trouble free bike

[shooter64]

What cruiser motorcycle would you recommend to someone that would have the least maintenance issues? The Valk is probably the winner in total number of miles it can go but it will need periodic maintenance on all those carbs. On Suzuki intruder type forums I see that the 109 has to have quite a bit of extra maintenance. Don't know if that goes for the boulevards/intruders. Kaw. Vulcan? Or Honda VTX? I'm thinking maybe a Honda Sabre or Shadow type. So many made, every Honda mechanic would be familiar with them, parts would be available forever. Opinions?
I mean for a person that wants to just use their motorcycle like a car. Drive it, then park it. Just do standard oil changes and other recommended fluid changes but no extra potential issues.

[Tundra]

I have my opinions, but I think I'm gonna sit back and watch for a while

[Jess Tolbirt]

i had a honda shadow tourer, all i ever put on it was tires and oil changes,,was a great bike,,
so far on my harley electra glide all i have had to do is oil change,,

[Chrisj CMA]

I would recommend a Valkyrie (for a little while longer) I have 130K miles, nver had a carb sync or any tool touch a carb whatsoever.....she runs perfect

The only problem with starting out on a Valk right now is the availability of some parts

[98valk]

a bike with fuel injection, hydralic lifters and belt drive would have the lowest maintenance.
water cooled bike less oil changes than air cooled.

[Fritz The Cat]

This.

[MacDragon]

You just can't beat a honda.  I've had many bikes over the years. Yamahas, Harley, suzukis,  and the best ones were always my hondas.    Had a 750/4 ya just couldn't kill, a 550/4, 2 Shadow Aces and I currently have a 750 Ace and, of course, the Valk Standard.  Routine maintenance and tires and a couple of carb rebuilds on bikes that were sitting for a while in someones garage until I rescued them. 

Stick with what has worked for all of us.

[sandy]

My vote would be a VTX 1300 and the newer fuel injection.

[BigAl]

Harley Electraglide.

O valve adjustments,

No Antifreeze to leak all over the place and Change.

5 thousand mile oil changes.

Dealer Support network 2nd to none.

Electraglide Classic with Cruise, Stereo, Bluethooth Capability, GPS in the Radio, TOns of storage,

Only 19,995, for the Electraglide Classic or you can go buy a generic goldwing for 24,ooo and add some stuff.

[BnB Tom]

This.

  I disagree.  After all, you've got a chain that you will need to adjust, oil and possibly replace eventually.  Second there's the problem with the spokes needing an occassional adjustment (particularly if you go darkside on the rear).  And third you have to mess with getting the grips off so tassels can be attached.   

[Michael K (Az.)]

This.

  I disagree.  After all, you've got a chain that you will need to adjust, oil and possibly replace eventually.  Second there's the problem with the spokes needing an occassional adjustment (particularly if you go darkside on the rear).  And third you have to mess with getting the grips off so tassels can be attached.   

 

[BigChris99]

Sportster? It doesn't get any simpler than that. The newer ones have rubber mounted engines  and are very reliable. Easy to work on, belt drive and dealers every where. If I have to down size,I'm seriously thinking about a Sportster, that, and they sound great....

[art]

This.

  I disagree.  After all, you've got a chain that you will need to adjust, oil and possibly replace eventually.  Second there's the problem with the spokes needing an occassional adjustment (particularly if you go darkside on the rear).  And third you have to mess with getting the grips off so tassels can be attached.   

Besides that its a girls bike and pink

[Fudd]

I know some really die hard Harley riders that went on a tour of Alaska.  Every last one of them rode a BMW dual sport on the trip.  I thought it to be funny how these guys "sang a different tune" when the nearest bike shop was 1500 miles away.

[cookiedough]

I'd stick with Honda's as overall,  they seem to be the most reliable with less troubles in general. 

Honda shadow shaft drive are relatively cheap and inexpensive to own I think in the 600/750 or 1100 cc range to suit your size and taste of what you need.  In the 80's have driven honda magnas and honda shadows though and prefer the magnas not being made any longer pretty much trouble free  except the clutch gave out is all only once on it in 7-8 years of owning it besides tires and new batteries is all it ever needed.

[mario]

honda shadow sabre and/or kaw vulcan mean streak, of course.  check the classifieds.

[Super Santa]

I would still vote for the Valkyrie.  You just need to ride them and the routine problems disappear.  129,000 on mine and have never had the carbs off or synced, have never pulled the plugs.  Still averaging over 38 mpg for five years I have been riding it.

I did replace the original battery about a year ago and the water pump failed just shortly before that.

[Moonshot_1]

This.

  I disagree.  After all, you've got a chain that you will need to adjust, oil and possibly replace eventually.  Second there's the problem with the spokes needing an occassional adjustment (particularly if you go darkside on the rear).  And third you have to mess with getting the grips off so tassels can be attached.   

The general wgt/power ratio regarding the powerplant for this design is extremely poor.
The maintenance on power plant, particularly of the model shown, is extremely excessive while the maintenance on the other style and model only requires a minimum of hot dogs and beer.

[tonyfan70]

well if you think a bulletproof Honda Valk isn't trouble free because of the carbs and you think another bike with fuel injection is trouble free.....you must not of had a fuel injected car take a crap.  My bikes are more reliable than my cars or truck. Carbs or not.

Also when I say "you" it's to noone in particular.

IMHO...everything mechanical has the ability to be unreliable. American or asian or european. Car, truck, bike, boat...whatever.  I can't bring myself to buy a Honda cage, but I consider Honda bikes to be the best I can afford.

[wdvalk]

This.

  I disagree.  After all, you've got a chain that you will need to adjust, oil and possibly replace eventually.  Second there's the problem with the spokes needing an occassional adjustment (particularly if you go darkside on the rear).  And third you have to mess with getting the grips off so tassels can be attached.   

Besides that its a girls bike and pink

so is the sportster

[Hef]

I had a new 1983 GL1100 Goldwing that I put 186,000 miles on and never did anything to the engine except replace timing belts and plugs which I consider maintainence and not repairs.

[BIG--T]

What cruiser motorcycle would you recommend to someone that would have the least maintenance issues? The Valk is probably the winner in total number of miles it can go but it will need periodic maintenance on all those carbs. On Suzuki intruder type forums I see that the 109 has to have quite a bit of extra maintenance. Don't know if that goes for the boulevards/intruders. Kaw. Vulcan? Or Honda VTX? I'm thinking maybe a Honda Sabre or Shadow type. So many made, every Honda mechanic would be familiar with them, parts would be available forever. Opinions?
I mean for a person that wants to just use their motorcycle like a car. Drive it, then park it. Just do standard oil changes and other recommended fluid changes but no extra potential issues.

The VTX's come to mind and the 1800's are fuel injected. The Suzuki C-90/Intruder is bullet proof with no radiator and self adjusting valves. There are so many out there that's a tough question. A later model Harley or Victory is a good choice with self adjusting valves, no radiator but oil coolers, and belt drive unlike a lot of metrics. I would go to non bias MC sites and do some research, like bikez.com totalmotorcycle.com and many others. I just noticed your title and there are no trouble free bikes! lol Just my$.02  

[cookiedough]

I'm not so sure about belt drive cycles being more reliable than shaft drive.  My neighbors 2003 HD ultra classic snapped  a belt while driving down the road and it cost him well over 1 grand to replace.  He didn't want to talk about it much since he thinks HD's are king, but I think he said he revved it up way too high and snapped the belt and it caused some minor internal engine damage as well when the belt snapped.  He had other work done to it at the time and he never went into detail, but I think he told me the total HD repair shop bill was over 3 grand.  He called me cheap when I told him that seems like a lot of money to shell out.  No sense arguing with him since he is brainwashed that his HD's are the best but I know who has the better cycle overall. 

[BIG--T]

I'm not so sure about belt drive cycles being more reliable than shaft drive.  My neighbors 2003 HD ultra classic snapped  a belt while driving down the road and it cost him well over 1 grand to replace.  He didn't want to talk about it much since he thinks HD's are king, but I think he said he revved it up way too high and snapped the belt and it caused some minor internal engine damage as well when the belt snapped.  He had other work done to it at the time and he never went into detail, but I think he told me the total HD repair shop bill was over 3 grand.  He called me cheap when I told him that seems like a lot of money to shell out.  No sense arguing with him since he is brainwashed that his HD's are the best but I know who has the better cycle overall. 

I've only had chains on HDs and never had a belt drive. My son has a fatboy and had to replace the drive belt and I think he said $150. I don't know what happened to tha guys UC but $3000 is too much for me and yep he sounds brainwashed! I can't speak intelligently about the belts but I'm sure someone  that has one can tell us all about it. 

[tonyfan70]

I may be wrong, I don't know.  But I have a Polaris Sportsman 500 4X4 and it's belt drive for the CVT.  Another forum got into a discussion about belt vs. shaft drive.  Not just on the Polaris but on general principle.  I was informed that those giant 8 wheeled Case and IH farm tractors are belt drive, although they only put down less than 50% power to the ground.

Like I said, I cant verify that, but if it's true....that's a whole lotta power going through a belt! So I guess the theory is good, wether a particular makers belt drive setup is superior or not, who knows. Not me.

[BIG--T]

I may be wrong, I don't know.  But I have a Polaris Sportsman 500 4X4 and it's belt drive for the CVT.  Another forum got into a discussion about belt vs. shaft drive.  Not just on the Polaris but on general principle.  I was informed that those giant 8 wheeled Case and IH farm tractors are belt drive, although they only put down less than 50% power to the ground.

Like I said, I cant verify that, but if it's true....that's a whole lotta power going through a belt! So I guess the theory is good, wether a particular makers belt drive setup is superior or not, who knows. Not me.

That is true about more power to the ground. A shaft drive loses  15%.

[usmc1142]

EVERY bike has it's problems.  I love my valk, have had NO problems. I would go with a sporty or a shadow.  both are easy to work on.  I guess it depends on if you want water or air cooled, or the v-twin rumble.  re-sale value goes to harley, high miles to honda.

[lifguardct]

Are there any issues with the Big Yamaha twins, Road Star, Stratoliner, Raider???

[BIG--T]

Are there any issues with the Big Yamaha twins, Road Star, Stratoliner, Raider???

I am sure there are. There are NO trouble free bikes, cars, trucks or anything mechanical. For instance the weak link for a VTX 1800 is the clutch, flange bearings and grounding.

The Valkyrie ,  u joints, rear wheel bearings, petcock, etc. 

[98valk]

Are there any issues with the Big Yamaha twins, Road Star, Stratoliner, Raider???

early models had clutch basket noise/problems. something to look into if the problem/s were fixed.