Road Trip Trinity

Get Yer Gear
The secret to getting out of town cleanly is to arrange for the group to meet at a restaurant just outside the city limits. The Denny's on I-5 just north of L.A. has become our de facto staging point, and it was the perfect place to plan a route of departure. Between mouthfuls we compared notes on packing the baggers.

Though they look pretty healthy, the Road King's bags have a narrow opening that requires some items to be squeezed in. While this isn't really an issue if you're riding solo, going two-up might make space a little tight when you throw passenger cargo into the mix. The tops of the bags close firmly and can be left locked or unlocked-which is nice when you're spending the day in the saddle and may want to grab a water bottle.

The Nomad's and Vision's bags are far more stylized, but of the two, only the Kawasaki's back up the bling with usable capacity. And both bikes' bags are side-loading, so you might consider accessory bag liners to take full advantage of the space (more so with the Kawasaki). As a safety feature the Nomad's bags will not open-or close-without the key. The Kawasaki is the only bike that sports functional helmet locks too, tucked discreetly under each bag's tip-over bar.

The Vision, however, really betrays its promise of a cavernous cargo hold: Open up the sculpted side-opening bags, and bam-a tiny indent of a glove compartment.

Like the Wind
No matter how hard we plan, escaping any big city requires that some time be spent on an interstate highway at the beginning and end of a trip. While hours on the superslab can be irritating if you're heading out on vacation, it's a good place to field-test the bikes at high speeds. As we progressed through our bike swaps every 100 miles or so, we compared notes and quickly arrived at some conclusions.

The windshields on all three bikes vary quite a bit in height. The Harley's windshield is the highest of the bunch. Our tallest rider (average Joe 5-foot-9 Neric) could just about see over the Lexan, but the others in the group had to strain for a clear view. Of course, Harley offers numerous other sizes through its accessory catalog.

Next in line, the Nomad's windshield may be adjustable over a 2-inch range, and the version we got was just about at eye level for 5-feet-7-inch Cherney. It seems Kawasaki has lowered its shield height-the last one we rode in 2005 was far taller. Finally, the Vision has the lowest windshield of the trio, and nobody had any complaints about its height. And because we had the Premium trim version of the Vision Street, it was electronically height-adjustable with just the touch of button.

In motion, the three windscreens offer varying levels of protection. Since the Road King lowers are optional accessories, it offers the least wind protection, which made for a chilly ride over the several passes we climbed en route to Santa Barbara. Once we dropped into the warmth of Santa Ynez Valley, however, we reveled in the extra breeze. The Nomad offers ample wind protection with just enough high-frequency buffeting to warrant comment when battling fierce headwinds. Since the lowers can be removed with an Allen key, we'd probably do just that for more cooling airflow on midsummer tours. In the morning chill and the brisk ride home at the end of a trip, though, the Vision is the bike to sequester yourself on. The massive fairing and adjustable windshield combined with the adjustable lowers create a pocket of air to fully shield the rider from icy blasts. The flip side is that in hot weather the Victory can get pretty toasty, particularly around the feet.

Although these bikes are meant for racking up miles, the windshields on two are easily removable (as are the Rocket III's and Royal Star's-see sidebars pages 42 and 46). The Harley's can be stripped off in less than 10 seconds-just tilt the shield and lift it free. The Kawasaki requires a little effort to remove the eight Allen bolts to free it of its windshield and lowers, but the process takes less than 10 minutes.

Stripped of windshields, the Road King and Nomad look like entirely different motorcycles. The hardware remaining is barely noticeable.

While the Vision's shield is integrated, its cool, colorful dash with the speedometer provides a striking accent to the handlebar, easily making the Victory a visual standout right off the bat. Of course there's no stripping down the Vision-once you're on it, you'd better like bodywork and plenty of it.