Looking for some info.

[pcarrell]

I think you'd be money ahead to do that!

[aclone]

Thanks Great info! I was looking to buy one with a two up and backrest .

[pcarrell]

I have a 1500 and it rides well 2up.  There are a few things that I can pass along to help you.

First, backrests are in short supply.  Because of the unique rear suspension of the bike, you can't just slap any old backrest on.  Also, because it's rather unique, there are very few options.  Kawasaki Fire & Steel has one, but it's pricy and can be hard to find.  Other then that, you're doing some fabricating to make something work.  Fortunately, it's not that hard.  If you want to go with a trunk, you can fab your own mounts, or Wompus Racks and Scootworks both make racks that fit.  After that, you can mount any trunk you want, no problem.  The factory also makes a grab rail thats real nice if thats all you want.

Second, that rear suspension is at the heart of things again.  Make sure you either have two good factory air shocks (or are willing to replace them at around $350 - $400 each!!!!), or you plan on switching to Progressive shocks (the 440 or 440HD shocks work very well) to go 2up.  The factory shocks are great because they're adjustable, allowing you to make the ride softer when you're alone and more firm when you have the weight of an extra passenger (you don't want the rear fender coming into contact with the bottom frame of the seat.....really BAD stuff can happen!).  If you run the factory shocks (like I do), you'll need a special "no loss" pump (I got mine from Progressive for around $70) that doesn't allow air to escape when you connect / disconnect it to make the adjustment.  You can't use a regular pump and a compressor will ruin the shocks completely.  You'll also need a way to lift the rear tire off the ground so you can unload the suspension when you make this adjustment.  I got a nice bike jack from Harbor Freight & Tools for $70 and it works great.  I can do this whole adjustment, start to finish, in about 10 minutes on my bike.

Lastly, the seat.......1500 seats work on 1500's, and 800 seats work on 800's.......they don't mix though.  When you get a 2up seat, there are a few different ones that work for each sized bike, but they all need the frame that Kawasaki made as far as I know.  It's a big "U" shaped piece that supports everything (see this diagram: http://fiche.ronayers.com/Index.cfm/Module/Main/TypeID/26/Type/Motorcycle/MakeID/3/Make/Kawasaki/YearID/42/Year/2001/ModelID/2933/Model/Vulcan_1500_Drifter/GroupID/70600/Group/Optional_Parts  BTW, this is a great source for parts and drawings.)  If you look at where the grab rail in that pic attaches you'll see where a backrest of rack would attach instead.

Thats the meat and potatoes of it all.  The Drifter is a real comfortable bike, and can be a great touring bike, but it takes a little extra effort......It's not a Goldwing ya know!

So you have something to compare with, I got my Drifter last fall for $5000.  It came with the factory solo seat and a Fire & Steel Corbin covered 2up, along with the horseshoe bracket and grab rail.  It also had a windshield, Vance & Hines longshots, a newer rear tire and a worn out front, fluids in need of changing, Kuryakyn Iso Grips and passenger pegs, and saddlebags with the appropriate brackets to mount them (can't do throw over saddlebags on this bike because of that floating rear fender, and those brackes aren't cheap!  They're a little over $200 bucks new.).  The bike had 18,000 miles on it at the time.  It was a decent deal (at the time it was a fair price).  This is a picture of what it looked like when I got it.......

(Click To Enlarge)

Thing is, as you probably know, once you get a bike, they tend to get "customized" somewhere along the way!  Mine has changed since last fall, but thats another story......

Hope this helps!

[aclone]

Its time to move up to a larger bike, I have never ridden a drifter.I road the 2000cc vulcan at bike week and liked it but you can,t beat the style of the drifter. I'm looking  for a 1500 and would like to know how she rides and does long distances with two ?  my wife and I do a lot of long weekend trips. the bike we are riding now is a 2006 Suzuki C50T  805cc. (its been a great first bike) Also are there any speical things to check or look out for when you  purchase a drifter.
thanks for any help
Mark