Cruisser Classics

Cruisser Classics

Lucky 13

NOSTALGIA FOR SALE

AS WE HURTLE TOWARD THE MILLENNIUM, WE'RE HAUNTED by the ghost of the ideal past. In our hurried world, with headlines full of crime, downsizing and almost inexplicably rapid change, there's something infinitely appealing about the artifacts of slower, surer days: old Coca-Cola signs, `56 Buick Roadmasters, classic American motorcycles.

Surely that nostalgia explains the Honda Shadow Aero, Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 Classic and Suzuki 1500 Intruder LC, motorcycles that would fit right in on pre-interstate Route 66, machines that take their cues from the big-fend ered, big-inch Harley and Indian V-Twins that ruled the byways of the past. Of course, nostalgia only goes so far, and these new machines are fitted with overhead-cam engines, shaft drive and the kind of never-think-about-it modern electric systems that riders of the Sixties, let alone the Forties, would have killed for.

Of the three, the Shadow Aero strikes closest to a styling bulls-eye. Honda's designers clearly did more than just look at photos of other retro-bikes; they went back to the roots of Thirties American design and got a real apprecia tion for the streamlined aesthetic that once helped shape everything from DC-3s to roadside diners. Even the Shadow Aero's name acknowledges this debt to the former design movement.

In person, the two-toned pearl orange/pearl white machine fairly glows with visual appeal. The teardropped headlight shell morphs upward at the rear to carry a beautifully understated, white-faced speedometer; the turnsignals are works of art; and the chromed fender stays are curva ceous and true without copying Harley. It really does look like a $~\ dream machine from the 1939 \ World's Fair.

Kawasaki

Vulcan 1500 Classic

$10,699

A Right-now throttle response A 3 more bhp, 4 more ft-lbs. than last year's Classic A Excellent ergos

`~owns v About to be out-retroed by Indian-inspired Vulcan "Vintage" v Faux engine sidecover, overdone rear-fender flip

` The Aero's 1100cc, liquidcooled V-Twin comes from the Shadow American Classic Edition, a single crankpin design that results in the same firing intervals as a Harley Big Twin, and the same tendency toward excessive vibration-largely tamed in this instance by rubber engine mounts.

Honda

Aero 1100

A Classic styling that doesn't copy Harley-Davidson A Typically excellent Honda fit and finish

`~owns v There's no replacement for displacement v Handlebar is w-i-d-e v May be mistaken for Good Humor truck

Fire it up, and there's a familiar Shadow idle: syncopated, but without the loping misfires of a Harley. The engine is mechanically quiet, and the exhaust note is surprisingly authoritative. The wide-more than 38 inches-handlebar curves way back to meet your hands, and places you essen tially upright. The floorboards are forward, and the riding position is roomy and relaxed. Accelerate away, and those floorboards are the primary conduit for whatever low-fre quency vibration makes its way through the engine mounts; at 60 mph the Aero transmits more vibes than do the other machines, but not so much as to substantially annoy.

Less appealrng, though, isthe power, or lack thereof. This version of the Shadow engine has been tuned for torque, but with only 1100cc to its competitors' 1500, it can neither grunt as hard, nor accelerate as quickly. By the time you're doing 75 mph on the freeway, roll-ons in top gear are noticeably sluggish. All in all, the Aero is a beautiful bike, lower and smaller feeling than its competition, but hurting for displace ment-it needs more cc to play in this league, or at least the 54-bhp, twin-crankpin motor fitted to the Shadow Spirit.

Suzuki didn't make that mis take with its new 1500 Intruder LC. Its engine is an extensively modified version of the Intruder 1400 powerplant, bored and stroked from 1360cc to 1462cc. Unlike the older engine, this Intruder places both carbs in the engine's Vee, with the rear exhaust pipe exiting aft instead of forward. The new cylinder heads also have slightly smaller intake ports, helping to move the torque peak down to a lowly 2200 rpm, but a big, 6-liter air box masquerading as a gas tank and big mufflers actually help the Intruder 1500 to slightly outpower as well as out-torque its smaller sibling.

The motor needs that power, because Suzuki has placed it in a huge motorcycle, one that stretches out on a 67.0-inch wheelbase and weighs nearly 700 pounds when full of gas. The bike looks huge when you first see it, with the deepest fenders in motorcycling-the rear covering a massive, 180section tire-and what has to be the widest (and most corn fortable) seat.

- BUt the engineers have built a machine that works well. Placing the gas tank below the seat contributes to a low cen ter of gravity, an inch-and-a-half under that of the 1400, and balancing this heavyweight isn't difficult. Thirty percent more flywheel inertia has transformed the character of the Intruder powerplant, gelding the rambunc tious 1400 engine into a mellow workhorse. It pulls surely from low rpm, and keeps on pulling until you smack into the rev limiter; it's capa ble of pulling the big machine through the quarter in 14.2 sec onds, and through a 60-to-80-mph rollon almost a second quicker than the Honda. The pull-back handlebar actually leans a tall rider forward slightly, and the only real flaw in the ergonomics while interstate cruising is that the floorboards don't let you stretch out quite as far as you might like. Otherwise, the 1500 Intruder is a great nostalgic touring bike.

Too bad that its styling is a little, well, overdone. The 750 and 1400 Intruders were done by Suzuki USA designers, part of a department and capability that no longer exists. The 1500 was styled by the home team, and it shows, from the cluttered area in front of the engine where the battery mounts to the bulbous fake sidecover on the left side of the engine merging with the chromed toolbox behind it. Obviously, someone thought the svelte Intruder clutch and transmission were wrong for the proper Big Twin look, but this cosmetic band-aid is a poor cure.

The Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 Classic walks a tighter line between style and the performance that comes from big-inch torque. Oh, it relies on fakery, too, with its entire curvaceous left sidecover concealing the blocky and Ninja-like engine covers underneath. Overall, though, Kawasaki has cap tured an American custom look more faithfully than did Suzuki, if not with the grace of the Honda Aero.

Suzuki

1500 Intruder LC

A'ps A 500-mile seat almost wide enough to ride two-up, side-by-side A Great-shifting tranny

owns v Engine cover on left the largest prosthesis since Mark Wahlberg's in Boo gie Nights v Would benefit from a charisma booster shot v Where's the Marauder 1500?

But the Kawasaki motor makes up for a slight deficit in pure beauty. The 1470cc liquid-cooled engine pulls hard from down low, and though its performance numbers are similar to the Suzuki’s, it feels more willing-probably because of slightly lighter flywheels. The new-for-’98 fivespeed transmission is a welcome addition, allowing easy shifting and relaxed highway cruising-who was the genius who thought we wanted four speeds, anyway?

On the highway, the big Kawasaki is slightly roomier than the Suzuki because of a floorboard design that allows a little more foot movement. Like the others, the Vulcan places you in a roomy, classic riding position that’s more upright than cruiser laid-back, a riding position that worked 50 years ago, and still works today. And while the Kawasaki seat doesn’t have the breadth of the Suzuki’s, it suffices just fine for low-key touring.

In the end, and by the smallest of margins, the Vulcan takes the retro-cruiser crown. The Honda is prettier, the Suzuki a better-functioning tourer. But the Kawasaki best balances retro looks with big-inch performance, and thus best puts the ghost of the past to work today.

Steve Anderson