Got a bike you’d like to flaunt? Send prints or high-resolution digital files (300 dpi, please) of your cruiser plus info about it to Motorcycle Cruiser, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245 or cruiser@sorc.com.

Got a bike you’d like to flaunt? Send prints or high-resolution digital files (300 dpi, please) of your cruiser plus info about it to Motorcycle Cruiser, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245 or cruiser@sorc.com.

Got a bike you’d like to flaunt? Send prints or high-resolution digital files (300 dpi, please) of your cruiser plus info about it to Motorcycle Cruiser, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245 or cruiser@sorc.com.

That sucking sound in your investment portfolio may be an all-too-familiar happening these days, but it hasn’t stopped conspicuous consumption in some parts of the motorcycle industry. Apparently, there’s a certain percentage of the population that is still raking it in; affluent folks who, coincidentally, represent Harley’s target demographic for its CVO machines. In Harley parlance, they’re the Alpha customer.

2012 Dyna Switchback
Helmet: AFX FX-95
Jacket: Alpinestars Quantum
Boots: AlpineStars Afrika XCR
Gloves: ICON Super Duty

As motorcycles have become more specialized, they’ve focused more intently on smaller slices of the market. However, that niche focus has a drawback: Ask the bike to step out of its area of expertise, and it can become as uncoordinated as a nerd trying to talk to the head cheerleader. So, imagine our surprise when we discovered that Victory’s conversion of the Cross Country from a touring cruiser into the Cross Country Tour tourer made the bike even more versatile.">As motorcycles have become more specialized, they’ve focused more intently on smaller slices of the market. However, that niche focus has a drawback: Ask the bike to step out of its area of expertise, and it can become as uncoordinated as a nerd trying to talk to the head cheerleader. So, imagine our surprise when we discovered that Victory’s conversion of the Cross Country from a touring cruiser into the Cross Country Tour tourer made the bike even more versatile.

If you’re an internationally-known custom bike builder, chances are you make a pilgrimage each year to one of the biggest international bike events on the planet—Sturgis. What’s surprising is that this year, a relatively unknown customizer took top honors in the 2011 World Championship of Custom Bike Building held last August in South Dakota.

Historically, motorcyclists have always been part of a breed characterized by fierce individualism. Their bikes have usually reflected their individual character, and they rode when others around them couldn’t understand why anyone would want to get around on two wheels, exposed to the elements, when they could be comfortably enveloped in a “cage.” This difference in personal choice led bikers to feel a strong sense of community; everyone on two wheels felt connected, whether they rode a Harley or a Honda. The feeling of connection was often manifested in “the wave.” You still see it on the highway: two riders approaching will often give each other a nonchalant flick of the hand, acknowledging the brotherhood (and increasingly sisterhood!) of being in the wind.

Helmet: Icon Airframe	Helmet: Bell Revolver	Helmet: Arai Corsair V	Helmet: Vemar Jiano Evo TC
Jacket: Alpinestars Grease Monkey	Jacket: TourMaster Raven	Jacket: Tourmaster Centurion	Jacket: AGV Sport Tempest
Gloves: Dainese Tracker	Gloves: Icon Sub Stealth	Gloves: Alpinestars SPS Leather	Gloves: Dianese Blaster
Boots: Joe Rocket	Boots: Timberland	Boots: Alpinestars Soho	Boots: Sidi Laguna Gore-Tex

American Honda Motor Company’s also gearing up for the new model year, but the latest 2012 cruiser model release by the Japanese firm is just a carryover. The new-model release that’s sure to resonate with cruiser enthusiasts is the Rebel, a popular and enduring small-displacement street bike.

Motorcycle: 2005 Suzuki S83 (Intruder 1400)
Owner: Stan Reents
Occupation: Healthcare Professional

:: Middleweight Comparison ::

Fly Buy Ride | Experience
Milwaukee Harley-Davidson Launches a Unique Experience

Dee-AH-vul: it means ‘devil’ in the Bolognese dialect of Italian… and to Cruiser readers, it will no doubt live up to its name. The hate mail comes on hot and heavy whenever we feature a Ducati in these pages, so we’ll keep this brief. The gist is this: though Ducati thinks they have themselves a cruiser, we can confirm that this is abundantly not true.

We all know that production “customs” have become the norm. But while just about every manufacturer offers a less-is-more blackened model to the market, shape is now changing, as well as color. Ape hangers are in, straight bars are out. Enter the production bobber.

Got a bike you’d like to flaunt? Send prints or high-resolution digital files (300 dpi, please) of your cruiser plus info about it to Motorcycle Cruiser, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245 or cruiser@sorc.com

Got a bike you’d like to flaunt? Send prints or high-resolution digital files (300 dpi, please) of your cruiser plus info about it to Motorcycle Cruiser, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245 or cruiser@sorc.com

The dog days of summer are truly upon us. The air is thicker, the wind calmer, and the days longer—extending before us like endless tarmac shimmering in the late afternoon light. The natural human reaction is to dream of escape, and for cruiser riders, that usually means one thing: Road Trip.

Got a bike you’d like to flaunt? Send prints or high-resolution digital files (300 dpi, please) of your cruiser plus info about it to Motorcycle Cruiser, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245 or cruiser@sorc.com

Motorcycling can come late to some of us, perhaps approaching with a need to escape stress and workaday woe, or simply as an economical alternative to whatever massive gas sucker parked in the driveway. For others, it comes none too soon.

Want attitude without the painful negative cash flow? Style without heft? Then you’re better off in the middle, it seems. Last issue, we poked under the hoods of the latest 1300cc cruisers from Honda and Star ("The Happy Mediums"), sampling their middleweight road warriors, the Interstate and V Star 1300 Tourer. In Part Two, we dig into the more street-savvy offerings from each manufacturer, pitting the pro-street Honda Sabre against Star’s radical factory custom, the Stryker. These low-slung, high-style rigs are more suited for trolling down the Sunset Strip than for a mile-munching road trip, so to match the machines to the task, we squired them through the unforgiving back alleys of downtown L.A.

Attitude + Darkness = The New Cool

The sun sweeps over vast expanses of statuesque saguaro cactus in the crook of the Superstition Mountains. Here, nestled in the Valley of the Four Peaks, is Fort McDowell, home to the Yavapai Indians and more to the point, the base camp for Triumph’s 2011 MY Cruiser line launch.