Harley-Davidson is the final phrase on cruisers to lots of people, however to others, its merchandise don’t all the time tick all of the packing containers. Sure, they’ve the character and the popularity, however typically one additionally desires the efficiency and reliability of a Japanese model, or the status and exclusivity of a European model. These individuals who need one thing completely different are in luck as a result of producers from throughout have checked out Harley-Davidson (and its income) and determined to take it on at its personal recreation, however with their very own twist.

Look carefully, and also you’ll discover a first rate various to just about any H-D mannequin that has been round, and no surprise; they have been the yardstick! We’ve acquired collectively ten metric cruisers to indicate you what you may get as a Harley various. By definition, a metric cruiser can’t be American Iron, so we’ve neglected different American manufacturers like Indian Motorcycles and Victory, however we’ve needed them to retain a minimum of a whiff of the customized construct, so the flexibility to customise or a “factory custom build” look was necessary to us whereas deciding on our H-D options. Without additional ado, listed here are ten metric cruiser choices for Harley-Davidson fashions.

To guarantee accuracy, the data compiled on this article was sourced from the producers, in addition to different authoritative sources akin to Visordown.com, Motorcycle.com, Motorcyclenews.com, Cycleworld.com, and so forth.

10 Royal Enfield Super Meteor

Alternative to: Harley-Davidson 883 Sportster

Royal Enfield hasn’t been within the middleweight class for a lot of many years now, however they got here again with a bang on the inexpensive finish with the INT650 and Continental GT 650. As is the case with another platform, the third providing within the lineup is the Super Meteor 650, a cruiser-style motorbike primarily based on the identical platform. It runs the identical 650 cc engine in an identical state of tune as the opposite two bikes, and it has extra in widespread with the 883 than seems at first look.

Both fashions have been spawned on a brand new platform to cater to a brand new target market that may widen the attraction and attain of the model globally. They each stored cues from their heritage but seemed to the longer term with tech whereas maintaining issues easy. The Sportster made Harleys accessible with a decrease seat peak and a smaller engine. The Super Meteor 650 eschews liquid cooling to maintain prices down. Neither has a headlining energy output, however the best way the facility is delivered is certainly enjoyable, as are their chassis.

9 Triumph Bonneville Bobber

Alternative to: Harley-Davidson Sportster S

If you favor your British motorbike to come back instantly from the Queen’s motherland, then there’s this, the Triumph Bonneville Bobber. It is massively interesting to these of a sure age as a result of it appears to be like similar to the motorbike a sure Steve McQueen rode in a film referred to as The Great Escape.

The Bonneville is a bike that has the hearts of many, together with ours, and the Bonneville Bobber was one of the first to execute the neo-retro look flawlessly. The value is rather a lot steeper, nonetheless, though you do get much more engine to your cash – to the tune of 1,200 cc. It can be liquid-cooled, regardless that it deliberately seems to be air-cooled. For a cool $14,500, you possibly can have British allure reasonably than American iron.

8 Yamaha Bolt R-Spec

Alternative to: Harley-Davidson 883 Sportster

If you don’t need your metric cruiser to be a parallel twin with British/Indian heritage, and you favor the V-Twin format, Yamaha has got your back. The Bolt is a bobber with a 942 cc V-twin engine and torque that maxes out at a diesel-like 3,000 RPM. It doesn’t appear to be a lot, to be trustworthy, and the value additionally displays that – at across the $9000 mark, it’s simply barely costlier than the Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650.

What the Yamaha Bolt does supply is Japanese engineering and reliability, and it’s a clean canvas for personalization as effectively. Look on the Bolt R-Spec via this lens, and it all of a sudden turns into a viable various to the 883 Sportster and its plethora of factory customization options over the span of a number of many years and mannequin years. If you’re a newbie and would love a cruiser, or simply an intermediate-level rider who wants a metropolis runabout, the Bolt R-Spec will do you properly.

7 Kawasaki Vulcan S

Alternative to: Harley-Davidson Nightster

We take a small step up right here from the Yamaha, with the Kawasaki Vulcan S and the Harley-Davidson Nightster. Both sport extra tech within the type of liquid-cooled engines. The Vulcan S prefers to cover it with faux air-cooling fins, whereas the Harley ironically prefers to show off its liquid cooling tech. The Vulcan relies on the identical platform that spawned the Ninja 650 and the Versys 650, each of that are actually satisfying.

The Nightster makes use of its engine as a harassed member of the chassis – bringing total weight down and growing chassis stiffness. The Vulcan appeals to a wider audience with its movable seat, handlebar, and footpeg positions, one thing we’ve normally seen in solely the most effective supersport bikes. The Nightster may need a bigger engine, however the Vulcan S has the extra comfy seating place and the safety of a confirmed platform. Plus, you gained’t discover many names cooler than ‘Vulcan’!

6 Ducati XDiavel

Alternative to: Harley-Davidson V-Rod

The Diavel wowed everybody when it was proven to the world in 2010 (and continues to do so)– we all know we have been gobsmacked by the concept of a muscle cruiser. However, we’re certain that the parents in Milwaukee have been laughing at themselves as a result of they gave the world the V-Rod a decade earlier than. The XDiavel took things even closer to the Harley with a last belt drive and feet-forward using place.

Even the engines had their very own distinctive spin to them: the V-Rod, as an illustration, had a liquid-cooled short-stroke V twin that was developed in a partnership with Porsche. The XDiavel presents Ducati’s conventional high-revving L-Twin with hydraulic valve actuation and extra electronics than you possibly can shake a stick at. The extra fashionable XDiavel is sixteen complete years youthful, so not solely will it profit from newer tech, however getting after-market assist can even be simpler. Not to say the becoming a member of of an elite membership of Ducatisti!

5 Moto Guzzi California

Alternative to: Harley-Davidson Road King Special

Moto Guzzi is the ‘other’ Italian motorbike model, typically neglected due to the psychological house that Ducati occupies in fans’ heads. It stays part of the Piaggio group, which is why in current reminiscence there have been a slew of high quality fashions which have retained the Guzzi quirks. The California is a full-sized flagship cruiser that runs a 1,400 cc longitudinal V-twin engine. It was outfitted with radially mounted Brembo entrance brakes, and ABS was commonplace throughout the vary.

The Road King Special has Harley-Davidson’s 1,868 cc Milwaukee Eight 114 engine, and the choices listing is exceedingly lengthy – there’s ABS, cornering ABS, cornering traction management, and electronically linked brakes, simply to call a number of. The California additionally provided rider modes, traction management, and cruise management as commonplace, so regardless of which one you decide up, you’ll get a LOT of motorbike to your cash. We simply want the engine sounded somewhat extra evocative.

4 Suzuki Boulevard M109R B.O.S.S.

Alternative to: Harley-Davidson Fat Boy

The V-Rod impressed a complete era of energy cruisers, and the Suzuki Boulevard M109R B.O.S.S. is one in every of them. However, Suzuki aimed squarely at the Fat Boy with this mannequin – it needed the presence of a number of the largest Harleys with ever higher efficiency. So it opted for superlatives. The 1,783 cc engine has a number of the largest pistons of an inner combustion engine within the trade; two wheels or 4. It is liquid-cooled, gasoline injected, and fires two spark plugs per cylinder and torque is shaped down low, to the tune of 118 pounds-feet at 3,200 RPM.

All the facility generated goes through shaft drive to a rear tire that was the widest within the two-wheeled world on the time of launch. Oh, and the entrance brakes have been lifted straight from the GSX-1000RR, so there is no such thing as a dearth of stopping energy. It won’t have the cool issue of being a featured member of a film that has grossed over $200 million, like the original Fat Boy, however there is no such thing as a denying that its brooding model has a real attraction to it.

3 BMW R18

Alternative to: Harley-Davidson Heritage Classic

If you need your cruiser to be of the full-fat, everything-and-the-kitchen-sink sort, these are the fashions you’ll be . The BMW R18 is the Bavarian interpretation of what a flagship cruiser needs to be like, similar to the Boulevard is a Japanese one. It sticks to a cruiser format however brings in all of the BMW quirks like the biggest boxer twin they’ve ever made, with a displacement of 1802 cc. It is air/oil-cooled, and BMW has chosen to depart the driveshaft open to the weather in a nod to retro design.

The efficiency is greater than enough, because it almost matches the torque of the Boulevard at 116 pounds-feet at a decrease 3,000 RPM. The BMW R18 won’t be everybody’s cup of tea, but when the purpose is to show heads, contemplate it achieved, particularly within the tasty black/chrome coloration mixture with the Akrapovic exhausts.

2 Honda Valkyrie

Alternative to: Harley-Davidson Heritage Classic

The Gold Wing may be very effectively referred to as a flagship cruiser, however its lesser-known sibling is the Valkyrie. It runs the identical 100 horsepower 1832 cc flat-six engine however is considerably lighter than the Gold Wing. It makes use of a twin spar body which is extra a sportbike signature reasonably than a cruiser trademark – just about all of the fashions on right here sport a cradle body. It has a single-sided swingarm, and an enormous 316 mm rear disc brake with a three-piston caliper.

The Valkyrie’s relaunch in 2014 additionally gave it a complete new darkish, brooding look very similar to the present Suzuki Boulevard coupled with a variety of styling cues from the limited-run Valkyrie Rune that was as a lot a design train because it was a bike. The flat-six engine provides the Valkyrie a very low middle of gravity and the smoothness, as anticipated from so many cylinders, is among the many finest within the trade.

1 Triumph Rocket lll

Alternative to: Harley-Davidson Fat Bob

The Rocket lll is a motorcycle of superlatives. It has the world’s largest manufacturing engine for a bike at 2500 cc. Peak torque is an eye-widening 163 pounds-feet at a low 4,000 RPM. This gave it, regardless of its hefty curb weight, the acceleration document for bikes, attaining 60 mph from a standstill in 2.73 seconds in 2019. The Rocket lll isn’t for the faint-hearted, however it is going to additionally potter round city if you would like it to due to digital trickery that adjusts torque for every gear ratio.

It retains recognizable Triumph design cues like the dual headlamps, and it has added model now with components just like the single-sided swingarm. It has additionally added absolutely adjustable Showa suspension, and is able to going round a nook in a rush – the brakes are borrowed from the best sportbikes that Triumph makes to haul it to a cease rapidly. The Fat Bob is an excellent motorcycle, however once you desire a superlative product, the Triumph is the reply.