![]() ![]() Great 8's: 1. 99. Class V- Twin Motorcycle Comparison. It's the biggest clear- cut class in motorcycling. Five companies offer eight different enticements for the dollars of buyers looking for a middleweight V- twin motorcycle. Propane is used in a number of applications, the most common being a heating fuel. While the Houston heating season is limited, our location, size and industrial. What's the right ride for your road to happiness? Harley 883 Sportster; Honda A.C.E. 750; Kawasaki Vulcan 800, 800 Classic and 750; Suzuki Intruder 800 and Marauder. ![]() With that many possibilities, just keeping track of what's available can be difficult. When we launched this magazine at the beginning of 1.
After all, there were five motorcycles available in the class: Harley- Davidson's popular 8. Sportster (then available in three slight variations); Kawasaki's Vulcan 7. Vulcan 8. 00, Suzuki's Intruder 8. Yamaha Virago 7. 50. By the time our first issue was ready for press, the list had grown to six when Kawasaki expanded its offerings to three with the introduction of the Vulcan 8. Classic. By the time that bike was available, we learned that a new Suzuki was on the way. That was the Marauder, released early this year. Before the Marauder was available, Honda announced that it would introduce its long- awaited entry, the Shadow American Classic Edition 7. With all the contenders gathered at last, we began to size them up. ![]() Harley Davidson Front Wheel are Rear Wheel Removal and Installation Procedures.The machines in this class can be divided into sub groups. The Suzuki Intruder and Kawasaki's original Vulcan 8. The currently popular wide look is given form by Honda's new A. C. E. 7. 50, the Kawasaki Classic and Suzuki's Marauder. At the other end of the trendiness scale are the original V- twins from Yamaha and Kawasaki, the Virago and Vulcan 7. These two, originally introduced in the early 1. Japanese stylists were still groping with the problems of meshing Asian technology with American styling tastes. The final styling variant is represented by Harley's Sportster, which plays its own song and won't fit neatly into any of the conventional styling niches. But the machines must all tackle roughly the same mission. They need enough power and comfort to provide serious transportation and fun for any experienced rider, whether his requirements entail riding across town or across the state. All eight also serve the new or . In other words, with their low saddle heights, modest bulk and weight, manageable power characteristics and friendly handling, they are designed to lure first- timers or passengers, mostly women, who want to take the handlebar into their own hands. They should be versatile. And they should carry off this act with street- smart style. The problem, at least from the standpoint of a magazine tester, is that all eight motorcycles accomplish their common mission successfully. Each one has strengths and weakness. Ranking them became a formidable task. The Way You Look Tonight. First impressions always come through your eyes, and the two Vulcan 8. Shadow A. C. E. The Honda profile elicited praise from virtually everybody, with the Vulcan Classic a close second. However, some people still have a warm spot for the chopperesque style of the Intruder and Vulcan 8. A. The dated styling of the Virago and Vulcan 7. The Sportster found both admirers and detractors but it got none of the wows that greeted the Shadow, for example. There's no goofy plastic covers or billet- look beauty panels. It's an honest machine and beautiful for it. The Intruder and the Vulcan 8. As soon as you get on a bike, its appearance becomes secondary. The farther and more frequently you ride, the less appearance matters. But ergonomics turned out to be almost as personal a matter as appearance in this class. Take the 8. 83 as an example. The high, somewhat rearward placement of the foot pegs and short (2. However, everyone liked the low bar at highway speed, where it minimized wind pressure. With the Shadow, the situation was reversed. Our shortest rider called it too big, though tall riders felt it was comfortably roomy. The wide (3. 3. 4- inch) bar created a problem for just about everyone though, since it not only spread you out in the wind like a sail but became awkward while making full- lock turns at parking- lot velocities. Shorter riders had trouble reaching the outside handgrip in a full- lock turn and taller riders discovered that the inside bar end hit their knees. Shorter riders also complained about the height of the handlebars on the Intruder and, too a lesser degree, the Vulcan 7. Oddly enough, taller riders also felt cramped on those motorcycles also, especially the Intruder with its pullback bar. The Intruder's riding position is more feet- forward than the Vulcan 7. The Intruder bar places the grips at a more vertical angle than any other bike here, which requires you to grip the bars, not just hook your hands around them to hold on at high speeds. The Vulcan 7. 50 bar is an uninspired, very 1. There were some happy mediums, however. Everyone liked the riding positions of the Virago and Vulcan Classic. The Virago has an unusual handlebar shape, but the grips end up in place that's comfortable for everyone and neither too vertical nor too pulled back. The position and angle of the Classic's handlebar ends gave it an edge over the 8. A for most riders. The Marauder and Vulcan 8. A also worked for most riders, though the bar- peg relationship wasn't quite as comfortable as on the Classic and Virago. The lowish bar on the Marauder leans you into the wind slightly, though not as much as the Harley. On the highway, most riders soon put their feet on the passenger pegs, in part because the seat and handlebar position invite it and partly because its passenger pegs easier to reach than the rest. A few unique annoyances cropped up. The Virago's rear cylinder get hot enough to make your leg uncomfortable despite a heat shield. One rider had a similar complaint about the Vulcan 7. The narrow Sportster tank displeased some riders, who also complained that the protruding air box was an uncomfortable leg rest. Sit On It. It was easier to get a consensus about seats, though bigger and heavier riders placed greater emphasis on saddle quality. The Virago's saddle met with universal praise. The saddles on the A. C. E., which is the widest and fairly flat, and the generously padded, but somewhat narrow Vulcan 7. The only complaint about the Honda saddle was that it forces taller riders to sit a bit more forward than they like. The Kawasaki 8. 00s were almost as good and some riders rated them highly. Smaller riders, who sat in the middle of it, liked the Marauder saddle, but taller riders sitting at the rear quickly felt uncomfortable pressure from the protruding latching mechanism under the saddle. The Intruder seat was too narrow for almost everyone, crowded larger riders and is also thinly padded. Our Harley was a special case, since, having experienced the standard small solo saddle, we didn't want to deal with it again. We arranged to have our test unit fitted with the accessory dual saddle, which is flat and comfortable in shape, though thin padding made it a bit hard for larger riders on long rides. Though none of these make great passenger haulers, the seats on the Kawasaki 8. Honda and Yamaha also getting good marks. Some passengers were drawn to the Vulcan 7. Intruder by their small passenger backrests, but better accessory backrests are available for all of these machines. Everyone noted that the Sportster vibrates the most, especially through the handlebar, though this annoyed some riders more than others. The Honda was rated the smoothest by everyone. The Kawasaki 7. 50 and Yamaha also prompted notes about their vibrations from multiple riders, with the rest getting a single note each about their buzz. Depending on the moment's mission, most of the suspensions drew praise or criticism. Only the Honda suspension provides both a compliant ride over bumps and steady handling in sweeping corners. Revised rates in the Harley give it stone- steady handling in smooth corners, and it out- scored the other seven in twisty- road competence. However, its tautness and limited travel turned into a liability when the road was bumpy. It delivered the harshest ride in this group, and big bumps in corners required a degree of circumspection. The Suzukis, Kawasakis and Yamaha, have softer suspension, which provides significantly smoother passage over rough spots, but also allow those machines to wallow in fast, sweeping corners. The Vulcan 7. 50 and Intruder were the worst in this regard. The Intruder exhibits the most chassis flexibility, and the VN7. This shortage of damping makes these bikes wallow. The softness of the suspension, particularly on the Virago, and to a lesser degree the Vulcan 7. None of these 8. 00s are exemplary in gusty cross winds, though again, the Intruder and Vulcan 7. On winding roads, the Sportster led the league in cornering clearance, with the Honda dragging before any of the others. In terms of steering manners, the Virago, Shadow and Sportster were the most neutral and predictable. However, the margin here was very small; no one complained about any of the machines. The wide bars make the Shadow easy to man- handle at tip- toe speeds- up to a point. The Intruder's skinny front tire and low overall weight make it feel quite light and manageable at an ultra- slow pace, though it is also slightly floppy. The Marauder, which weighs just slightly more, doesn't feel quite as light. Just Stop It. We expected the only bike here with a disc rear brake to have an edge when it was time to stop, but the Sportster's rear disc brake proved a bit too sensitive. When the group had to make a hard stop, the Harley was the one that locked up the rear wheel first. There wasn't much to separate the single- leading- shoe drum rear brakes of the other seven, especially since they also have similar tire compounds, though the the Honda seemed slightly touchier than the others, despite having the widest rear wheel in the crowd. Still, the front brakes are the critical ones in a hard stop, and there are a number of good ones here. The A. C. E., Marauder, Virago and Vulcans 7. Classic all did the job quite well, delivering strong power with good feel and feedback - - the Yamaha and Kawasaki 7. The Classic required a stronger squeeze than the others.
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