By PETER THOEMING
3 July 2006

No, Arnold Schwarzenegger doesn’t ride a two-litre Vulcan; at least not as far as I know. He rides an outfit, and indeed he recently crashed it into the side of a car that pulled out of a driveway. Bet that driver thought of something better to say than, ‘Oh, hi, Arnie, hey, I didn’t see you…’ Or maybe he just ran away, which is what I think I would have done.

The Vulcan 2000 Classic LT is, however, the kind of bike you might expect the Governator to ride. It is powerful, of course, but above all it is big. The figures don’t give the full, well, impact of the bike. A dry weight of 361 kg might sound impressive, like the 1735 mm wheelbase, but you don’t appreciate just how much of a hunk this thing is until you sit on it and lift it off the side stand.

The accessories that come with this new, stylish cruiser are saddlebags, passenger floorboards, passenger backrest, and a windshield. While it comes with these accessories as part of the package, it is also clearly destined to be further customized by its purchasers. Meanwhile, the accessories are quality products. The backrest is a classic style that both looks good and adds comfort. The bags are constructed of reinforced deep dyed top grain cowhide, while the adjustable height windshield is made of ‘optically correct’ acrylic plastic. It is supposedly shaped for smooth airflow and works pretty well, but it annoyed a couple of our riders with the unexpected wind flow and slight distortion. Another (tall) rider thought it was ‘fantastic’.

Yes, I had a few riders commenting on this bike. I recently invited four of my friends on a day ride, and we included the LT in the lineup of bikes. Incidentally, as someone pointed out to me recently, I’m the only person she knows who can say to his friends, ‘Come and spend a day at work with me’ and have them accept enthusiastically…

The big Kwakka was no surprise to any of them. The first sight of the bike already projects exactly what it is and does – what you see is precisely what you get here, except that like the figures even the look can’t quite indicate to you just how big the 2000 is.

That can be a worry when (or perhaps if) you’re wheeling it around. It’s hard to do, and there is the constant hysterical fear that you’ll drop it. Mind you, one of the accessories that’s available for this new LT version is a set of crash bars, and they would make it significantly easier to pick up again. They were fitted to the bike we tried, but no, I didn’t try it…

Styling is not especially different from other cruisers. The bike gets a bullet-style headlight instead of last year’s huge chrome ‘face’ with the weird squid-like multiple lights in one. The chrome instrument panel with its large-face speedometer looks good and keeps the rider informed with an LCD display and warning lamps. The 150/80 front radial tyre is possibly a little too fat, but that might be a personal preference. I prefer the narrow tyre ‘custom’ style to the fat ‘classic’ as on the LT. The huge, 200/60 rear radial tyre is the biggest stock rear tyre on a production V-twin cruiser, and works just fine.

Once you’re on a roll, the bike behaves pretty well. It gets up to speed quickly, although I would have expected even more punch from a capacity of more than two litres. It is stable at speed and quite relaxing to ride. The suspension is quite good, though a little soft, and in typical cruiser style the bike scrapes quite early in corners. Everyone thought that the seat and riding position were good, and that the instruments were easy to read. Interestingly, one thing almost everybody mentioned was how good the mirrors are! The brakes got a positive mention, as well.

There is a fair bit of driveline lash, which may be due to the belt or to generous tolerances somewhere else. The gearbox is clunky, and the gears are not ideal for cruising at or just above the speed limit; you find yourself between two gears. Not that the Vulcan’s huge vee twin minds lugging a little. Interestingly, Kawasaki engineers chose to use push rods to work the valves, which helps to reduce engine height. That in turn contributes to the Vulcan 2000 Classic LT's low centre of gravity and remarkably low seat. There is little vibration due to dual counterbalancers and rubber engine mounts.

But none of the above, good or bad, may in fact matter very much. One of my riding buddies who was aboard the Vulcan reported that ‘it passed the critical test – not one, but two attractive young women shouted as they crossed the lights in front of me: "Love your bike!"’

AT A GLANCE

Model: Kawasaki Vulcan VN2000 Classic LT

Price: $23,990 (plus on-road charges)

Warranty: Two years, unlimited distance

Power: 76 kW at 5100 rpm

Torque: 177 Nm at 3000 rpm

Engine: Liquid cooled vee twin, four-stroke, pushrod OHV 4 valves per cylinder with electronic fuel injection and digital ignition

Bore x stroke: 103 x 123.2 mm

Displacement: 2053 cc

Compression ratio: 9.5:1

Transmission: 5 speed, hydraulic multi plate wet clutch, final drive by belt

Suspension: Front, 49 mm telescopic fork, travel 150 mm. Rear, monoshock, rebound damping 8 way adjustable, spring preload adjustable, travel 100 mm

Dimensions: Seat height 680 mm, dry weight 361 kg, fuel capacity 21 litres, wheelbase 1735 mm

Tyres: Front, 150/80 R16. Rear, 200/60 R16

Frame: Double cradle, high tensile steel

Brakes: Front, twin 300 mm discs with four piston calipers. Rear, single 320 mm disc with twin piston caliper.

Colour/s: Red.

BIKE NEWS SNIPPETS

THERE'S A BEAR IN THERE

I’ve sold out. Well, perhaps that’s putting it too strongly… I have joined the Motorcycling Australia team.

As well as writing these columns for you I will now be putting together rides around each capital city (and between some of them) designed to showcase the best riding roads, and the best places to stop along the way.

And if you have a question about motorcycling (mainly touring) - I will be answering members’ queries in a new series of on-line Q&A.

More information on the Motorcycling Australia website: www.ma.org.au