I'm planning to pick up a used bike to use for a daily commuter. My round trip is about 90 miles and includes a mix of urban freeway (70-80 mph), 4-lane mountain highway and 2-lane twisty mtn road with 20-25 mph turns.
I think I've read EVERY review of cruising bikes in the 650-900cc range and something that causes concern is the not-infrequent reference to some of these bikes having low lean angles before hard stuff starts dragging. I'm no superbike racer, but I do like leaning in fast turns.
Are some of these reviews over-reacting?
Thanks, Dan  

I have the Honda Shadow Spirit.  Live in East Tennessee so there are plenty of twisty roads.  I love to lean it over hard and very rarely will I drag anything.  The only thing that ever touch are the pegs on the bottom of the foot rests.  That is their purpose.  Have a safe ride.  

>Are some of these reviews over-reacting?

To put it simply, yes. My experience is that any cruiser with a stock suspension can be expected to get around the corners at twice the posted speed, until you hit the loose sand, gravel, grass clippings, pothole, 18 wheeler tire fragments...

regards,
Joe  

Try Triumph.  

On dragging parts:
1) Are you commuting to work, or on a rally?
2) If you're pushing it, is it a hard point that hits or a movable part?

I do occasionally drag a part, once in a parking lot. But, unless you are trying to do high speed/cornering, it's a moot point. It just tells you what you could do in an emergency situation. I look at it as kind of the auto crash test for motorcycles.
If you don't like the limits of a cruiser, you buy a sport bike. They have limits too, but, they're a little higher.  

I have a suzuki boulevard.  It's great for everything you mention but I do drag the floorboards on tight turns in the valleys and mountain roads.  I always drag on the same few turns and rarely drag in the cities.

The floorboards are very comfortable but it seems like footpegs are less likely to drag.  

I dont have one, but harley's are suppose to have the best clearance of all the cruisers.  Ive ridden then before and have never dragged anything, but i also wasnt ridding hard.  I think any other bike in that catergory will drag some part if ridden to fast in the twisties.  Good luck, and check out the harleys.  

Interesting, ReVVinKevin...

I routinely ground my primary cover and exhaust mounts on the pavement, on all my FX Harleys, after I'd get the corners worn off my footpegs. The XL's weren't much better. While the VN800 I owned would touch down sooner than any stock Harley I ever rode, every other bike had more cornering clearance than any FX.

regards,
Joe  

Sloowpoke,
Like i said, i dont own one and have only ridden them occasionally, and not hard.  I never got a chance to grind pegs on them, which i do on most metric cruisers i have ridden.  As far as grinding the primary cover and exhaust mounts, i have no experience with that so you are probably right.  My imput was mostly from reviews that i read while bored at work.  The post was also about bikes in the 650-900 range and i figured he would be talking about a sportster of some kind which most have the mid- mount pegs which i figured would offer high clearance.  Have fun and a nice day.  

LOL  Chalk it up to the old rider in me. Before Buell built his bikes around the sportster engine, the Sportster was Harley's version of a sport bike. It's the only Harley that was *not* a cruiser.

regards,
Joe  

The reviews, though I'm not sure which ones, generally are NOT "over-reacting."  They are providing information for the rider that likes to go somewhat faster than "cruise."  At the posted speed limit, I don't think any bike will drag any parts.  But when you start to go faster, that's when ground clearance comes into play.  In our July '08 issue, we compared 1600cc bikes.  And despite the lowest cornering clearance, we picked the Star Road Star.  Cornering clearance is never one of our key factors in rating a bike.

The most clearance in the group?  H-D's Fat Bob.  

I rode a Yamaha(Star) V-star 650 for 2 years over 400 miles a week on curvy roads and only encountered the dragging floor board a handful of times as with any thing the key is to know the limits of you and your machine