For decades, cruiser motorcycles dominated the motorcycle landscape in North America. Today, that has changed to some extent, but there is most certainly still a hard core following.
Updated November 2022: Like all vehicles, motorcycles have been getting more and more expensive over the past couple of years. Cruisers are still one of the most popular type of motorcycle but not all are made equal. Although there might be a few good deals on the used market, it might not be wise to get one of these bikes.
While the time honored cruiser manufacturer, Harley-Davidson, dominated sales for decades, the other pretenders all had a fair crack at the market. Some good, some bad, and a fair few ugly examples came and went. Harley themselves remained unchanged for the most part, but still managed to produce a few of their very own duds. Cruisers have gotten just as advanced as any other type of motorcycle today, but that didn’t happen overnight and along the way, mistakes were made.
11 Honda CTX1300
This should have been better, built to take on the Street Glide, this V4 engine had already built a solid reputation in the ST1300, but the way they reworked it to produce more mid-range grunt didn’t win any fans.
Although their engine re-tuning trick worked a treat on the CTX700, it fell flat on its face with the big bore 1300. The rev ceiling came all the way down to 7000 rpm, not strange for a cruiser, but downright weird for a Honda and then there is the fact that it just feels like riding an appliance.
10 Harley-Davidson FX Super Glide
Back in the '70s, Harley were not the company they are today. In fact, at the time, they were not even owned by a vehicle manufacturer, but AMF (American Machine and Foundry).
As a result pretty much everything they made back then was awful. Build quality was poor, performance was poor and as a result, sales were poor, too. Hence, they very nearly went under. You could populate this whole list with bikes from that era, but the FX Super Glide is effectively the one we randomly selected.
9 Victory V92C
For a motorcycle made in the late '90s, it is to say the least a little under engineered. In a desperate attempt to take some of that Harley pie, Victory launched something that looked like it came straight out of the '60s.
It also felt like something from that era, with fairly crude gear changes and not very much in the way of speed.
8 Yamaha Bolt
Although they are one of the best motorcycle manufacturers in the world, they haven’t really been able to make a semi-decent cruiser just yet.
The Virago was average at best, then the more recent effort is actually in our opinion, well, worse. On paper, it has heaps of power, but one look at the thing, and you will know what we mean.
7 Honda DN-01
Dream New concept 1, that's what the name stands for. What's even stranger is the fact that this actually did make it into production.
Nobody, including Honda, even really knows what class of motorcycle this belongs to, but there is at least some cruiser in there. It was a fairly short-lived experiment with low sales for obvious reasons, not least of which the $15,000 price tag in the 2000s money.
6 Kawasaki Vulcan 2000
Once again, there is a Japanese manufacturer doing their best to break into the lucrative cruiser market.
In an effort to outdo the excess of their rivals, we think Kawasaki just took this too far. At 820 pounds, this is just a ridiculous thing to lug about, no matter how huge the engine, it will just always feel awkward.
5 Honda Rebel 300
There is a beginner bike in every class these days, while many beginner class bikes are actually better than most people give them credit for, this one isn’t.
It is quite frankly impossible to encapsulate the torquey nature of a proper cruiser in a small displacement bike, but the Rebel 500 actually does a fine job. The 300 is just Honda taking it too far, it is a pointless addition to their lineup. If budget is the biggest issue, get a used 500, not this.
4 Harley-Davidson Street Rod
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The entry level Harley is dead, long live the entry level Harley. Unfortunately, this one just wasn’t good enough, as much as it had a whole heap of potential and certainly could have been better.
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A Harley is supposed to be comfortable, it wasn’t. A Harley is supposed to be powerful, it wasn’t. It doesn’t come as a surprise that this one got cut, but we hope their next effort will learn from this.
3 Ducati Diavel
We have already given the Japanese a fair bit of grief for their less than spectacular efforts at cruisers, but the Italians' first effort was that much worse.
Although the new Diavel has come a long way, the first gen bikes were hopelessly unreliable. Electronic gremlins came standard in these bikes right up until they launched the second, altogether better Diavel.
2 Harley-Davidson Dyna
For many, this is the staple Harley, it is also one of the most dangerous motorcycles still on the road.
The Dyna Death Wobble affects pretty much all Dyna motorcycles. Speed wobbles happen all the time, but with the Dyna, there is no recovery, only tarmac, tree, and pain... maybe death.
1 Any Used Chopper
In the early 2000s, Choppers rose to fame thanks to a hit T.V. show and a burning desire to modify vehicles. Getting one made or building a bike yourself might be rewarding, but we wouldn't recommend buying one used, even though they might seem like a great deal.
Most Choppers will only really appeal to the person they were designed for, and even if you like the design, it won't necessarily be all that comfortable because it was literally purpose-built for the person selling it.