Last year these four motorcycles would have been part of our big twins comparison. Then the Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 upset the order of things. All by itself it created a mega-twin class into which we swept the other oversized maxi-Vs, the Honda VTX1800 and the Yamaha Road Star 1700.That new ber-twin class narrowed the number of bikes eligible for this comparison, which we limited to V-twin-powered straight cruisers with displacements from 1400cc to 1600cc. Even so, we could have included more than 20 models, too many to make a focused comparison. The displacement limits eliminated Honda and Yamaha, but Kawasaki still makes 1500s and 1600s, Harley has a full range of 1450s, Victory's line is composed entirely of 1500s and Suzuki sells a 1400 (actually 1360cc), 1500 and, new this year, a 1600. However, we knew from past experience that there were some bikes that wouldn't be competitive.
Final Four
Harley's Dyna series has not impressed us recently, so we didn't ask for one of them. It took a bit of discussion to decide which Harley Softail we wanted, but we finally settled on Harley's bestseller, the Fat Boy, which topped our 2000 big twins comparison (see www.motorcyclecruiser.com/roadtests/Twins2000/).
Kawasaki has a pair of 1500 and 1600 models. We might have chosen the new 1600 Mean Streak, which in 1500cc form was our pick from our '02 big twins face-off. However, Kawasaki and Suzuki's agreement to share models has led to one design becoming both the Kawasaki Vulcan 1600 Mean Streak and, with minor changes, the Suzuki Marauder 1600. From past experience we knew Suzuki's 1400 and 1500 Intruders were not going to be front-runners, so we took the Marauder 1600 as Suzuki's designated hitter. That left three Kawasaki Vulcans. The unique retro 1500 Drifter and the somewhat dated 1500 Classic might uphold the honor of the Vulcan line (and the carbureted 1500 Classic, at under $9000, is certainly more than competitive on a cost basis), but the Vulcan 1600 Classic appeared to be the obvious choice.
Victory offers two models, the successful Vegas or the new Kingpin, which is closely based on the Vegas with a slight bias toward comfort and handling and a more traditional look. Naturally we wanted the Kingpin, which we hadn't tested yet.
The Fattening of America
The Fat Boy might be considered the prototype for this entire class, and certainly Harley's competitors would love to have such a successful motorcycle, especially one that has been selling as well as the Fat Boy has for 15 years. Powered by Harley's dual-counterbalancer, twin-cam, 1450cc air-cooled twin with a clean Softail frame wrapped around it, the Fat Boy epitomizes that particularly American wide, fat look. Although it retains distinctive features such as disc-style cast wheels and that shotgun-style exhaust configuration, competitors have frequently sought to imitate other parts of its make-up, from the chunky 16-inch wheels wrapped with full fenders to the tank-top instruments, covered fork legs, the fork nacelle backing the headlight, the chrome airbox alongside the engine, the floorboards, the hidden-shock rear suspension and the low, wide saddle. Although it comes up short in a few areas such as a mere single front brake disc, the current-generation engine and chassis make an impressive functional package, too.