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"  In the movie &amp;quot;Top Gun,&amp;quot; Tom Cruise&amp;#039;s mode of earthbound transportation is a motorcycle. And it&amp;#039;s not because he can&amp;#039;t afford a car. It&amp;#039;s because two wheels are generally twice as much fun as four. Way more. If you want to be bad and fast and free when you&amp;#039;re not in your F-14, then straddle some real horsepower and watch the asphalt disappear under your front tire. The final ingredient of this endorphin-popping recipe, of course, is your favorite somebody else as company. However, a weekend&amp;#039;s worth of two-up traveling requires hauling more stuff than you can carry in your pockets. So to do this right, you&amp;#039;ve got to have a motorcycle that offers comfortable seating for two, enough luggage space for clean unmentionables, rain gear and assorted other necessities. What you&amp;#039;re going to need is a stylish bike with a big, powerful motor, excellent handling, sure brakes, detachable luggage carriers, a seating position that&amp;#039;s somewhere between a sportbike&amp;#039;s and a comfy, lazy tourer&amp;#039;s, and a windscreen to keep your teeth free of dead bugs. To help you understand what&amp;#039;s currently available in the sports-tourer market, we assembled 10 bikes from around the world in Southern California. At least we tried to. Despite our best efforts, both Victory and Harley-Davidson were unable to supply us with the models we hoped for, due to logistical problems. But this would hardly be a motorcycle test if there were not a Harley in it. Ditto for Victory, so we included the bikes they were able to give us. Here are our findings, in alphabetical order within geographical group (beginning with bikes made in Japan, followed by those made in America and Europe).  Honda ST1100 ABS II The oldest bike in this category is still fresh and contemporary, and, after nearly a decade in production, virtually unchanged. The Honda&amp;#039;s riding position for both rider and passenger is excellent. The seat is wide and has enough of a rise to allow the passenger to see above the driver&amp;#039;s shoulder. Steering effort, particularly in tight, twisty downhills, is light enough to make you wonder why some of the other, lighter bikes make your forearms quake after a couple dozen bottom-gear switchbacks. The ST1100&amp;#039;s four-cylinder engine sits longitudinally, making for a bike that&amp;#039;s narrower between the ankles than many, and it certainly uncomplicates the gearbox needed to drive the enclosed driveshaft. The modest powerband is wide but not particularly torquey. Lots of throttle gives a blatting, annoyingly modest exhaust note.  Kawasaki Concours Like the Honda, the Kawasaki has an eminently rideable seating position for rider and passenger. However, the seat padding is a little harder and a shorter passenger can have real problems seeing over the rider&amp;#039;s shoulder. Our second-seater also complained that the right passenger peg\u2014which shares some mounting hardware with the exhaust pipe\u2014vibrates enough to keep that right foot tingling for a half-hour after the ride is over. Like the Honda, the Kawasaki is a fine middle-of-the-road compromise bike with no outstanding faults or gleaming high points.  Suzuki Bandit 1200S The Bandit is affordable, well-made, fast and fun. It&amp;#039;s technically not a sport tourer, but with the factory-accessory soft luggage strapped on the rear seat, it comes close. The seating position is reasonably upright for both riders, but the fairing is short. The powerplant is right on target. Although, like the other Japanese bikes, it&amp;#039;s perhaps a little short on low-end and midrange torque. While the Bandit has few rough spots, neither does it shine in any particular area.  Yamaha FZ1 We found the Yamaha to be much like a Suzuki Bandit with attitude. The FZ1&amp;#039;s riding position is too hunched over for you to want to spend much time cruising the freeways. Handling is razor-edged. We found ourselves carving and recarving some of California&amp;#039;s more lonely canyons. The engine is surprisingly soft at lower speeds and simply explodes at higher rpm. Getting the front wheel off the ground and keeping it there is all too tempting. But, antics are not likely to please your rear passenger anymore than it did ours. The Yamaha&amp;#039;s passenger already has enough to complain about thanks to the skimpy capacity of the bike&amp;#039;s soft bags.  Buell S3T Thunderbolt The Buell is pretty good. However, the bike&amp;#039;s hard springs do not convey real road feel through the bars. The Harley-based 1200cc engine has plenty of low- and midrange torque. Plus, it carries the powerband higher into the rev range than the Victory, necessitating fewer gear changes. But in spite of Buell&amp;#039;s innovative engine-mounting system, at standstill the bike vibrates like an outboard with a broken prop. The seat is hard and narrow\u2014both for rider and passenger. And perhaps most disappointingly, the S3T uses only a single front disc, which helps explain the spongy feeling in the brakes.  Harley-Davidson Screamin&amp;#039; Eagle Road Glide Not the Dyna T-Sport we had hoped for, this Road Glide is a limited-edition factory custom bike, carrying almost 10 grand in accessories. It&amp;#039;s not the kind of bike you&amp;#039;d pick to tackle Laguna Seca. Surprisingly, it managed to keep up with the back of the pack on Mulholland when well ridden. This bike is a good example of the center of gravity of Harley-Davidson&amp;#039;s renascence, a blend of decades-old V-twin engineering and Harley&amp;#039;s current excellent build quality combined with 1550cc of fuel-injected Twin Cam 88B Screamin&amp;#039; Eagle engine. The seating position is sit-up-and-beg upright, and the rider and passenger may as well be in an easy chair. However, the chrome crash cars are located just in front of the saddlebags, so your passenger should expect some bruises.  Victory V92SC This bike is really more of a sport cruiser than the tourer we had hoped for. And that explains the bike&amp;#039;s styling\u2014and its handling. With handlebars as wide as Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Victory isn&amp;#039;t eager to be stuffed into a corner, although we never dragged anything on the pavement no matter how far we leaned. The clutch and the brake levers take more finger strength than a frozen lid on a jar of pickles. The big twin gives gobs of power right off idle, with plenty of punch for coming off corners. Unfortunately, the power and torque are all used up by about 5000 rpm. And shifting the Victory is not to be taken lightly\u2014the gears make a clunking noise like a dropped anvil when shifting. Passenger appointments are minimal. Fit and finish is first-rate, though the fuel lines, wiring looms and electrical components are not tucked away out of sight. It&amp;#039;s also the only bike that weeped oil from the engine.  BMW R 1150 R/T The shaft-drive R/T feels surprisingly tall and tippy. This bike has more high-tech features than a PlayStation 2. Start with the braking system\u2014it&amp;#039;s hydraulically boosted by the ABS pump, providing short lever throw and extremely light, progressive effort and feel. The seats and handgrips are electrically heated. The windscreen is motorized to travel up and down 6 in. Handling is excellent, once you get used to the high center of gravity. Our passenger voted this the bike most worthy of a cross-country cruise.  Ducati ST2 This machine is an almost universal object of lust for both men and women. The Ducati&amp;#039;s assorted mechanical clatter is unmistakable, as is the 90\u00B0 twin&amp;#039;s distinctive exhaust note. The ST2&amp;#039;s handling is razor-sharp, with the powerful Brembo twin front discs capable of lifting the rear wheel clear off the pavement in a high-speed stop with only two fingers on the lever. Some of the other bikes have more power, but often it&amp;#039;s concentrated in one corner of the tachometer. The Ducati doesn&amp;#039;t care. Just roll the throttle back, hang on tight and leave town with your significant other. The crisp handling comes at the expense of a riding position with high pegs, low, drooping handlebars and serious forward lean. Great for racing, but not conducive to traveling on the freeway for more than a few minutes. Fit and finish is superb, and the saddlebags have more usable cubic inches than any other bike here.  Triumph Sprint ST This once-proud brand of bike is back after virtually putting itself out of business a generation ago by building leaky, unreliable bikes. The powerband is not quite as immediate as the Ducati&amp;#039;s, but a strong midrange and turbine-like smoothness to the very right end of the tachometer make this bike one of our favorites on fast sweepers. It&amp;#039;s also a favorite ride on the interstate, with low pegs and a soft, wide seat. We are really impressed with the bike&amp;#039;s fit, finish and quality hardware. The Triumph&amp;#039;s saddlebags are the only ones in the test that use two locking latches to close. Conclusion The Japanese bikes are all competent machines. The dated Kawasaki and Honda are tremendously well-done but they don&amp;#039;t inspire us. The Bandit and, in particular, the FZ1 are standard/sportbike-flavored machines, but still could be pressed into service for extended or overnight trips. The Harley really can&amp;#039;t be compared with the others because rarely do Harley buyers cross-shop for other brands. The Buell&amp;#039;s rough-edged performance image is well-deserved, but few passengers would be willing to put up with the vibration, even if they could get past the pumpkin-and-blue graphics. The Victory, kitted out with a windscreen and saddlebags, might make a decent traveling bike for someone whose driving style doesn&amp;#039;t include frightening horses. We&amp;#039;d need to change some things on the Ducati to make it an acceptable overnighter. But we love the sounds it makes and the way it tracks around a corner. The BMW is a technical tour de force, with more computers on board than Apollo 11. Its character and competence make it one of our favorites. Which leaves the Triumph Sprint ST. It came in first or second in every category, and we&amp;#039;ve yet to find the fatal flaw, so it&amp;#039;s our overall winner. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/motorcycles/a58/1268546/>