Motorcycle Safety & Driveability: reliable cruiser, honda vfr 800, honda st1300

Question
I'm looking for a reliable cruiser that I can put a lot of miles on. I travel extensively for work and I'd like something that I can rely on for 500-1000 mile trips. Specifically I would like a four cylinder cruiser (like a Honda Magna or Kawasaki Eliminator). Also something that has decent range so I don't have to stop every hundred miles. Any suggestions?

Answer
Ryan,

The Honda Magna you mentioned is commonly considered one of the smoothest cruiser type bikes. But it does have some criticism for the size of the fuel tank. I personally prefer V4 motorcycles. The engine seems to be the perfect combination of smoothness and performance. Unfortunately, aside from the Yamaha Star VMax I cannot find another cruiser style bike using the V4 engine. The Yamaha Star Royal Venture was last offered in 2009. If you are looking for a motorcycle of that size you can probably find either new or very low mileage bikes of those models for sale.

If you decide to look at other style motorcycles there are some Sportourers using the V4 engines such as the Honda ST1100 manufactured 1991-2002 (I own one and routinely get 50 mpg and can go close to 300 miles before needing to stop for fuel), the Honda ST1300 manufactured 2003 to present is the newer version. The Honda VFR 800 and VFR 1200 are also V4 engines but lean a little more toward the sportbike end of the spectrum.

One other V4 motorcycle recently introduced into the United States is the Honda Crossrunner it is a 700cc motorcycle with adventure-type styling. There are also rumors that Honda may be bringing the Crosstourer 1200 which was recently released in Europe and Australia to the US.

I'm sorry I couldn't locate more options that are strictly in the cruiser line but hopefully there are enough options there for you to expand your search. I hope I've been able to help somewhat.

Good luck with your search and I'm curious to hear what you end up purchasing. Please let me know.

Thank you for the question.

Tom