Cruiser (motorcycle) Cruiser (motorcycle) A cruiser is a motorcycle in the style of American machines from the 1930s to the early 1960s, including those made by Harley-Davidson, Indian, Excelsior and Henderson. The riding position usually places the feet forward and the hands up, with the spine erect or leaning back slightly. Typical cruiser engines emphasize easy rideability and shifting, with plenty of low-end torque but not necessarily large amounts of horsepower, traditionally V-twins but inline engines have become more common. Cruisers with greater performance than usual, including more horsepower, stronger brakes and better suspension, are often called power cruisers. Japanese companies began
Tornax Tornax Tornax was a motorcycle manufacturer in Wuppertal, Germany. Tornax built its first motorcycle in 1926. This was the model I-26, which has a 600 cc single-cylinder side-valve engine imported from JAP in London, England producing 15 bhp. For the remainder of the 1920s all Tornax models featured side-valve and overhead valve (OHV) JAP engines of 500, 550 and 600 cc, apart from the V-28 in 1928 whose 600 cc side-valve engine was supplied by the German engine manufacturer Columbus in Bad Homburg. In 1930 Tornax produced its first twin-cylinder model, the III-30, which had a side-valve 1000 cc V-twin