Choppers – after several years of seeing them being built on TV, some of the major OEMs are now building their own. The Victory Vegas Jackpot was one of the first out of the gate, offering flamboyant style and a 250mm rear tire that was the fattest available on a large-scale production bike. Then, this past summer, Harley-Davidson debuted its chopper/bob-job Rocker, providing the most daring Softail yet. We knew we had the brewing of a shootout when we saw the Star Motorcycles Raider this fall, as the Yamaha-built cruiser was the first Japanese custom that embraces the chopper phenomenon. They’re the three bikes currently offered from major OEMs which best exemplify the outlaw chopper movement, what we’re terming Mainstream Choppers.

The Raider S, Vegas Jackpot and Rocker C represents each maker's interpretation of a custom bike made affordable for the average Joe. There's plenty of exposed motor, chrome, flashy paint, kicked-back riding posture and enough bottom-end stomp from all three to inspire a "Torque for Dummies" book.

With such sparkle and glam in the form of motorbikes, we needed a destination, a theme to drive us. I wanted to parallel the bikes to women's shoe fashions; face it, cruisers can be priced exorbitantly for so little, painful to ride (wear) and exceptionally trendy. At least I didn't stoop to nicknaming the bikes after women's bottoms like Duke did!

Fortunately, glitz and glam can be found in our own backyard. We played near the surf of Malibu and rode into its sinuous canyons that would soon burn fiercely, and we cruised through the glamorous Sunset Strip and the less-glamorous Hollywood Boulevard. We lived it up at the Hotel California (literally), and we frightened little old ladies in Beverly Hills. Much about Los Angeles is viewed by many folks as being ostentatious, and so are these bikes.

"Hollywood has always been an irresistible, prefabricated metaphor for the crass, the materialistic, the shallow, and the craven."
-Neal Gabler, author

See, we fit right in! With longtime Motorcycle.com shoot-out participant and forum hero, Buzz "Buzglyd" along, we set off. Come along for the ride from the saddles of three mainstream choppers.

The Cast

Star Raider S 
MSRP: $13,780 (Tommy Blue) *$13,980 (Candy Red w/Flames)  *Model tested

We got our first look at the Raider in September of this year when Editor Duke attended its unveiling. He learned from the Star team that the bike's design is influenced by what they call "take-off movement imagery" (think of a WW2 fighter plane on a runway). They hoped to evoke this mental picture by the imaginary line drawn from the tail up through the handlebars. The other force behind the look is what Star calls "black art theme." Sharp angles are found in places like the handlebar riser clamp, tank-mounted instrument cluster, lower triple tree, footpegs and mirrors. Adding to the Raider's styling is the gleaming exhaust and custom-look cast-aluminum wheels.

Seeing the Raider in photos alone doesn't do justice to its looks, but despite attention to the details, even in the flesh the Star seems a touch contrived. Buzz described the Raider’s styling as “fairly derivative (Softail Custom or Dyna Wide Glide anyone?) and, in typical Yamaha fashion these days, a little over the top." But he couldn't fault the Raider's wise use of internal wiring, quality paintwork and nice finishes.

Perhaps that's the danger in this segment. Could you tell one cruiser from another, let alone from a Harley, at a distance? Park most non-Harleys at a Starbucks, and what do you hear from Mr. Non-Fat-Soy-No-Foam-Latte? "Nice bike! That a Harley?"

Crusty veteran of the bike industry that he is, Kevin Duke still sees the sunny side in the Raider, noting that items like the stylized mirrors and footpegs are "the kind of stuff a Harley or Victory owner would only find in thick accessory catalogs."

Despite a couple of differences about styling, we all sung the same tune with respect to the Raider's (and Rocker's) instruments. Duke remarked that they're "fairly attractive but are mounted low and out of a rider’s sightlines." That's no small thing when you realize that you're taking your eyes off the road, however briefly, to look at the time, fuel gauge, speedo or tripmeter that are all nicely integrated into the tank-mounted speedometer and toggled with a switch on the left handlebar control.

Using what they already had, Star took the excellent 1854cc (113ci), 48-degree air-cooled fuel-injected V-Twin from the 'Liner bikes (Roadliner/Stratoliner) with its high-for-a-big-Twin compression ratio of 9.5:1 requiring premium fuel. Another aspect of the engine worth noting is the use of twin counter balancers that allowed Star to hard-mount the engine to the frame without concern for annoying vibes.

If you couldn't figure it out by looking at the dyno numbers, trust all three of us when we say the Raider has tremendous go power. The Raider's bone-crushing 113ci mill can push the Vegas Jackpot's 100ci engine around like a schoolyard bully extorting lunch money, and it all but bitch-slaps the Rocker C's 96ci lump. We rolled this trio of choppers on to the Area P dyno to find out how much power is transfered to the rear wheel, and the Star¹s 83 dyno horsepower dwarfed the relatively meek Harley¹s 61 hp. The Star’s 83 dyno horsepower dwarfed the relatively meek Harley’s 61 hp. Capable of dragstrip-style rolling burnouts all day long, the Raider pours it on strong. Rolling into the throttle, even in excess of 90 mph, results in a linear rush of acceleration not normally expected from most cruisers. Perfect marks for the engine were held back slightly by a slight abruptness coming on and off throttle relative to the perfect fueling of the Vic and Hog.

But just like there's more to looks, all the torque you could ever want won't mean much if you can't go 'round a bend or slow down. Reeling in the 105 ft-lbs of torque found at the rear wheel just before the 2,500 rpm mark is the work of of two – yes two – discs and calipers up front. The two 298mm rotors are squeezed by four-piston mono-block calipers, and they provide very good feel and stopping power. In a segment that often sees skimping on brakes in the name of style, Star has bucked the trend here, and you'll be a much happier rider because of it.

Editor-in-Cheese Duke and myself came away astonished at how well this heaviest-of-the-three could be hustled through bends. Additionally, the bike's stability at high speeds is also atypical of what one is used to encountering in this class. Basically, the chassis says, "Bring it on!"

The Star has a long 70.8-inch wheelbase, but despite the raked-out look, it doesn't come at the cost of an ill-handling bike. Star engineers used a little trickery in order to achieve the chopper-ish 39.2-degree fork angle. The Raider’s steering-head rake angle is actually a more modest 33.2 degrees, but a 6-degree offset of the triple clamps keeps that kick-ass long look via the raked-out fork angle. This leaves the Raider with a reasonably short 102mm (4 inches) of trail. Kevin said the Raider S was the "fastest down a twisty road," and that "it’s the only bike of this group whose steering doesn’t have a tendency to flop while at a less-than-walking-pace crawl." It's a safe bet that the surprisingly good handling is attributable to the wise use of a smaller 210/40-18 rear tire combined with a wider-than-usual 120/70-21 up front.

Despite Star's efforts to make the Raider handle as well as it goes, Buzz's many years of being a cruiser guy gave him a different view. Saying that the bike’s long wheelbase bothered him in tight turning tarmac, he quipped that "if I could get a 7/8ths scale Raider without losing the power, I'd be as happy as a woman with PMS downing a gigantic hunk of Motherlode chocolate cake." We can see Buzz is a fan of the glutenous Claim Jumper chain of restaurants.

When it comes to ergonomics, what seems to work really well for one person can be a different experience for someone else. El Duke and I liked how the Raider’s “fists in the wind” riding position worked at highway speeds, as it also offered a surprising amount of wind protection from its high front end. But our taller friend, Buzz, said the reach to the bars made his shoulder blades hurt. He noted that the Raider isn't "as bad as the old Warrior but it still would keep me from putting on impressive miles on an otherwise impressive platform." The Raider requires a little bit of reach to the bars, but it also has the best designed footpegs that fall somewhere between the Rocker C's splayed-out pegs and the Victory's more compact peg-to-seat relation. A wide, supportive seat aids long-haul comfort.

We all agreed that the Raider had the best damped (not damn!) suspension in this group, and its five-speed gearbox also received the highest marks, even though it lacks the six-speed overdrive of the Victory and Harley.

Finally, there's a few other incidentals. We were all impressed with the burly exhaust note that makes it hard to believe the bike is emissions compliant, and its passenger pillion is the plushest of the trio. It’s equipped with the only manly-sounding horn among this group; the puny, high-pitched horns of the Rocker and Vegas are almost embarrassing for such bad-ass bikes

So, Star's new cruiser clearly takes many cues from Harley and other customs in terms of styling, but more importantly, like a talented protégé, it breaks out of the shadows of those veterans and challenges the conventions that a highly-styled motorcycle can't operate and perform like a motorcycle should. It has ferocious torque, it stops better than some standard motorcycles (let alone most cruisers), has a refined Japanese transmission, decent ergonomics, great stability in the chassis and a lot of quality in the details. There's a lot to like about this newcomer to the cruising stage.

Victory Vegas

Victory Vegas Jackpot
MSRP: Starting $17,999 (As tested $21,539 Includespremium Sunset Red paint $1,842, HID lighting kit: $449, billet wheels: $999 and CA emissions: $250)

The Vegas is a stalwart of the Victory lineup, enhanced by the fat-tired Jackpot offshoot. The Jackpot designation indicates more flash and flare in the form of custom paint options, a color-matched frame, "excessive" chrome, custom headlight and a chubby 250mm rear tire. Victory did an excellent job of hitting on so many of the priorities of the cruiser customer.

Victory's signature Freedom V100/6 air/oil-cooled, SOHC, 50-degree V-Twin received a number of refinements and enhancements this year. The compression ratio was reduced from 9.8:1 to 8.7:1 in order "to prevent spark knock and add more ignition timing” that somehow results in slightly greater horsepower and torque

Noise pollution was on the mind of Victory engineers this year. Some of the target areas included: a taller sixth gear (first gear is shorter, but not for noise reduction purposes) that purportedly reduces tranny meshing noise and reduces cruising rpm by 3%, a split-gear clutch and a "re-tuned" compensator, a primary cover with more sound-deadening ribbing, a quieter alternator and slower valve closing speeds combined with longer closing ramps reduce annoying top-end "tick."

Styling is about on par with the Raider in my opinion, but it has some distinct features too. Take for example the beautiful headlight nacelle. It's large but integrates perfectly with the rest of the front-end, adding a purposeful look to the bike, as if to say, "I'm serious." A tribal flame-job paint scheme looks a bit blase though it's very high-quality.

Sitting alongside that exposed wiring are two stainless-steel lines. One leads to the single four-piston caliper that pinches a 300mm floating rotor. Perhaps the other stainless line should lead to a second caliper/rotor combo, but it doesn't and that's a darn shame. Last year you could climb aboard any Victory model and expect the venerable name of Brembo to be there with you. Not so this year, as the brakes on all models are Victory-branded Nissins. They require a strong squeeze and don't offer much feel. If the Jackpot's brake was like a TV character, it would be George Costanza: wimpy and full of excuses.

Crazy, then, how the measly two-piston caliper rear brake does an exceptionally better job of grasping a 300mm rotor. How'd they get the brakes backwards like that? Alas, just flip the stopping power ratio of roughly 70% front/30% rear that's found on most other bikes, and the Victory stops easily enough.

The second of the two stainless lines I mentioned above connects to the clutch; the clutch that allows you to access the clunkiest tranny of the group. Both Buzz and I were throwing around words like "agricultural" when lamenting the very notchy first and second gear. The gear-set certainly seems durable enough, but it lacks the refined, almost buttery-smoothness of the Raider, or the positive-shifting Rocker C. Still, we all thought the overdriven sixth gear was a good thing when pounding down the highway.

The Jackpot and its 95 ft-lbs of torque is a good sparring partner to the powerhouse Raider. Like the Star, it will stir your hooligan spirit with easy stop-light peel-outs, and if you get it just right the front will relieve itself of the tarmac by an inch or two over a short distance. But in terms of maximum power, its 78 horsepower comes up short to the rambunctious Raider. Guess there's no replacement for displacement, as the saying goes.

The Victory managed to please us all in one area, and grossly disappoint in another. First the bad news. That top-fuel-dragster-looking rear tire might scream torque monster, but it turns the bike into a spoiled little child actress that refuses to do what she's told when it's time to take the bike through the twists and turns. Kevin summarized it best when he said "The wide, heavy rear wheel/tire is a fashion statement that compromises ride quality. The Jackpot hates mid-corner, sharp-edged bumps as the suspension struggles to control the weighty wheel." Despite having a wheelbase (66.3") almost five inches shorter than the Raider and Rocker C, and comparable rake and trail (32.9-degrees/4.9") figures, the Jackpot came up a couple cherries short of a winning pull because of that fat rear Dunlop. It requires continual inside bar pressure to hold a lean in a curve, so it feels unnatural when turning.

The area of the Victory's welcome dominance was in the ergo dept. The rider triangle is the most compact in the group (aside from wider handlebars), yet it feels anything but cramped or compact. Buzz loved the Jackpot for its easy reach to the bars, and I couldn't help but think how the scooped-out saddle felt like an expensive custom job. Passengers won’t be so happy with the mediocre rear seat and high footpegs. If the rear suspension was more forgiving, the Jackpot would have made a good partner to actually boogie on down the highway to Vegas with the Raider at its side, thanks to great ergos. Duke wasn’t thrilled with its turnsignal switch that feels vague and cheap for a bike in this price range and was occasionally reluctant to cancel; its self-canceling system wasn’t as responsive as Harley’s excellent system.

The Vegas Jackpot has a lot of things going for it that makes it a star, but only if that star is on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Plenty of torque, distinct Victory styling and a cozy cockpit (with the best instruments location, by the way, although there’s nothing more than a speedo, odo and tripmeter) make it a champ on the strip – Sunset or Vegas. But if a series of challenging roads are in your future, don't expect the Jackpot be in the lead for an Oscar for Handling.

That mondo rear tire really penalizes the bike's steering and turning performance, making it a candidate for a Razzie instead.

Rocker C

Harley-Davidson FXCWC Rocker C 
MSRP: Vivid black $19,495; Color $19,840 (As tested $20,685  includes Security System option: $345, CA emissions: $200 and Freight charge: $300)

If looks were the only thing that mattered (regrettably that's often the case for many boobs out there), Harley-Davidson's latest addition to its Softail line wouldn't even have to show up to win. It could simply email a low-resolution image of itself to the competition, and the race would be over. The Milwaukee bike maker really knows its stuff when it comes to styling, the Rockers being a testament.

The Rocker C is the more custom-ified of the two, with plenty of chrome on the headlamp, triple clamps, handlebar riser, fork lowers, tank console, speedometer, and it sports attractive polished cast-aluminum wheels made by Brembo. The paint is a bit more special, too, with flame pinstriping front to back. Additionally, the finned oil tank and swingarm are color matched to the frame, where on the regular Rocker those two items have a "satin stainless metallic powdercoat."

But what makes a Rocker a Rocker? Before you go out and buy one expecting to join Vince Neil on stage when the Mötley Crüe reunion tour comes to town, think before you buy. The Rocker name has nothing to do with your second career and everything to do with how that gloriously big rear fender hugs and – believe it or not – moves or rocks with the 240-section rear tire and swingarm.

How did they do it?

The first step was to make a strong fender, one made from bonded construction rather than a typical sheet metal piece. The next step was to move away from the conventional frame-mount point. The Rocker's rear fender is actually joined to the swingarm via a cantilever mount. The end result is a fender that moves in unison with the tire as the swingarm travels up and down. Riding alongside a Rocker and seeing the fender in action is a treat.

But the effort wasn't purely fashionable. Harley engineers purport there to be over 100 Gs of force acting on a traditional rear fender, potentially spelling disaster for the welds holding it to the frame. With the Rocker design, broken or cracked mounts are no longer a concern.

Topped Off

When dropping nearly $20k on a motorcycle, you’re probably not paying much attention to its fuel cap design. However, adding fuel to your bike is one of the most repeatable tasks it asks from you, so you’ll be fondling your gas cap with some regularity. The Victory’s aircraft-style flip-up fuel lid is the only cap in this group that takes care of itself at gas stops, as the others are removable and thus require setting them somewhere while fueling – a minor but irritating hassle. However, the Vic cap looks like something you’d find on a sportbike, which is stylistically incongruent with this chopperesque design. The Rocker has a faux fuel cap on the left side that is actually a gas gauge, while the right side has a plain screw-top chrome cover that isn’t equipped with a lock – a cheap omission for a pricey machine such as this.  The Raider has a neat swing-away lock cover atop a clean chrome fuel cap, the winner of this nearly useless comparison. –Kevin Duke

Another neat styling and functional touch we all dug was the pair of rear LED turnsignals that double as a brake light. Great use of the minimalist philosophy.

Yes sir, the Rocker is all about the details. Like the self-canceling turnsignal system that quickly stops the lights from blinking. Kevin liked the way the bar-mounted turnsignals were unobtrusive unlike the generic bolt-on units on the Victory. And the "perfectly-finished fork sliders" caught Buzz's eye. Indeed, H-D even manages to keep CA emissions junk out of sight. So disappointing that the Raider couldn't follow Harley's lead there.

But go over the Rocker with a fine-toothed comb, and a few blemishes appear – you know, just like how a Playboy Bunny would appear if her photos weren't airbrushed beyond recognition. The dullish finish of the nickel-plated handlebars contrasts with the chrome-plated riser clamp. And that's the case in a few other areas, like the tank badge on our test unit that lost about half of its chrome finish, revealing the copper surface below. Hopefully this bike was the victim of a bad batch of plating or something.

These nuances aside, it's hard to be harsh on the Harley because in the big picture it looks like it should cost a lot more than it does.

Unlike so many thespians these days, the Rocker C gets by on more than just its good looks. Though the bike is substantially under-powered next to the other two, it still has enough poke to get you moving, with the best throttle response of the group. Still, we can’t rave too much about an engine that comes up 17 horsepower short of the Victory’s output, especially considering the Vegas is the only bike that doesn’t demand premium fuel.

Just keep the following caveat in mind: Like an actor in their fifth day of rehab, the rigid-mount mill shudders something bad between 80 and 90 mph. Anything slower is fine, anything faster and the engine smoothes out, but the clamshell riding shape dictated by the forward controls will have you white-knuckling the grips as you billow in the wind like a spinnaker sail.

Tame around-town paces are better suited to the Rocker's ergos. Kevin and I liked the reach to the pull-back V-shape bars as much as Buzz did, but I still felt that the footpegs had me stretched out a bit more than my 5'8" frame cared for. The view from the seat gives the impression of a much smaller package than the Vegas or Raider. Editor Man Duke didn't like the seat too much, remarking that "the Trick seat doesn’t have the cush of its rivals because of its two-fer convertible design, and he also whined about how the wide primary drive splays legs at a stop.

Fueling was fine, "but I'd add a Power Commander or some such device immediately to give it a bit more fuel and cool this baby down," said Buzz as he thought the air-cooled engine ran a little hot at traffic stops. Braking performance is marginally better compared to the Victory's front binder, but not nearly in the same league as the Raider. Stopping power and feel from the single four-piston/single rotor get-up are sufficient.

On an up note, its clutch pull is the lightest of the three (when’s the last time you’ve read that about a Harley?!), and both Buzz and Kevin were pretty satisfied with the six-speed tranny. Related to the transmission is a neat little gear indicator in the sparse, tank-mounted speedo/instrument cluster. Snick into sixth gear and a tiny green "6" lights up. It's kind of inconsequential, but Kevin stated that it's another one of those appreciated details.

Though ride quality borders on harsh from the Showa fork, handling performance is something of a surprise from a bike with a 90/90-19 front and a wide 240/40-18 rear tire. Even more so because of its 69-inch wheelbase paired to a 38-degree rake and a whopping 6 inches of trail. Pulling off a fat-tired custom bike with very light steering and decent stability is quite a feat, thanks in part to the smaller 19-inch front wheel compared to the 21-inchers of the others. The Rocker has 3 more inches in the wheelbase, 1.3 more inches of trail, nearly 5 more degrees of rake, a marginally smaller rear tire (240mm vs. 250mm) and weighs about 30 lbs more than the Victory, and yet it handles so much better than its Midwestern rival! Good job, Harley.

The Rocker C is red-carpet ready like a slender, leggy bombshell. But it has a skill set to back up its good looks with sufficient torque, reasonably good ergos, reasonable stopping power and unexpected handling prowess. Like so many prima donnas, the Rocker C ain't a cheap date, but is it worth it to lie, cheat and steal to ride this pricey maven?

ResultsThe Academy Votes

So superfluous are the trappings of Hollyweird and much of L.A. that it only seemed à propos we ride a type of motorcycle often perceived by the riding public as being equally excessive and overblown. We rode these flashy and fun ego machines all over SoCal to get a taste of what it's like to ride a modern, mainstream chopper.

It's safe to say that we came away impressed and often surprised by how well all three were able to mate the high-styling of much more expensive custom chopper brands with riding performance and comfort that those same pricey brands lack. This trio of motorcycles should make it perfectly obvious to anyone that's at least bright enough to spell their own name and is considering buying a custom bike, that higher cost absolutely doesn't mean more value. Amongst these three, that sentiment is amplified.

The Victory Vegas Jackpot deserves a degree of respect for being a worthy rival to the Harley juggernaut over the past five years. More than just a looker, though, the Jackpot has a powerful engine that breaks from long-running tradition by using over-head cams to increase reliability and performance. Styling is fairly distinctive, and most of the bike is made to very high standards. But like the Harley, the Victory couldn't survive on looks alone with us. As soon as Victory figures out like Harley did how to make a big tire bike handle better so the average under-skilled rider buying customs these days can steer it without fear of running wide, Victory's sales should keep climbing.

To determine a winner in the most objective way we can, we cast our votes using a lot of different criteria in this test, considering things like Brakes, Engine, Ergonomics, Transmission, Suspension, Fit/Finish and so on.

In the case of Star's Raider S, this bike would have ranked very high based solely on the performance-oriented categories. Looking at it as objectively as possible, the Raider simply out-classes the other two with its huge 113ci engine, and it possesses all the braking power in the front that the other two are pressed to match when applying front and rear. It’s comfortable, has the suspension to make longer rides possible, has unmatched chassis stability and a glitch-free transmission. Sure, for the most part the Raider trails the Rocker's looks, and it's a kind of a toss up with the Victory, but the ridiculous evaporative charcoal canister and horn bolted out in the open in front of the shifter doesn't help the Raider’s case.

"And the Oscar goes to..."

Sometimes a win can be a surprise, and sometimes the winner was expected to win. Like when a actor's work in a role receives so much publicity, you just know they're gonna sweep the awards shows.

But every now and then an unheralded player pulls off a performance worthy of any veteran Hollywood superstar, and they do it with a fraction of the budget of the big studios. Yes, in spite of the high salaries that are commonplace, someone is able and willing to do the same job for far less. When you can offer a similar level of detail, style, quality and performance as your contemporaries, and do it for thousands less, you will get noticed.

Ladies and gentleman, the Star Raider S!

"Oh my gosh, I don't know what to say! I didn't think I'd win! I'd like to thank Pete for keeping me clean and in the garage, Fonzie for making me look beautiful, and my agent Kevin for calling me...."

The One I Want...

My garage screams loudest for Harley’s Rocker, as it’s cool in a way the others aren’t. I love its brake lights integrated into the rear turnsignals, its finned oil tank and its cool rear fender arrangement. I’m not so pleased with a price tag that can accommodate a Raider and a Kawi Versys. The Vegas Jackpot has a big wow factor, and it offers impressive styling, a competitive motor and the appeal of riding a bike that is mildly exotic. Too bad its fat ass spoils its ride and handling. For those who want a more cooperative machine, I’d stick with the standard ($2000 cheaper) Vegas and its 180mm rear tire. And that leaves Star’s Raider as the winner in my personal rankings. It may not offer the high style of the Rocker or Jackpot, but it’s pretty damn close, showing impressive fit and finish and much attention to detail. But the tipping point is the way it goes down the road, offering the best motor, suspension and handling. A cruiser-style motorcycle always has some dynamic compromises when compared to a standard bike, but the Raider demands less of those concessions among this trio. It works as a bike should and much better than its chopper profile would suggest. Doing it for many thousands less than the Hog and Vic makes it the easy winner in my book. --Kevin Duke

Have you ever been to the Claim Jumper? It's a restaurant notable for its gigantic portions. The food is not bad but if you ask someone about their experience there, the first thing out of their mouth is, "They give you so much food!" Perhaps with the mantra "Ride to Live, Live to Eat" in my head, I went about the task of testing three of the flashiest bikes on the road today and compared them to eateries. The Rocker C is the Mille Fleurs (a fancy, schmancy Ranch Santa Fe bistro) of motorcycles #exquisite taste and outrageous price. Whether it's worth it or not to you may depend on your mood that day, and who will be sitting with you. If you compare it to the Raider, it's not much of a bargain. If you compare it to a spendy custom, it's a screamin' deal. My final tally had the Raider ahead when price was factored in and the Rocker ahead when price was tossed out. Hey, sometimes I like Claim Jumper and sometimes I like Mille Fleurs! --Buzz "Buzglyd" Waloch

From the first day I rode the Raider, I knew if we ever got it in a pack of similar bikes, it would be a no-brainer choice as a winner. It's quite a simple matter in my mind. The Raider may not have the most distinctive styling, but it does everything the other two bikes do, and it does so by an order of magnitude. When you factor in cost, not picking the Raider S as the one to buy to starts to seem asinine. If you're someone who really wants the incredibly more expensive Harley or Victory, that's fine, but tell me that it's because you've always wanted a Hog, or something. If you can admit that it's simply an issue of emotion, I have no problem with your choice. Conversely, I often hear a lot of, "Looks and acts like the original, might as well just get the real thing." That theory doesn't hold water in this group. When the Raider is superior in almost every way, and is thousands and thousands less, there's just no reason for me not to choose it. I could buy all manner of aftermarket goodies to make the Raider look every bit as good as any custom available, build the engine within an inch of its life, and still have money to burn. The Japanese imitator is the one for me. --Pete Brissette

Specifications

How big? How fat? How much? To give you dear Motorcycle.com readers a clearer picture of how these mainstream choppers stack up against each other, we’ve compiled this handy spec chart analysis. From bore-and-stroke figures to seat heights to wheelbases, it’s all neatly formatted for you below.

You’ll find a lot of similarities between this trio of bikes, but also a lot of differences. You’ll also note abysmal fuel-economy figures. This is the result of three hooligans twisting the throttles hard on bikes we don’t own, with nearly all the miles logged while cruising in town and not on the highway, so the numbers are much lower than most riders could expect. You’ll get our respect if you can get worse mileage than we did!

Related Reading:

Inside Area P: No Limits
Godzilla Cruisers Shootout
2007 Power Cruisers Shootout
Rocket, Roadliner, Road King comparo
2001 Power Cruisers Shootout
2008 H-D Rocker First Ride
2008 Victory First Rides
2007 Victory Hammer S First Ride
2003 Victory Vegas Bike Test
2008 Star Raider First Ride
2008 Star Raider First Look
2006 Star Roadliner Bike Test