Like the Venture and the Cavalcade, the XII was turned over to us with just a few hundred break-in miles on the clock. Our Voyager XII was so new, in fact, that a staffer had to fly to Kawasaki’s Lincoln, Nebraska, assembly plant and ride the bike south to Dallas, Texas, where he joined up with the rest of the group for the ride to the Atlantic Ocean. The newest of the Japanese bikes is Kawasaki’s Voyager XII, a downsized and more frugally equipped tourer that supplements the 1300 Voyager but has little in common with that six-cylinder jumbobike. This year, however, with some serious upgrades, including another lOOcc in the most potent engine ever to take up residence in a touring bike, the Venture is once again poised to take a shot at top billing. Since then, the Wing has come back strong and man-Īged to stay a step ahead of the Yamaha. Three years ago, the then-new Venture was good enough to wrest the title of Best Tourer away from Honda in our Ten Best competition. Yamaha, of course, anted up with its latest Venture Royale. We would have much preferred to test the refined LXE model, with its fairing lowers and four-speaker stereo but that model was not yet available when we left for Daytona, although we did manage to shanghai one for a two-day riding impression a week after our return. Suzuki provided a new Cavalcade LX, a bike unchanged from the debut-model that so impressed us last year. But before leaving, the Wing was treated to new OEM tires and a major servicing at a local dealer, includingĪn overhaul of the bike’s suspensionleveling system, which had been giving us problems. Our test SE-i started the crosscountry adventure with 10,000 miles already on the odometer, racked up as part of a long-term evaluation we’re conducting on the machine. The 1985 Aspencade won the touring category in Cycle World’s annual Ten Best awards presentation last year, so the 1986 Wing came into this comparison with the home-court advantage. Honda’s entry in our coast-tocoast-to-coast comparison was the Gold Wing Aspencade SE-i. And our goal was not just to have fun in the sun and enjoy the races in the world capitol of speed, but to ride from the Pacific to the Atlantic and back again in search of the ultimate all-American touring bike. Our modes of transportation were the top-drawer touring bikes from the four Japanese companies, and one each from America and Germany. During the last days of winter we set out from our Newport Beach, California, offices, bound for Daytona Beach, Florida, and the annual Cycle Week festivities. Which is just what a team of Cycle World riders did. But factor in two weeks of open time, a garage full of the best touring motorcycles available, with another one waiting in Nebraska, and it’s time to start packing the company credit cards and gathering up the road maps. IT’S TOUGH enough to resist the call of the open road under normal circumstances.
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