My friend suggested I take his honda VTX 1800 for a ride. The weather was pretty nice and I wanted to give this bike a good run. I was able to get my wife on the back and we went for a 50 mile ride. First of all I have never been a fan of the V twin cruisers. I prefer the more upright riding position of the old standard bikes. My current street ride is a 82 GS 750. It has been a good bike to get into 2 up riding for my wife and I, but I realize I am in need of a bigger bike with more torque and a better seat. I started with a KLR 650 and 2 up on that got old very quickly. This VTX has a mustang seat with a 4" or 5" lift on the passenger seat. My wife and I both wear full face helmets. When she got on the bike it was as if she was not there. I could not believe it! No problem starting out. No problem with power and no problem with balance. With the low seat height I did not have any problem keeping the bike upright at a stop (I have a 28" inseam). Of course lots of power and acceleration at any speed. I had to turn around and make sure she was still there a couple of times. I think with this kind of comfort and power we could have some nice long trips together. I really like the low end power characteristics of the V twin. I am tired of the over revving of the inline 4. I am convinced that I will be joining the ranks of the cruiser crowd soon. Next test with 2 up is my other friends Harley Road King. He is willing to let me do the same test on it. I am the only guy that doesn't ride a cruiser, among my riding friends.
It's not cool to say it on this board, but you and your wife are gonna love that Road King. Modern Harleys, especially the RK, are pretty great for the kind of riding you seem to have enjoyed on the VTX.
The VTX1800 is a great bike solo or 2 up. Out fitted to suit the rider (s) it's hard to beat and used ones can be picked up for a decent price. The RoadKing is an excellent riding bike w/all day comfort but power and breking is ememic compared to the VTX1800...if that's a concern, the RK is not for you
I had an 1800R for a while. Great bike, but my GF felt like she had her head in the stratoshere she sat so high on it. She did not like that part of it.
One thing about metric cruisers, once they get to be a few years old you can get some screaming deals on some very nice bikes. If you like the big VTX also check out the Yamaha/Star Roadliner and Stratoliners and the Kawi Vulcan 2000, or in a slightly sportier vein the Suzuki M109 and Yamaha/Star Warrior. I like the Yamaha's for the air cooling and belt drive, among other things, but everybody has different tastes. Try a bunch of bikes before deciding.
coming from an 82 GS750 you are bound to love just about any modern bike, go try out some sport tourers also.
Its to bad you didnt ride the Harley first, I think you will be suprised at the difference in power. The VTX will flat leave the Harley for dead in any kind of performance comparison, not that you are going to race it but roll on power while passing or just getting on the freeway is much better on the Honda. I owned an 03 1800 and like you noticed a passenger makes little change to how it performs. I also owned an 05 Yamaha roadstar 1700 and it was more HD like as far as performance goes, down shift and rev it to really get going and still not in the same league as the VTX.
I think you will really like the Road King, 09 and later Harley made major changes to the frame and I think the bike handles quite well. I think it;s going to feel heavier than the VTX, took me a while to get used to the weight at low speed, at any other speed it's one of the most stable bikes I have ever ridden. I really like the Road King.
I rented a Harley Road Glide for a day and put 400 miles on it 2up. If your friend will let you ride a few hundred miles on his RK I would highly recommend it, same for the VTX.
It's a few years now since I rode a Road King, please tell me the latest model now has better brakes, I couldn't believe a bike with brakes that bad could be road legal.
I have ridden then both for extended rides. The RD was a 06 and silky smooth but under powered and would wobble at speed (goggle Harley wobble) fixed in 09. The VTX was a 04 and would suck gas like a freight train 25 MPG if ridden hard. I'd go with the VTX.
You'll love the VTX. I have a 1300C and have bought it twice...long story. If you really want more take off with the 1800 after a while, you can swap in a 1300 diff...big improvement.
i will follow suit with most of the other posts and say the vtx is the hands down performance king of the two bikes but the road king doesnt use up fuel like it is going out of style. it does however not want to stop or handle or get out of its own way. even with the fuel use shortcomings i would take a vtx hands down any day. honda had tour models with a windshield bags and backrest available and i would imagine right now in this market you could positively steal one.
I traded my 2002 VTX1800C for a 2007 Wing. I loved that VTX, Never understood why they sold 1300s too. The VTX has sooooooo much grunt...torque....pull. Faster than any HD, period... unless they spend 20k extra on motor upgrades. Get a sissy bar, when your rear passenger leans against it, you can pop 2nd gear wheelies easily. My wife dope slapped me every time but, she never saw my smile. Over a year later my X was still at the dealer. The dealer told me most people do not want to buy a bike with 30k on it. But that mileage on a Honda is nothing. You will get it cheap. Most people are getting the VTX1300.
I have an '03. I took it to the drag strip once. It was cold that day and I had trouble getting it to hook up in 1st gear. I had to ease it off the line and roll into the throttle. It went 12.93 @ 101mph. That's with a sport cowl, saddlebags, backrest and me weighing in at about 275 all leathered up.
I bought a new '11 Yamaha FJR last March. My wife hates it and will not ride it, so I am thinking of getting rid of it and going to a big cruiser. I found a '06 VTX1800R at a used car dealership. It has 6600 miles on it and they are asking $8000. It has a windshield on it and passenger floorboards, but no other accessories that I can remember. Tires are good. Paint and chrome are good, but there is some melted shoe sole on the exhaust at the passenger peg, and the rear wheel is dirty but I think it would clean up just fine. I don't know why they haven't done that already though. I am sure they will come off the price, and I will be looking for an aftermarket seat with backrests almost immediately. I have some textile bags I can use until the budget allows some nice leather bags, and I would like to put some tip over bars on it. I don't want that pig on my leg! How do passengers rate the comfort of the VTX1800?
8k way too much for that yr... You could buy a new one still in the crate for that kind of cash... Try cycletrader.com
<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/2KWrwkVThNgrBlptpdcdefQj-OkfJ6bJdtGBxedpXjw?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-5rO1iN8b0ek/UFDccOiYu0I/AAAAAAAAFNY/ZqWjsf2tIeg/s800/DSC02914.JPG" height="600" width="800" /></a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right">From <a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/103138599703010601885/DropBox?authuser=0&feat=embedwebsite">Drop Box</a></td></tr></table> My wife and I ride this bike often. It's great on the road, but it's HEAVY around town! I also prefer mid-controls to forward controls. Mine has 12,345 miles. Would sell for 6k. Anytime I hear someone complaining about a VTX; It's always the VTX1300 with carburetor, not the fuel-injected VTX1800.
Only complaint I had about my VTX1800 was the piss-poor range. Something like 25mpg made for flashing light (and embarrassing stalls) at or near the 90 mile mark. And I used the bike as a commuter. Great power, decent ergos for a cruiser, dead reliable (duh), and a good looker. Mine had a Kury intake, a pciii, and pipes. They might get better mpg bone stock. I just couldn't deal with the frequent fill-ups... I also had a 2000 Springer Heritge with a Mikuni on it... Great bike, decent power (never felt like I needed more). I think you'll really like the Road King...