Plan B Forum

My wife likes her Hyo Comet...but wants a fairing for longer rides. Bearing that in mind, just about everything else is wide open. I've been of little help, since I know scooters better than motorcycles.

Her requirements:
Not an enormous, heavy bike. (No Goldwings!)
Not a sportbike.
Full fairing with good wind/rain protection.
Medium-sized (400-800cc) engine of any configuration...liquid cooling and EFI nice but not required.
ABS would also be nice, but not required.
No Euro bikes. (No nearby service places we trust.)
At least some storage.
Not costing a fortune.
Not needing weird maintainence/service/parts would be nice. (No needing to ship stuff from East Jabib for a brake job or pulling the engine to adjust the valves, please! Note this rules out a BMW C650GT scoot.)

Must accommodate a 5'8" rider with long legs comfortably. Highway pegs would be nice. (When I say long legs, I mean it--she can flat-foot a Goldwing or a BMW 1150GS.)

Honda did do a mid size cruiser which was fully faired.

What did they call it? (And did they sell it here...?)

Kawasaki Vulcan line used to have a 500cc and 600cc model (I have the 500cc model) but they have been discontinued. They didn't come with fairings/windshield, engine guard, sissy bar, back rack, etc, but you could buy them afterward (which I did). Smallest Vulcan now is a 900cc and it doesn't look like it comes with much in the way of extras. Most bikes don't.

Suzuki has the Bulevard series but start at 900cc bike. Don't know if they had a smaller size years ago. Again, extras cost extra.

Honda has the Shadow line which is a 750cc bike. Extras cost extra.. They also have this NM4 thing which looks like a hybrid touring/sport bike with a 670cc engine and automatic tranny. List for $10,999.

When I was looking for my bike, I liked the "feel" of the Shadow the best. By "feel" I mean, seating to handle bar arm length/height, height from seat to ground, distance between ones legs, lean angle before I would drop it, front wheel turn left stop to right stop. I bought the vulcan because it was second in "feel" and first (by far) in walk away price (after taxes, and the other bullshit it was $4k). Spent about $600 more in extras (engine guard, cruising pegs, windshield, sissy bar, back luggage rack, front fork storage pack, back storage pack).

And fyi, most touring/cruising bikes are lower to the ground than the sport bikes.

It's coming up on "down time" for bike riding. Might want to look into used. Cheaper prices than in the spring.

Definitely will be used. She seems intrigued by the Honda Pacific Coast.

Jarlaxle wrote:Definitely will be used. She seems intrigued by the Honda Pacific Coast.

Never seen that before. Looks nice, but I'm not a "cowling" type of guy. And 800cc is more than enough. If I hear of one I will let you know.
Good luck and safe riding.

ETA
If you want to know more about it, I found it on wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Pacific_Coast

She's still looking...basically, it's down to a Honda PC and a Kawasaki Concours 1000. She's favoring the lighter, more-relaxed PC...it seems to be designed for easy maintenance (offhand, no valve lash adjustments), not to mention being bulletproof even by Honda motorcycle standards!

I just noticed this thread. I have had two PC's and I keep an eye on Craigslist for them, just out of curiosity. They seem to be increasing in value as time goes by. Seller's of nice low mileage PC800's are asking over four grand, at least around here.

What did your S.O. end up with?