Cruiser Motorcycle Mentality

[RocketDaryl]

Why are so many guys ate up with performance on "cruiser" bikes? I had a guy asking me about my bike, which was really a guise just to get him started on his. He starts telling how the Rocket III has a large engine and is fast, but his bike (stock VTX) could beat it, blah blah blah. The exception, he says, would be yours. "You'd probably take me because of the weight difference between you and me". I'm not an engineer, but I highly doubt 50-75 lbs is going to make a hill of beans difference. That said:

NEWSFLASH: I DON'T CARE! Mine is not a Rocket III, for starters. It's a Rocket III Touring. Yeah, it's fast. How fast? I don't know and I don't care. It goes 75 mph just fine and I can pass when I need to by twisting the throttle and I get to wherever I want to go in reasonable comfort. That's all I give a rip about.

I don't get it. If *I* wanted performance, I'd buy a ******rocket. And, I don't usually mean mouth the Harley guys because I happen to like Harleys, myself. But, they really crack me up. They buy the slowest bikes on the market and then spend hundreds, sometimes thousands on engine mods to make them faster. In the end, it's their money and I certainly don't care what they spend their money on. But, I don't get the buying a cruiser and then worrying about the performance mentality.

 

[TxRIIIRider]

LOL... All he would see from his stock VTX is your tail light getting smaller and smaller..
I get that alot, especially with my paint job.. Harley guys saying they can take it, etc.. They always seem to back down though when I say "Okay.. well bring it.. ".. lol Something wrong with their bike or something..

I had a good friend when we were riding to Sturgis challenge me to a roll-on. He has a '06 Harley NightTrain with a PC-III and aftermarket exhaust.. Pretty much the same mods I have. I rolled along right beside him until about 90 MPH.. and then I decided to get on mine and took off.. and met them at our next stop with my bike parked, me sitting on it with my helmet off drinking a bottle of water.. lol

I do very much enjoy the performance of my RIII. Of course, I know that pretty much all of the liter+ sport bikes will smoke it in the 1/4 mile.. I think even my wife's Trophy 1200 will take my Rocket, once past the 1/8 mile mark.

 

[GPMAZ]

I think its all about doing something different. Anybody can buy a Hayabusa and go very fast. What's the claim there, other than being able to write a check.

I've found that being able to roll up next a liter sized sport bike and walk away from them up to around 100 a huge laugh. They just can't believe that a cruiser can do that. Of course I roll off the throttle between 100 and 120 because if I didn't they'd blow by me. They don't know that I'm out of steam, they just think I've proven my point and am done. Staying in the throttle and getting passed would ruin the moment.

Have you watched the trucks run the Dakar. These monstrous trucks run insane speeds over the same terrain as the cars and bikes. There's nothing logical about it. Its just different.

 

[BigWillie]

I just keep trying for more performance just to have it there. My R3T is plenty fast enough in all reality. I am not going to do over 80 very often. If I had wanted to go fast all the time I would have kept my FJR1300. Of course I would be in pain after a couple of hours in the saddle. If I want to go really fast I will break my 1200 Trophy out also.
Your comment on the Harley guys cracked me up. "You can make a fast Harley, you just can't make a Harley fast". My buddy in Florida just got a 100th aniversary big touring Harley. Can't remember all the letters. Everything but the tour pack. The guy he bought it from had spent over $30K on performance mods and he had to work to keep up with me on the interstate and my R3T straight out of the box with a set of TOR's. It is nice to be able to blow out sport bikes for the first part. Of course that is all you need. The speedlimit is only 70 max about anywhere. So what if your bike will do 185. I look at 0 - 60 in the shortest amount of time. That's where I need performance. The more of that I can get the better I like it.

 

[REGULATOR]

because its fun....and for the most part, simple exhaust change, air intake and retune is no ta big deal, a lot of bikes do this.. shoot I did it on my Tiger, my Sprint etc

 

[BigWillie]

You are right. It is fun. Nothing worse than being passed by cars while on your bike. I have a cj750, basically a chinese clone of a 38 BMW w/sidehack. It is slow off the line. If it wasn't so cool I probably wouldn't want to ride it.

 

[JDuke1980]

I just keep trying for more performance just to have it there. My R3T is plenty fast enough in all reality. I am not going to do over 80 very often. If I had wanted to go fast all the time I would have kept my FJR1300. Of course I would be in pain after a couple of hours in the saddle. If I want to go really fast I will break my 1200 Trophy out also.
Your comment on the Harley guys cracked me up. "You can make a fast Harley, you just can't make a Harley fast". My buddy in Florida just got a 100th aniversary big touring Harley. Can't remember all the letters. Everything but the tour pack. The guy he bought it from had spent over $30K on performance mods and he had to work to keep up with me on the interstate and my R3T straight out of the box with a set of TOR's. It is nice to be able to blow out sport bikes for the first part. Of course that is all you need. The speedlimit is only 70 max about anywhere. So what if your bike will do 185. I look at 0 - 60 in the shortest amount of time. That's where I need performance. The more of that I can get the better I like it.

Hell, I do over 80 just passing someone on the highway (55mph speedlimit). I usually don't realise how fast I'm going until I get around them, look at my speedometer and have to slow down...
Lets not talk about how fast I go on I-75...
The r3t is plenty fast enough for my needs and desires... of course, I wouldn't complain if it was faster, I'm gonna get TOR's when I get some money

 

[Punkindave]

#1 - For every 7 pounds of weight saved, it's like gaining 1 HP... (I need to diet, an extra 5hp would be great on the little bike)
#2 - Because while the R3T has enough power, it does feel "stunted" and simple mods can transform it back into the fire breather it should be..
#3 - Because it's fun knowing you can spank GL1800 Goldwing with a modified R3T when a few mags published the RWHP at 85 and mine now makes 128!!..

 

[Hero Blob]

someone is always faster. I've seen guys on 600cc inlines run deep in the 10s on lightly modded bikes and guys on Hayabusas and ZX14s run 12s.

Sounds like the guy on the VTX is trying to justify his purchase to himself. I've owned and ridden a haybusa for 25,000 miles. It's the fastest thing I've ever owned. I've probably had 15 bikes since them and all of them were slower. Some A LOT slower. If you ride a bike squarely for the straight line performance you're missing the whole point of why you buy a bike. Who wants to ride a bike for something you can only utilize 5% of the time. I like my bike for the overall feeling and sound of it.

That, and I don't like the VTX. At all. Honda has a pretty poor cruiser line up. It's not as bad as Suzuki or Kawasaki, but it's pretty bad.

 

[hombre]

I can only answer for myself, of course.... but riding a highly modified R3 makes me feel like Slim Pickens on an H-bomb.