I am a big fan of touring or adventure touring motorcycles. Travelling on a bike was always an exciting time for me. It is incredible to travel from one place to another and adjust your plans on the way. This is an adventure; that’s where all emotions come into place, and experiencing the unknown makes it fun and exciting. But there are some creature comforts we all expect from the motorcycle while going for a trip, including Cruise Control. So let’s talk about it.
Riding Yamaha Tracer 9 / Lovcen National Park Montenegro
Motorcycles have come a long way since I first rode my first-ever Honda almost 20 years ago. And that Honda was 15 years old at the time. Motorcycles are now more safe, more advanced, and more versatile. When I was diving into the motorcycle environment, we had bikes for every occasion – street, sport, off-road, touring. There is no such thing as crossover or allrounder. And each of those bikes came with a particular set of features dedicated to a specific use. Say you buy a sports bike – you’ve got a set of adjustments, such as suspension, foot pegs and a few more elements here and there. Street bikes needed less adjustability, as they were targeting commuters. Off-road motorcycles were sometimes basic, so you could customise and build what you needed on top of the base trim. Only touring motorcycles had all the “expensive” stuff as they meant to log long miles in comfort.
Yamaha Tracer 9 and Moto Guzzi V85TT / Durmitor National Park Montenegro
Today, we expect one motorcycle to be for everything – commuting, long-distance trips, off-road adventures. It should have an adjustable suspension, windscreen, multimedia, heated options, and cruise control. Yes, cruise control on a motorcycle. And most importantly, every motorcycle should have cruise control, even if that is just a city bike. That’s the impression I get reading comments underneath any motorcycle review. Okay, I understand why you might need it on heavy tourers or sport-tourers. But it should not be featured on every bike. I like this feature. I use it all the time, but at the same time, you only need it if you are committing to long-distance trips. Let’s be honest. Only a few people do.
Triumph Tiger Controls
Okay, I get it. You might one day go for a trip. Yes, but would renting a bike for that trip be better? The one with all the features suitable for your trip. Or maybe you buy a motorcycle with this option and hit the road now and then? Or customise your bike with the brand which allows you to do so, for instance, BMW. But the reality is, think if you need CC. You will only use it on open highways when you cruise there for hours, not in the city, not on twisties. So, your goal is to evaluate how often you’ll be in that situation. And all those features come at a price. End of the day, you can ride without it. You’d need to make stops, but that is a good idea anyway.
Me travelling across Europe on Honda CRB1100XX BlackBird
Depending on your motorcycle’s purpose and plans, you can live without it easily. When I started to ride motorcycles, we rode big, powerful bikes that didn’t have electronics except simple ABS. The first time I travelled across Europe was my Honda Blackbird—thousands of kilometres on all sorts of roads, no cruise control. Nowadays, I feel that such bikes must have it, but do you need it on Tiger 660?
