When you picture biker, most people see the classic Son’s of Anarchy riding along on a cruiser. Those high handlebars and big seats look pretty comfortable, so isn’t it the same as a touring bike? Wrong. There are some key differences between a cruiser and a touring bike.
A touring motorcycle has significantly more long-distance features whilst a cruiser motorcycle is made a shorter highway comfort. Anyone who is looking at doing some seriously long days on their bike should consider a touring motorcycle over a cruiser, whilst a cruiser is an obvious choice for those badasses out there.
What Characterises a Cruiser Motorcycle?
A Cruiser is a motorcycle that is best for those long open country roads with the sun shining down on you and the wind blowing through your hair.
Cruisers have a much wider seat, so if you dislike cramped spaces then this might be the type of bike for you. A cruiser also has really high handlebars, which are great for stability on the highways; but can lead to really sore hands on long rides.
What Characterises a Touring Motorcycle?
Touring bikes are often equipped with accessories that help to improve comfort on long rides, such as windshields, saddlebags, and hard- or soft-shelled luggage. Touring bikes come full of features like antilock brakes and corrosion resistance in order to stand up to long rides.
The touring motorcycle has a strong, sturdy appearance that suggests that it can handle long-distance traveling. Touring bikes are often equipped with accessories that help to improve comfort on long rides, such as windshields, saddlebags, and hard- or soft-shelled luggage. The seat is placed high in order to give the rider better visibility over traffic during lane splitting while maintaining an upright riding position.
The Big Differences: Cruiser vs. Touring Bikes
Cruisers are typically lighter and more maneuverable with powerful engines while Touring motorcycles have better traction control.
Cruiser bikes
Cruiser bikes transfer their power to the rear wheel in a straight axis through a rigid frame, providing superior cornering and braking power of approximately 3/4 of the motorcycle’s total horsepower. They often use smaller engines for optimal fuel efficiency, but carry that power on long-standing frames that offer roomier ergonomics.
Touring Bikes
On the other end of the spectrum, touring bikes balance these abilities by combining cruising standards with touring features like added hydro drag brakes, larger engine sizes using dual counterbalanced crankshaft drives known as parallelograms, taper diameter barrels running cooler than triple-tree axles found on cruisers because they contain more oil, and a final reduction gear on the last output shaft.
How Long of a Trip is too Long for a Cruiser?
A short trip of about 300 miles is pretty doable on a cruiser while anything over 600 miles is a long haul.
What makes a good Touring Bike?
On the touring bikes, hard bags are preferable to soft ones because they can carry significantly more and are generally better at holding their shape, but need to be built so that the bags don’t break through the back of the bike.
Luggage Capacity
Luggage capacity is one of the most important considerations in choosing a touring motorcycle, as you’ll need to accommodate your riding needs along with additional luggage. Touring motorcycles tend to have much larger gas tanks than other bikes and some of them can hold up to five gallons or 73 liters worth of gas, which means that most touring motorcycles can run for approximately 300 miles before needing to be refueled.
Which is heavier a Cruiser or Touring Bike?
Even though a cruiser is bigger and bulkier, they’re lighter in weight than touring motorcycles. The most common cruisers weigh just over 500 pounds while touring models can weigh about 30 pounds more.
Load Capacity Difference Between a Cruiser and Touring Motorycle?
A touring motorcycle has an increased load capacity over a cruiser. This does not mean that the touring motorcycles are built to carry more weight, but rather their design enables them to compensate for additional weight.
Which bike is better for long trips?
Touring motorcycles are generally built more sturdily because they need to handle the added weight of a rider along with any luggage. This makes them better off on longer rides and interstate driving, even though you’ll have more options for lower speeds on cruisers.
What do I prefer?
I would choose a cruiser motorcycle over a Touring Motorcycle any day just because it seems more fun to go on short-distance rides than a mile after mile of the open road! But that is only my opinion. You should think about what type of riding you want to do when making your decision.
