Getting bigger and more fluffy - the Roadliner and the Stratoliner

When I first began riding, and by God that was only 8 months ago, I was scared to death of not only the road and the bike - but having the giant iron thing fall on me! Well, I had the bike fall twice so far - once in front of my apartment and once while taking a slow turn in Bedminster, New Jersey (and I thank God it was a slow turn). Anyway, in Jersey I hit a small patch of gravel and it was if the bike just slid out from underneath me and I just sort of hopped out of the way, and it came to rest on the pavement ;-) None the less, I sort of knew before hitting the gravel it just might be bad. But aside from hitting gravel, remember I was talking about being on the Interstate and getting pushed around like a bitch by the wind - well, with bigger bikes, not as much of an issue. So my latest research on movin' on up in the cruiser world is revolving around the Yamaha Roadliner and Stratoliner bikes. http://www.starmotorcycles.com/star/products/modelhome/482/0/home.aspx
Now with something like this (whoa momma) in comparison to my Boulevard, it's the next step up. From what I understand - what you get with a larger cruiser is more stability; whereas because you're riding a bike weighing 700 pounds versus 525 pounds, it sits on the ride a lot tighter, firmer. Also, with something a like Stratoliner - which has a wider wheel base, you're not feeling every bumb in the road. I believe the suspension might be a bit superior to a smaller, starter cruiser like the Boulevard. And with 1872cc's versus 805cc's, there's more power with less effort. I'm no speed freak, but you do need that power when your on the highway to move out of someone's blindspot, change the lane or whatever - and that power comes in handy, especially since here in the Northeast, so many people behind the wheels of cars have absolutely no respect for people on bikes. Here's a bit of video to give you the idea:



Makes me wanna leave my desk and get out on the road ;-)

It's really a shame - since if more folks rode bikes, we'd lower our dependence on foreign oil - so think of cruisers as beautiful green machines.