to E-New-Vik as soon as the snow melts. When I owned my Gold Wing, I could rebuild a H/D motor for the price of one Honda piston. However my next road bike will be my last

I'm on my second FJR. To me it's the best of both worlds.
I can do long days and still feel the sporty side of riding.

A bagger doesn't have to be a boat.


This was in New Foundland 07. 9,500 miles in 15 days.
That's 660 mile a day averages and I would have kept
going except for the whole job thing. Worth a look.

Check out motorcycle.com's '09 Luxury Tourer Shootout here

If you can try to get out to as many test rides as you can, all the specs in the world can never tell you what your butt will like until you plant it in the seat.

C'mon, they're comfortable for far longer than 300 miles. The Iron Butt Rally has more Harleys competing than any other make. I can ride my '09 Road King all day without a twinge of discomfort thanks to the great stock seat and the floor boards.

The '09 HD touring models also handle far better than earlier models. And they have a big advantage over the Wing when it comes to low speed handling on narrow mountain roads due to their low CoG.

Uhhhhhh........three out of a hundred in 2007.....and only one classed as a finisher, one was too slow to finish, and one blew up? :huh
http://www.ironbuttrally.com/ibr/2007/html/2.html

HD has as much a history of eating lower rod bearings that BMW does of eating final drives in the Iron Butt. I always wondered why HD got a pass for blowing up if you drill them hard & long but the Beemers get roasted pretty good?

I was at the HD dealer yesterday and all three salesmen said that if you can get past how ugly it is the Road Glide is the best tourer they have. I have heard that from multiple friends that fly & ride out in AZ every year also. Cant say from my own experiance but rumor has it its the bee's knee's.

Fact is thats a lot of ugly to get past! Two round headlights

I put a Mustang seat and floor boards on a Victory Vegas and have done quite
a few road trips with it. Some alone and some with my wife.
I also did the IBA 48 states in less than 10 days ride with it, the SS1000 and the BBG1500.
The BBG1500 was day one of a 16 day road trip.
That Mustang seat is the best seat I have ever had.
I have never had a problem with the bike which is good because there aren't a lot of dealers.
The one plus on the Harley and some of the other bikes is a better dealer network.

The Hawgs are sweet if you fit on them. By all accounts the new frames make the bikes handle much better as well. If you like the Kawi, you can probably make a nice deal on an 08 Nomad right now. It's alot of bike for the pesos. I have an older Nomad that I wouldn't trade for anything. I like the Victory Kingpin, but calling it a bagger is a bit optimistic. The bags hold about a toothbrush, a pair of socks and a comic book. The Vision? not so much for me.
I have also encountered many happy Star owners on the road, and I think the 09 bikes are finally FI. Give them a look?

Get out and demo. You'll figger it out right away. Good luck!

Hands down, for two up touring the Wing is the best bike for the job. However, the Wing is not for everyone. It is fast, handles very well, quiet which is nice on the highway, also has a large frame mounted fairing and has all the amenities. Stereo, Cruise, heated seats and grips and etc. To me the Harley is a different animal. In my opinion the Harley is a cruiser first and tourer second. The Wing is a Tour bike that can do many things well. It definitely does not have the same kind or type of cool that the Harley does. I would definitely like a Harley too, but when I toured two up, well you know what I think. Good riding.

R1200GS/GS Adv

See my summer tip here: http://www.jimvonbaden.com/page11.aspx

Jim

If you want opinions on the Harley tourers, you ought to visit hdforums.com and post your question. It is a very active forum, and you're likely to get many responses quickly. Of course, there will be a few foolish responses, but you will also hear some well thought out answers. Good luck!

H-D all the way. If I have to explain, you wouldn't undersatand.

Love my ugly Road Glide.

CANADIAN BACON it sounds like you have your heart set on a Harley. I own two Harleys, one an 02 Road King with 41,000 miles and a 76 Sportster with 115,000 miles. I am not really brand loyal because I also own an 05 Suzuki 650 V-Strom and have owned many Hondas in the past. That being said, I have had no problems with the Road King other than having to replace those pesky tires. I replaced the battery this spring before a trip just to be on the safe side considering it was six years old. I personally know of three fellow riders who have over 100,000 miles on their Electra-Glides who have had no engine related failures. My bike has an HD Sundowner touring seat that I regularly do 800 mile days on. I have done a few 1000 mile plus days, but I'm not an IBA member, I'm too lazy to fool with the paperwork to get the license plate frame. I bought this bike mainly for the wife and I to travel on and it works great for us as she is as comfortable on it as I am. As with any bike you have to just get everything adjusted on it, seat, bars, floorboards to your comfort settings. I am looking forward to a demo ride on the HD's with the new frames this spring. I have to agree with HamSandwich about the Road Glide, one of my friends has one and it is a great bike if you can get past the looks of it!

I have ridden the older 1500 Gold Wings in the past and they are a great bike, I can only think the new ones would be better. In the past the price of the HD's were considerably higher, that's not the case now so if possible you should ride all of the bikes you are considering. I have no experience with the new BMW's other than drooling over them in the dealership. From what I have read, Harley and BMW dealerships share one common thread, they are either great or they suck big time. Shop carefully. The BMW dealer I went to was great, they were ready to put me out on a demo ride as soon as they saw me pull up on a Harley but the wife killed that quickly! I toyed with the idea of trading the Road King for a new GS Adventure but the wife killed that idea too!

Any of the touring bikes will do the trip you are talking about in relative comfort, just be sure to take the passenger on the demo ride also. Nothing is worse than taking a cross country trip with an uncomfortable passenger reminding you every 30 minutes!

Can't speak to the wing.
Had an '07 Road King Classic. A little bit of slice and dice by
the doctors forced me to get onto something a tad lighter.
I thought the scoot was outstanding.
Windscreen in place made it all day comfortable.
The 96 cubes provided plenty of grunt and i never
found engine heat an issue. It acquitted itself surprisingly well
in the twisty bits for soemthing so grand although it would start
to feel loose as you approach floorboard touchdown.

Low speed handling... beyond the garage floor... was easy.

I did a nice 4000 kilometer scoot on my Versys this past summer.
More than a few times i thought how much more comfortable i'd have been if i'd been scooting the King.

I can easily see having another in my garage someday.

Enjoy your hunt.

TB... That was a beautiful RKC.