I may be a little late with the answer to your question. I own both the Goldwing 02 and vtx 1800r. Naturallly the Goldwing rides better but love the sound and style of the vtx. I have owned it for 1 yr. now and have had not one problem and the performance is great. One I bought it, it has the Vance Hines exhaust and the command Module. Runs great. I really do like it.