First ride on a cruiser
Discussion
Went out for a ride yesterday morning. Decided to visit Krazy Horse in Bury St Edmunds as allowed a reasonable and circuitous route there and back.
Krazy Horse sell custom bikes and are dealers for Indian and Victory (and Morgan cars).
I've never ridden a cruiser but as I'm getting older I'm wondering whether they might be fun (in addition to a proper bike - not as a replacement).
Dealer suggested I try one so went out on a Victory Hammer S. Bloody hell it felt awkward pulling away from the dealer and trying to get it onto the open road. Heavy, very strange seating position,
odd steering, very heavy clutch and seemingly no brakes (pulling the lever didn't seem to have much impact on speed).
Once I got it onto the country road towards Mildenhall and had had a few minutes to get used to the bike it wasn't so bad. Found it very hard to get comfortable - perhaps had I just needed longer arms. The handling wasn't that bad. At least on sweeping bends at normal speeds.
Very odd to ride a bike with a red line at 5000 rpm. I don't think that is much more than some diesel cars I've owned!
When I got back to the dealer he talked me into going out again on the Indian Scout. I wish I had gone on that first as would have been an easier transition. To ride it was much better than the Victory. Lighter controls,
slightly better brakes and it revved more. Didn't have quite the same low down pull but could seemed to have more top end. Handling was better too - although the peg went down at what seemed a fairly slow pace around a sweeping bend.
I enjoyed the Scout more although the Hammer was more of a challenge to ride (well). Didn't really test either in town traffic. Think they might be okay once you get used to them.
Frankly was a bit of a relief to get back on the S 1000 R!
Still think I am bit too young to really appreciate such bikes. I can see the appeal though. Problem for me is that I am a lazy fecker when it comes to cleaning so not sure I could cope with a bike with lots of chrome (unless I could afford to pay someone to clean it for me). Perhaps I need to find a cleaning geek to part own the bike - I could then make it dirty and let them get their kicks cleaning it
Krazy Horse sell custom bikes and are dealers for Indian and Victory (and Morgan cars).
I've never ridden a cruiser but as I'm getting older I'm wondering whether they might be fun (in addition to a proper bike - not as a replacement).
Dealer suggested I try one so went out on a Victory Hammer S. Bloody hell it felt awkward pulling away from the dealer and trying to get it onto the open road. Heavy, very strange seating position,
odd steering, very heavy clutch and seemingly no brakes (pulling the lever didn't seem to have much impact on speed).
Once I got it onto the country road towards Mildenhall and had had a few minutes to get used to the bike it wasn't so bad. Found it very hard to get comfortable - perhaps had I just needed longer arms. The handling wasn't that bad. At least on sweeping bends at normal speeds.
Very odd to ride a bike with a red line at 5000 rpm. I don't think that is much more than some diesel cars I've owned!
When I got back to the dealer he talked me into going out again on the Indian Scout. I wish I had gone on that first as would have been an easier transition. To ride it was much better than the Victory. Lighter controls,
slightly better brakes and it revved more. Didn't have quite the same low down pull but could seemed to have more top end. Handling was better too - although the peg went down at what seemed a fairly slow pace around a sweeping bend.
I enjoyed the Scout more although the Hammer was more of a challenge to ride (well). Didn't really test either in town traffic. Think they might be okay once you get used to them.
Frankly was a bit of a relief to get back on the S 1000 R!
Still think I am bit too young to really appreciate such bikes. I can see the appeal though. Problem for me is that I am a lazy fecker when it comes to cleaning so not sure I could cope with a bike with lots of chrome (unless I could afford to pay someone to clean it for me). Perhaps I need to find a cleaning geek to part own the bike - I could then make it dirty and let them get their kicks cleaning it
Esceptico said:
Problem for me is that I am a lazy fecker when it comes to cleaning so not sure I could cope with a bike with lots of chrome (unless I could afford to pay someone to clean it for me). Perhaps I need to find a cleaning geek to part own the bike - I could then make it dirty and let them get their kicks cleaning it
With the big mudguards (love them or loath them) the Chiefs keep amazingly clean...maybe should have taken one of them out? Mine is the quickest cleaning of any bike I've owned, despite having loads of chrome, and despite it being ridden in some pretty foul conditions. Mud and road-crap doesn't really get thrown up on anything shiny, and the chrome comes up with just a dry cloth after a hose down.In theory the Indian 111 motor will rev to 5500, but by 4500 it's mostly used up. Don't know the Victory specs, but the Thunderstoke 111 motor is 115ft/lb at 3000rpm. The Scout motor revs much higher. But I rather enjoy just changing up at about 2500 and letting it lug along. It'll pull 2-up with luggage up a hill quite happily sub 1500rpm.
I've had a test ride of a Victory (after I had the Chief) and the one I rode had a lot of transmission snatch (in comparison); the throttle was real off/on at small openings, and the brakes didn't give me too much confidence. Seemed well put together, but a but rough-and-ready compared to the big Indian. As an aside, once you've got used to footboards you'll never go back to pegs! Maybe it's an old-man thing though.
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