|
|
This road test of the big boys of the V-twin world pits the Honda VTX 1800N against the Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 and the Yamaha Road Star 1700..
The parameters of the test were simple: Street-styled cruisers with a V-twin engine displacement of at least 1700cc. (It is a brave new world indeed when 1500cc V-twin bikes can be thought of as middleweights. Expect a Motorcycle Cruiser test of the 1500/1600cc cruisers to follow shortly.) All three of the big, big twins to make the cut were, coincidentally, new or much-improved bikes for 2004. The players were Yamaha's overhauled Road Star 1700, with its pushrod twin the only engine here that's air-cooled and carbureted. Honda's eye-catching, Rune-influenced VTX 1800N (Neo-Retro) brings an 1800cc, liquid-cooled, fuel-injected design and a single overhead camshaft design, while Kawasaki's ultimate gunslinger, the V2K—which invokes serious piston envy at a whopping 2000cc—is another pushrod, but unlike the Yamaha, it's liquid-cooled and injected. Oh yeah, we invited the Harley Custom Vehicle Operations' (CVO) Screamin' Eagle Ultra Glide... |
|
|
