Bagger's Banquet

BAGGER'S BANQUET

arley-Davidson

Road Glide

Kawasaki

Vaquero

MARC COOK

ENTHUSIASTS HAVE BEEN CUSTOMIZING TOURING HARLEYS since about 10 minutes after the first one leaked its way out of a Milwaukee dealership, sometime shortly after the ` discovery of fire and the beginnings of written language. By 1998, Harley had internalized the custom bagger idea and produced the Road Glide. The RG was almost as touring-competent as Harley's best big rigs but lacked the chrome excesses and "old man" image of the Electra Glide. It was an instant and enduring success.

CW COMPARISON

Where Harley goes so, too, must its competition. Having already seen suc cess with the Vulcan 1700 Voyager, Kawasaki X-ACTO'd a page out of the Harley catalog and slid the Vaquero into its 2011 portfolio. Using the same en gine and chassis as the Voyager, the Vaq receives a cut-down windscreen and full black-out treatment, while leaving the puffy seat and tail trunk at the factory.

Harley has not been standing still with the Road Glide. In 2009, it and the rest of the FL lineup took on a new, dramati cally improved chassis. With the 2012 model year, the 103-cubic-inch (1690cc) air-cooled V-Twin is standard in all but two H-D mOdels, a move that makes the heretofore appreciated 96-inch engine seem like a weakling. As in the rest of the FL series, the Road Glide's engine is followed by a tall-geared six-speed trans mission and belt final drive. Each year, something new comes along. What's next, traction control and liquid cooling? Now scan the Kawasaki's spec sheet. Well, isn't that interesting? The Vaquero's 54-degree, single-crankpin V-Twin displaces an even 1700cc, though it's not quite as long-stroke a design as the Harley's: With a 102mm bore and 104mm stroke, the Kawasaki's liquid-cooled engine is less undersquare than the Harley's 98.4 x 111.3mm configuration. Both engines are fuel-in jected (of course) and throttle-by-wire; don't let the Vaquero's throttle cables fool you. Kawasaki follows the script to the end with six speeds in the transmis sion and a belt to the rear wheel. If the specifications suggest inter changeability, the dyno confirms it. The Harley puts down slightly less peak torque-88.9 foot-pounds at 3100 rpm against the Kawasaki's 90.2 ft.-lb. at the same speed-but legs out 71.0 horse power (at 4950 rpm) to the Vaquero's 69.1 at 5175 rpm. Overlay the charts and you'll see little difference there, as well; the Kawasaki starts up the torque curve a little earlier than the Harley, but it's a small divergence. On paper, at least, these engines are close cousins. Beyond the motivational mechanicals, custom baggers exist in the misty gray between full-on touring bikes and allout customs, inflicting all the compro mises you'd expect. Do you land on the touring side, applying custom touches but retaining the long-distance capabili ties whole? Or do you sacrifice on-the road prowess for that necessary long, low styling? No question, the Harley and the Kawasaki inhabit two distinctly different stations on the curve.

To pinpoint those coordinates, we subjected both bikes to everything from city riding and Los Angeles-area free way gridlock to wide-open desert high ways and, because we can, a reasonably high percentage of entertaining backroads. Our tour's destination? Bishop, California, a 300-mile one-way jaunt the most direct route but one that we managed to stretch into 950 miles over two days going out and back. Leaving the city through L.A.'s pat ented PermaTraffic, the Vaquero feels immense, a matte-black beast whose ap parent dimensions inspire caution. Not that it's overly large, but the tall, black fairing sure seems wider and taller than the Harley's comparatively low-slung wind splitter. Surprisingly, the Harley's is 3 inches wider overall. Both are frame-mounted, which assists handling by removing some weight from the steering head but also means they can't be twisted away from encroaching vehi des in tight lane-sharing situations (not much of an issue outside California). No one likes traffic, especially on roughly 800-lb. bikes, so we were happy to find open roads and serenity in the desert, wending our way past Mojave and into the Owens Valley, a dramatic divide between the Sierra Nevada to the west and the low hills protecting Death Valley to the east. On the slab, both bikes played to character, clipping along with the cruise controls set (standard on the Kawasaki, a $295 option on the Harley), wolfing down the miles to the soundtrack of a loping, narrow-angle V-Twin.

Open road illuminates the bikes' per sonalities. Kawasaki bases the Vaquero on the touring-biased Voyager, and it shows. A thick, comfortable seat works with wide tiller bars that place you in a com fortable, natural riding position. Large floorboards welcome your feet forward and low. Subdued vibration from the rigidly mounted engine plays a rhythm just below the clack-clack of the soft suspension gobbling those nasty highway expansion joints. Best of all, the minia turized windscreen provides just enough coverage that Senior Editor Blake Conner (5-foot-i 1) and I (a couple inches shorter) found equally little to complain about.

Concoct a reason to stop and switch steeds. Settle into the Harley's muchfirmer, lower seat (1.4 in. lower, in fact), reach straight ahead to the handlebar, and hoist your boots onto floorboards that are clearly higher and farther forward than the Vaq's-now you'll see how two bikes that seem so similar almost couldn't feel more different. Said Conner, "I actu ally prefer the Harley's firmer seat over the Vaquero's and like how the back of the rider's slot acts as a mini backrest. The handlebar, on the other hand, was about a half an inch too far forward for my tastes." One fix: Rotating the bar rearward from the as-delivered position moved the grips down and toward the rider. Ah, much better.

Harley-Davidson Road Glide Custom A~ps A Amazingly sporty for such a big fella A Immediate sensory gratification A The Real Deal (in air quotes) "owns V Would someone send us a taller windshield? V Sensory gratification can become sensory overload V Costs Real Bucks

We're talking about more than ergo nomic differences, though. Where the Kawasaki is soft and almost too polishe the Harley is direct, quite firm and very, very mechanical. It's as though Harley's left less between you and the motorcych sanded that interface right down to flesh on metal. You feel every shudder from the rubber-mounted engine at idle-and ironically, almost nothing at highway speed-and virtually everything that rolls under the Road Glide's chromespoked (but newly tubeless) wheels. To keep the bike low, Harley fitted the RG with "slammed" suspension, which forces high spring and damping rates tha dictate a harsh ride. When the highway is smooth, the Harley seems beautiftilly direct and planted, but on rough roads ou backsides had enough hover time over th seat to qualify for a rotorcraft rating. For that matte╒r, the turbulence set up by the tiny, 5.5-in.-tall "windshield" is enough t make you look for a Huey overhead. "When the road gets curvy, you defi nitely want to be on the Road Glide," says Conner in a flurry of understatement. This just after weaving down Highway 178 as our ride took a big ioop around Lake Isabella toward home. The Kawasaki's highway-friendly low floor boards and soft suspension cause the bike to ground early and often when the going gets twisty. Where the Road Glide touches down occasionally-say, on a moderately tight road-the Kawasaki leaves long scrapes of aluminum feeler (and occasionally the steel floorboard mounts) on everything from the notori ously confined Caliente Bodfish Road to the parking lot of Cheryl's Diner. Too bad, because the Vaquero's steer ing remains light and neutral, and it'll tolerate trail braking to a degree that has the Harley protesting. While the feel of the Kawasaki's non-ABS brakes was nicer than that offered by the wooden, ABS-aided Brembos on the Harley, the latter performed significantly better in braking tests. (On a bike like this, ABS should at least be an option. Bundled

with the Security system, ABS costs $1195 on the Road Glide Custom.) The Vaquero might be generally bet ter going into a corner, but the Harley's stouter on the way out. "In real-world riding, the H-D stomps the Kawi," says Conner. "Roll-ons and corner exits are much more impressive on the H-D." Hold on. Weren't the dyno readings nearly the same? Don't these bikes weigh within 17 lb. of each other? Yes, and yes: The Harley is slightly lighter, even on a full tank, but it feels distinctly quicker on the road, far more than that weight difference would suggest. We're betting on the Harley's slightly shorter gearing-between 2 and 3 percent in gears two through five-and some hocus pocus on the part of the throttle by-wire's scheduling as the reasons it always feels more awake.

When exercising the touring side of the custom-touring promise, detail refinements take on significance. In stock form, the Vaquero has the Road Glide covered in wind coverage, so to speak, but you can opt for different windshields and even full lowers for the Harley. The Kawasaki's radio is better than the Harley's, partly because you can’t hear much on the Road Glide with all the wind noise. Harley gets the nod on luggage. Although both bikes are roughly comparable in capacity— enough for a few days on the road, too small to carry a full-face helmet—we prefer the Road Glide’s top-opening bags and chafe at needing to use the key every time to open the Vaquero’s bottom-hinged cabinets. Kawasaki gives you lockable storage in tѡhe fairing; the Harley’s bins don’t even have latches and aren’t waterproof. Harley’s 6.0-gallon fuel tank drains more slowly than the Kawasaki’s 5.3-gal. vessel; we averaged 41 mpg on the RG vs. 36 for the Vaq. Back and forth it goes.

kawasaki Vulcan 1 700 Vaquero A L Ups A Smooth long-distance operator A Rings up real value for money A There's another color besides black owns V Budget monthly for floorboard feelers V Clamshell bags mean you might spill your stuff V Heavier and slower than a Harley? Seriously??

Not all comparisons issue forth clearcut winners, and that’s the case here. If the prices were the same, we’d take the Harley every time on the strength of its mechanical character, superlative finishes (chromed and painted) and seemingly ageless style. Plus, virtually every complaint we have can be fixed through▬ an aftermarket that stretches to the moon. But the Kawasaki has what could be an insurmountable cost advantage for some—its MSRP is $16,499—to go with its clearly superior long-distance touring capabilities. In contrast, a Vivid Black Road Glide Custom rolls out of Wisconsin with $19,499 on the hang tag. Our Chrome Yellow testbike with ABS, spoke wheels and cruise control stickered for $21,944.

Eye-watering, for sure, particularly next to the Kawasaki’s suddenly reasonable asking price. No doubt, that’s a lot of fiscal distance to cover, even if you pull the patriot angle and proclaim the Harley as the “real deal” to justify the difference. All issues that keep gro\ bikers up at night. But if it were up us, we’d cancel le TV and m extra shifts at •ucks to VÍ Road Glide.

SPECIFICATIONS

HARLEY-DAVIDSON ROAD GLIDE CUSTOM

KAWASAKI VULCAN 1700 VAQUERO

$21,944 (as tested)

$16,499