I took my Kawasaki Mule 610 in for its 50 hour service this afternoon. The shop is also a Yamaha dealership. The co-owners and parents are former students of mine. They are excellent to do business with. They had a demo Roadliner and offered me a ride on it. I never pass up an offer to try something new, so off I went. The Roadliner is a 1900cc air cooled Vtwin bike. It has pushrods and belt drive. This model did not have a windshield or bags. The bike is also fuel injected.

Ergonomics: The saddle is low and wide. About 27 inches high. The foam padding is pretty stiff. The floorboards are large and at a comfortable seating angle for me. The bike picks up off the side stand very lightly. A great deal of aluminum was used in construction. The handlebars are wide. Guages are on the tank. Speedo is large with a nostalgic look. The tach is very small. Turn signal indicators are tough to see from a full coverage helmet unless you look down, which takes your eyes pretty far from the road.

Driving impressions: For me, the bike was all about the engine. It fired up smoothly from a cold start. It has wonderful power that comes on down very low, right off idle and never stops until you let off the throttle. It's power is at least as strong and probably better than a VTX 1800, but it vibrates less. The bike is geared quite a bit taller than my Ultra. It showed 2750 rpm at 70 mph. My Ultra runs about 3200 at the same speed. Even so, this engine would pull a 6th gear at, say 2300 rpm/70 mph with no problems at all. Aside from my Ultra Classic, I've ridden a number of Honda Vtwins and owned an 1100 Shadow ACE. All of the other V-twins I've ridden (except My Ultra) were much more top heavy and cumbersome at low speed than this Roadliner. So was my 1500 Wing. This bike handles lighter than any of them. The only drawback I found about how the bike handles is that the geometry of the bike requires a lot of input to make it turn. When it does turn it does so very well without falling into the turn. The brakes are excellent and require only low effort. If you want to do the two finger sport bike braking technique, it will work well on this bike. The exhaust note was muted, but rumbled pleasantly. It was nowhere near as loud as the Bassani pipes on my Ultra, but much nicer sounding than the stock pipes I had on my Shadow ACE. The shifter is heel/toe and worked quite smoothly. The supsension is stiffer than I like. I rode about half and hour on a variety of roads including twisties, off camber turns and aobut 10 miles of interstate. I would have enjoyed more, but I didn't want to abuse the good will of the owners.

When I got back to the dealership, they asked me what I thought and I told them Yamaha needs to scrap their Venture touring bike and build their new touring bike on the Roadliner. With good bags, tourpack, cruise, stereo, intercom, etc, the Roadliner would be an excellent touring bike. They said that at least two others had said the same thing. So, am I ready to trade my Ultra for a Roadliner? Nope. I like the way my Ultra feels. It doesn't have the power of the Roadliner, but it makes me happy to ride it in a way that no other bike I've ridden or owned has ever done. I can't say why, but I know it is so. I would, however give a Roadliner serious consideration over a Wing if it was configured as a touring bike and the touring package was well done.

Don Williams of

Don's Guns
100 South South St.
New Vienna, OH 45159
2001 Harley Ultra Classic "Dark Side"
2005 Mule 610

 

You're a brave man talking about Honda's and Yamaha's on this Harley site! Someone's bound to slam ya!

I still own a Honda VTX1800. If they had the visual fit and finish of a Harley I'd probably keep it forever. The power and handling is amazing, stock air cooled Harley's can touch it for power ... but it has that ugly tank seam, a lot of chrome parts are actually plastic like the headlight and the radiator is down right ugly. I think Harley's have it all over the competition when it comes to style and fit and finish. As far as technology ... let's be honest, Harley has been playing catch-up for several years now. But now because of the advances Harley has made the past 6 or 8 years they are finally running as good as they look and I think WE consumers can thank the competition for giving Harley a reason to wake up. Harley's are finally the quality bikes they should have always been ... especially when you consider a Fat Boy out the door literally cost TWICE the price as a VTX1800. (18 grand VS 9 grand) I swore years ago never to buy one of those "oil leaking over priced always broken down on the side of the road Harley's." NOW I CAN'T WAIT to sell my Honda and finally get my 1st well made Harley. Harley changed, improved and totally they won me over!

Now my only problem is justifying selling a perfectly good VTX1800 to buy a Harley to the little lady!

 

My Dad used to just show up on whatever the new toy was that he bought. Mom would come home and there would be a different vehicle in the driveway. I didn't realize it when I married her, but my wife is the same way. When I bought the new StreetGlide, she hardly even notice, never said a word. I asked her, "Aren't you going to say anything about my new bike?" She said, "Your mom told me almost 20 years ago that you were just like your dad. She told me that to keep your dad happy, she just never said anything. She just went out and went shopping to ease the pain. Want to see my new diamond earrings?" Yep, balance is what it is all about.

 

You and Dad are lucky. I have a lot of toys being a semi-pro musician who plays 4 different instruments. But in the short 4 years we've been together she's seen me go through 5 guitars, two amps, a drum kit and 3 motorcycles. I pay for my "toys" with the extra money i make from playing music but none the less my spending habits worry her. Problem is ... since the twin cam 88 came out I've wanted a Harley but the local dealers wouldn't take my Yamaha roadstar or BMW R1100RT on a trade. PLUS they were charging from 2 to 4 grand OVER list. Well now that i own a VTX1800 the Harley market FINALLY slowed down and the dealers will take my honda on trade plus they aren't asking over list anymore. So I can FINALLY get a Harley. Wellllllllllllllllllllll She sees it as foolish spending, i see it as the chance to finally buy a Harley. She doesn't understand! ............. Oh Well ... I WILL get a Harley by next spring ... but unfortunately not today. And today the local dealers are blowing out their new 2006 stock for under list ... figures!

 

Metrics suck!


There, consider yourself slammed.....


nogood o~`o

 

Hey ... the V-Rod is a metric .... nee ner nee ner nee ner!

 

Hey Tell me more about your Ultra and take your Yamama experience to the Yamamasucks.com chat room! Seriously, I dont know what is worse, slamming Harleys 2007 twist on bikes (okay so I did a little too) or Hearing about the latest rice burner efforts.....I guess those who can't ride have to vent somewhere (10 days til Sturgis!).......

 

I wondered about the Roadliner. From pictures I saw before it came out, it looked like a great bike. But, when I saw one in person, I didn't care for the styling much. I didn't like the big speedo and the cannon looking single pipe. Other than that though, the bike had good lines. It sounds like it rides well. Thanks for the information.

 

I've seen a few roadliners in person. The bike is just too big if you ask me. It seems to go on forever. Sounds like it handles better than I would guess from it's appearance. If I wasn't sure that I wanted a Harley, I would probably try out some of these other bikes.

Also, I'm not sure where you can buy a VTX1800 for 9k, they list for over 13k on Honda's site.

 

My brother has two Yamahas and loves them. I think he's nuts.

But still that was a good review.