I've had a bunch of bikes in my life, and now I'm thinking of buying something to go touring on. Most of my bikes have been sportbikes or standards, and I really like sport touring bikes, but I also kinda like cruiser style tourers, like the Honda VTX1800 and the Kawasaki Vulcan. I'm not too keen on BMW's, they just seem weird for weird's sake.

It seems Honda has joined the fray of touring-oriented cruisers. Looks nice.

http://news.motorcyclesmack.com/99-n...announced.html

My wife seems to like the cruiser style touring bikes better, but really she's OK with anything with a backrest. Maybe I wouldn't be quite so tempted to do wheelies if I had a bike that, well, couldn't do wheelies. But then again, who wants to ride around at a relaxed pace all the time? I've got some thinking to do. Maybe I could just buy a V-Strom! Can you get a backrest for that thing?

What do y'all think, what are the pros and cons of each kind of touring bike?

Cruisers, man ... not my taste at all. I have a Yamaha FJR1300 and I wouldn't trade if for anything.

Hey, if you haven't tried it, don't knock it. I had a Harley Road King for a while and it was hands down the best bike for racking up miles. It'll cruise all day at 80 mph, and it looks cool to boot. Not to mention the ladies love it, and the resale value is fantastic.

Personally I don't understand why anyone would ride a Yamaha, they don't hold their value at all, just plastic Jap crap.

Mine doesn't leak oil, and I have ground clearance, good brakes, and doesn't break down all time. And my Yamaha will never leave me stranded on the side of the road.

Like they say, 90% of harleys are still on the road, the other 10% made it home.

There's a pretty amusing post over at:
Who's the Bigger Asshat, the Harley Rider or the Hummer Driver?

I laughed out loud at this:

Ever since I saw a picture of my dentist in full costume with the do-rag, leather vest, etc., I'm never sure if the bad-ass going by on the Harley is a meth dealer or a dentist.

Its the same old argument over and over......Harley versus Metric. However I have to admit its kinda fun to bash the other guys bike. Kinda like telling "your momma" jokes.

Like a very wise man once said "Can't we all just get along"?

I've had a few Harleys recently, and sportbikes my whole life. I can tell you that Harleys are pretty much as reliable as anything out there these days. My least reliable bike so far was a KTM single; at 16000 miles, it began to self-destruct.
For touring bikes, I would definitely try to ride a few styles before making that decision. Cruiser/tourers are pretty cool, Victory's got a nice one, Yamaha Roadliner, Honda VTX Tourer, etc. I find that when I'm on a cruiser, I just lose any desire to go fast, although it's fun to drag floorboards. They're just relaxing to ride, you lose the speed attitude. With an FJR13 or Concours 14, you're just gonna wanna go fast again, and might wish you were on a sportbike.