The Kawasaki Cruiser That Arrives Touring-Ready While Harley Sends You To The Catalog
For the longest time, cruiser motorcycles have always been sold with the promise of making you picture empty highways, roadside diners, and weekends where the only schedule is the next fuel stop. But buying a cruiser and buying a touring cruiser aren’t really the same thing. Plenty of riders leave the dealership convinced they’re ready for long-distance adventures, only to spend the next few months shopping for equipment that actually makes those adventures enjoyable.
The windshield is suddenly essential after the first interstate ride, saddlebags become necessary when carrying anything more than a wallet, and a passenger backrest is on your grocery list after hearing your pillion complain for the thousandth time. This is where one usually overlooked Japanese cruiser comes into the picture.
Harley’s Bobber Philosophy Is Brilliant… Until The Highway Calls
The Harley-Davidson Street Bob embraces the classic bobber formula, stripping away anything that doesn’t contribute to its raw, muscular character. Sitting at its heart is Harley’s Milwaukee-Eight 117 V-twin producing about 98 horsepower and 120 pound-feet of torque. Twist the throttle and the bike lunges forward with the kind of oomph only a large-displacement American V-twin can produce. Mini ape-hanger handlebars, mid-mounted controls, blacked-out finishes, and minimalist styling complete the package. It is without a doubt one of the coolest factory cruisers out there, around town or on short rides.
Touring Starts With A Credit Card
While that stripped-down philosophy is part of the Street Bob’s charm, it also reveals itself the moment your rides start stretching beyond the local coffee shop. Imagine planning a weekend along winding mountain roads or several hundred miles of interstate. The first thing you’ll probably notice is the wind. Without a windshield, highway speeds become more tiring than expected, pushing your chest into an endless wrestling match with the airflow. Then there’s luggage, or rather the lack of it. A backpack could work for an afternoon, but not for an overnight trip. Then there’s passenger comfort, too, with a lot of reviews describing the stock pillion seat as “padded masonry”.
The Accessory Math Changes The Whole Conversation
Most cruiser comparisons stop after listing horsepower, torque and MSRP, but that’s only part of the ownership story. A detachable windshield costs upwards of $400. Add in saddlebags, mounting hardware and a passenger backrest, and you’ve already ventured into four-figure territory. Harley did this on purpose, though. They didn’t leave the bike unfinished; they simply left room for you to customize the bike the way you would like to. But all of this adds to the $14,999 MSRP price tag. That leaves us with one question. What if you wanted a motorcycle fitted for touring straight out of the factory, but just more affordable?
Kawasaki Quietly Built The Vulcan 900 Classic LT To Do-It-All
The Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic LT has occupied this niche for years. It is for riders who care less about customizing and more about riding. The Vulcan comes packed with equipment that Street Bob owners often supplement with accessories or aftermarket parts. You want an adjustable windshield? Already installed. Deep-dye leather saddlebags? Included. Passenger backrest? Standard equipment. Add a deeply scooped rider’s seat, wide handlebars, roomy floorboards and a generous 5.3-gallon fuel tank, and the Vulcan starts looking less like a middleweight cruiser and more like a scaled-down touring machine. At just $10,599, the Kawasaki Vulcan feels more complete than most big cruisers on the market today.
Less Power But More Practicality
Usually, whenever someone talks about the Vulcan, someone else inevitably points to the spec sheet. It’s an understandable reaction, especially since Harley’s 1,923 cc engine produces nearly twice the torque and considerably more horsepower than Kawasaki’s 903 cc engine. If this were about traffic-light launches, the Street Bob obviously wins.
But the Kawasaki is tuned very differently. 58 pound-feet of torque pushes the bike forward in a smooth, predictable manner. 51 horsepower ensures that the rider feels more relaxed cruising around rather than constantly accelerating and decelerating in traffic. The bike seems to settle into an easy rhythm when on the highway, asking you to only enjoy the scenery and not chase everyone else.
Comfort Wins Long Before Horsepower Matters
Cruiser buyers don’t obsess over engine specifications, and comfort is usually what takes precedence. However, when comparing the Street Bob and the Vulcan, the specs are hard to ignore. That’s why Kawasaki seems to have thrown all of their focus into comfort. The bike’s riding position reflects years of refinement: the wide handlebars fall naturally to hand, the spacious floorboards allow riders to shift their feet throughout the day, and the sculpted saddle keeps both the rider and the pillion comfortably planted without feeling restrictive. The standard windshield also adds to this comfort, deflecting air around the rider rather than letting all of it plow into their chest.
The Bigger Fuel Tank Makes A Bigger Difference Than You Think
As far as the body goes, Kawasaki has tuned the Vulcan for touring. 41 mm telescopic front forks from Showa come with 5.9 inches of travel and a hidden Uni-Trak monoshock with 4.1 inches of travel. But the highlight of the Vulcan is its large 5.3-gallon fuel tank. Combine that with its average of 48 miles per gallon economy, and you can go for really long stretches before having to stop for fuel. The Harley will ask you to plan your stops carefully, but with the Vulcan, you can be a little more liberal.
This Was Never About Winning A Dyno Sheet
It’s tempting to reduce every motorcycle comparison to a winner and a loser, but that completely misses the point here. The Street Bob and the Vulcan 900 Classic LT are solving two very different problems for different riders. Harley’s offering is for those who value raw character, enormous torque and the freedom to build a custom cruiser over time. The Vulcan takes the opposite approach and, rather than selling potential, it sells completion. It assumes that its riders don’t want to bother with a project bike and instead simply want to ride, preferably not to the dealer again for more parts.
The Kawasaki Vulcan 900 isn’t a better motorcycle than the Harley-Davidson Street Bob because it has a bigger engine or more impressive performance figures. It doesn’t. What the Vulcan offers instead is something many riders appreciate even more: readiness. It comes with the windshield you want on the highway, the saddlebags you will eventually buy, and the backrest your pillion will eventually ask you to get. The Street Bob is a brilliant motorcycle, but the Vulcan is more like a scaled-down bagger that doesn’t ask for full-size touring money.
Source: Kawasaki
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