Harley-Davidson Electra Glide Ultra Limited; Kawasaki Vulcan Voyager; Star Royal Star Venture; and Victory Vision Tour - The Lap of Luxury

Riding Positions

Even though I'm definitely not a fan of its styling, it's hard not to rate the Vision at the top of my list. It just did everything well. Overall, the Harley was my second favorite bike in the lineup, and I would unquestionably buy it-though I would have liked more seat time on the thing (Cherney kept hogging it). In terms of pure function, the Honda was the best bike we rode for the 3 days we had it. Ergonomically though, the Kawasaki fit me best-of the three metric bikes, I liked this one most for my fitment. I'd even be tempted to buy one for touring due to its low price and decent styling. The only negative things on the Voyager are the lower fairings that retained too much heat-as we rode in a lot of high temperatures.

The Venture didn't have much going for it. With carbs, shaft drive, and no power down low, I was surprised to find out that it was made by the fine folks at Yamaha... er Star, their bikes tend to be spot-on.

I enjoyed riding most of the bikes. This was my first real long distance tour and most of the way, the Honda Gold Wing was my favorite. It felt the most comfortable and solid of the four. I felt utterly safe and confident on it. Next in line was the Kawasaki-it turned out to fit my body the best and, I felt that for a long touring ride, form should follow function. To me, that was the Voyager. It handled well, too, but I had some issues with the way it would get blown around when winds were high. I liked the Harley's character and feel on the road, and overall, it was a well-designed bike that was fun to ride. The Victory was a strong runner and definitely offered the best protection in inclement conditions, but when the rear passenger board almost took my foot off (for the third time) in a low speed u-turn, that was the last straw. I simply didn't want to ride it anymore. As for the Star...well, I liked the paint job. Its nervousness in corners just unnerved me, sapping my confidence, and made me really not want to spend much time on it.

If a jaunt to Sturgis is in your future, any one of these freighters will punch the clock without complaint. None of them really suits my touring style (900 pounds, no thanks), but for overall ergos, the Voyager fit me to a tee. True, it didn't have as many doodads as the others, but I don't use half that crap anyway. If you need to stare at a GPS screen en route, just go buy one for $100. Nevertheless, Kawasaki should offer more options if they wanna play in this class-and clean up the gearing ratios while they're at it. It's a solid first effort, but the Voyager needs a bit more refinement to really shine.

I nearly got swept away by the Vision's impeccable road manners, but the thing is too unwieldy at low speed, plus storage capacity is kind of underwhelming. Which is a shame, because the Victory ticks all the right boxes otherwise- superb ergonomics, spot-on fueling and an impressive power band made it the bike to beat here.

Harley's Limited finally throws down an answer to the wheezy Twin Cam 96, and the 103 mill should be standard issue on all of Milwaukee's tourers. I can't say enough good stuff about the ABS system, either. H-D has a winner on its hands-too bad the Vision bests it in almost every way, and for less coin. Meanwhile, the Venture...well, it's tall, top-heavy and...it just doesn't fit me at all.

I didn't get to ride the 'Wing, but for this race, it's the Vision in a photo-finish.

The way I see it there are two classes of bike in this test; those over and those under $20,000. If you want bikes with factory-installed bells and whistles, you're looking at well north of 20. In the under-20 category, it's an interesting clash of new versus old with Kawasaki's bargain-priced Voyager squaring off against Star's perennial Venture. I remember working at my first motorcycle magazine job back in the 1990's when the Venture was first released, and not much has changed since. The Voyager, on the other hand, is a brand-new bike, but one that seems not as well thought-out. The six-speed transmission is poorly matched to the high-strung powerplant, the plastic is particularly flimsy, the hand controls are odd, and the handling is weird. I like the Star better, as everything that's wrong with it is easily fixed, but it's still silly to charge so much for an eleven-year-old machine.

The high-end bikes are more my cup of tea, as they're purpose built touring rigs not modified cruisers. The Harley is like a refined old friend. Comfortable, familiar, and seems to be getting better all the time. It's got a good number of bells and whistles, last year's new chassis works well, and the 103 engine is a step in the right direction. If traditional is your schtick, this is the way to go. That said, the freakishly-styled Victory Vision bests it in almost every way. Comfort, power, and handling are all better. Even so, it does have some carrying issues; that top box is so high and far back that when loaded it creates some low-speed handling jiggles, and the side boxes are pretty skimpy, but of the bikes we had, it was the most in demand.