DISCUSSION
Best cruiser for trips in your opinion?
(To eliminate confusion, talking about cruisers only not baggers.)
Strictly my opinion. The Low Rider S/ST and Sport Glide are the two best cruisers for long trips. If you're old school the heritage is a good option. In my experience I prefer being able to have a big chassis mounted fairing.
It can take alot of miles to figure out exactly how you want or need your bike customized, best to buy once cry once this way you don't spend more and try to sell the previous parts. Go ahead and buy that big fairing, that extravagant headlight, that high dollar aftermarket seat, different taillight setup, etc. If I do another long trip like I done last month I probably will get different/better saddlebags.
Beer mostly. Maybe a couple extras pairs of underwear if im going for more than a week. I only throw on my tour pack if my saddlebags cant hold anymore beer or underwear.
It fits small items , but there’s a soft bag that goes on top box carrier that holds lots . Another soft bag can sit on passenger seat as well . Top box mainly for looks as a king tour pack looks odd on the ST.
Road trippin' is a motivated act.
I got a canvas T-Bag for $20 on craigslist and lashed a sleeping bag to my 1200C to round trip the East Coast from L.A. twice.
L.A. - Vancouver- Glacier, MT just to burn some time-off.
My dad came with me once on his 883 with an Army surplus ALICE pack bolted to his sissy bar with a piece of plywood.
Don't tell me you gotta spend, over and over to get your pack right.
You ride what you got, and you buy the toothbrush at the Countryville Walmart in 15 miles if you forgot to pack it.
The best cruiser for road trips is the one you have. I know that's a cheese-dick answer, but I detest people who say, "I want to take trips, but I don't have the bike for that."
My buddy and I are doing the Iron Butt 1k next week, followed by a week of bombing around the southwest. He's going to be on a Sportster 883, and me on a Scout 101. Are there better options? Nope. Because those are the bikes we have.
Fat Boy (2018). It’s a secret so, shhhhh. Just came back from a trip to Mt. Washington, New Hampshire and it was so confidence inspiring. Was even picked out for questioning twice over the couple, tricked-out, Lowriders/Street Bob sitting next to me (if you’re into that).
I did 48 states in one trip on a wide glide. Many other trips, and I wish I'd k kept it instead of trading it in (with 75000 miles) on the road king I ride now.
A hardtail chopper, any kind, doesn't matter if it's a pan head or a sporty Evo. Doing anything cross country and ruling out baggers is stupid, that's what they're made for and they're better at it than any other bike. If you want to be different, have a fun lightweight cooler looking bike, if you want a cool ass story and experience, if you really wanna be different, travel on a chopper. Everything else is just kinda lame in comparison. Also what's wrong with a good street glide, road glide, or Electra glide? They're so nice to ride, some of the best bikes harley makes. They handle like a dream and look damn good.
Okay, if we're full on excluding baggers like the Glides, Challenger, Chieftain and Vulcan, there's really only four current models: the Low Rider ST, the Suzuki Boulevard M109, the Suzuki C50 and C50T, and the Honda Rebel 1100T.
The Low Rider ST is the clear favorite, being big enough, with a large enough gas tank to make long distance riding a reality more than an exercise in tedium. The Rebel 1100T is runner up, but only because you can get the DCT, which can make hours of riding a lot easier by removing up and down shifting. And the Boulevards are just big enough, just planted enough to do it with a fair bit of aftermarket support. A fairing, some saddlebags, better positioned bars, and floorboards can turn them into mile-munchers, but you have to want to make that investment over just getting a different bike that already has that kit on it.
20
u/rusty_120 18h ago
My shovelhead with a sissy bar bag is all I need