What has been your experience with the big cc tourers?  A ball park criteria would be able to go 75 mph at 4K rpm, carrying 50 + lbs of gear, and windshield that kept the wind off your face.

I had an 86 Gold Wing and it was great. The new ones wear out tires quickly and they cost a fortune. I also had a 2000 Triumph Trophy 1200 that I rode 1126 miles in 18 and 1/2 hrs to get my first Iron Butt award. I would highly recommend either bike. If you like to go fast the Triumph is the better bike. If you're after comfort the Wing is the way to go.

Thanks for the insight.  I recently did a 1500 mile trip and a couple things would have proved to be beneficial.  I'll address a couple points:

50 lbs - for the most part I used a 30 liter dry bag.  After putting in a tool bag, other necessities, clothes, I really didn't have much room for anything else.  Sometime I would like to do a 2 week trip through the Rockies and I'm sure I would need more room.

70 mph - That was my average and I don't have a desire to go much faster down the open freeway.  However, I did get boxed in a number of times and being able to accelerate to get out of harms way would have been very helpful on occasion.

Wind - It affected me much more than I anticipated.  I quit counting the number of times it felt like someone hit my helmet with a rubber mallet knocking it to a 45 degree angle.  

MPG - That certainly won't be good with a heavy bike.

I'm thinking something a 13-15 cc with a total wight no more than 700 lbs.  I know many have some other bikes and done some trips so I thought you could offer some insight.  Thanks again, best regards.

pgambr

Not sure you could get a bike that's 1300-1500cc that would weigh under 800lbs. let alone 700lbs or lighter.

Most of the bigger touring bikes like my old Honda 1300R VTX would do well on the slab. It averaged about 47mpg at 75mph, but it only had 5 gears and I was always reaching for a 6th gear. The 1300R was really low go the ground and I could flat foot it easily with a 32" inseam pant size.
I now have a trike system on my 2007 Harley Road Glide (it weighs in at about 900lbs without the trike system) that makes it really easy to handle, however.... I have to manually pull/push it backwards which can prove challenging at times (it costs another $500 to add the electric backup).
If you could be comfortable with it I'd say get one of the Honda vtx series bikes as they are very comfortable to sit on and can be modded the heck out of! The newer ones (1800cc) are even fuel injected and have a low fuel light and 4.5 or 5 gal fuel tanks. Also the used ones are fairly cheap 4-7k in price.

A nice Triumph Bonneville is about 500lbs and near 900cc... Lightweight, 50mpg, plenty of power, and beautifoool...
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My opinion is the Kawasaki Concours is about the best sport tourer built. I loved my Harley Street Bob, very comfortable. Right now I ride my ZRX1200R all over the country. It is what I travel on. Comfortable, fairly efficient and blisteringly fast. When I'm on the open interstate I keep it around the triple digit mark and its solid as a rock. No wind issues, the motor isn't working hard and the fuel economy is in the high 40s.

I currently ride a 2005 V Star 1100 that I turned into a bagger. It has plenty of power and will cruise 70-80 all day long. The Vstar 1100 weighs about 650lbs and the 1300 weighs about 750lbs. Look at all the available options/styles of bikes. If you get a bigger cruiser (no matter what brand), look into getting a driver backrest for those long hauls.