It was a thankless job, but somebody had to do it: Round up the three most lavishly equipped over-the-road motorcycles on Earth, get a couple of that same planet's most experienced and entertaining riders to accompany you, take along your significant other to serve as Official Evaluator of Passenger Accommodations, then lead the group on a week-long loop around the Golden State. The route will lead to countless postcard-quality destinations, including the highest and lowest points in the continental U.S. (Mt. Whitney and Death Valley, practically across the road from one another), the glorious Sierra Nevada range, beautiful Lake Tahoe, picture-perfect Mt. Shasta, and not just the scenic Pacific Coast Highway but hundreds of miles of the magnificent Pacific Coast coast. Think you could handle that?

I certainly could. And before I had a chance to refuse (as if), I was motoring across the Mojave Desert with girlfriend Rosanne on back, accompanied by two of motojournalism's acknowledged superstars: Peter Egan, longtime CW staffer/contributor, high-mileage two-wheel traveler and one of the great storytellers of our time; and Beau Allen Pacheco, larger-than-life world trekker and founding Editor of our late, lamented Adventures bike-travel magazine.

Nothing shabby about the high-line bikes we were riding, either: BMW's K1200LT, Harley-Davidson's Screamin' Eagle Ultra Classic Electra Glide and Honda's Gold Wing. All three reign atop a class of motorcycles purpose-built to fulfill this nation's time-honored touring philosophy: If you can't take it with you, don't go. We 'Mercans love to travel with lots of Stuff, and we want to be entertained along the way. So, these big rigs roll off the assembly lines equipped with a plenitude of road-trip accessories, including spacious three-piece hard luggage, powerful sound systems, protective fairings and windshields, and electronic cruise controls. We also asked all three manufacturers to fit our test bikes with certain other accessories on the factory option list, specifically GPS navigation systems, heated handgrips and heated seats.

Though this excursion around California was sure to provide plenty of over-the-road enjoyment, it was a test first and foremost, intended to reveal which of these two-wheel luxury liners is the best companion for the long haul. To that end, we explored the Golden State on everything from bustling urban freeways to remote backroads, from the stark isolation of the desert to great expanses of lush farmlands, from well below sea level to the rarefied air of mountain passes, in dry heat that approached triple digits to all-day rain just a few clicks above freezing. It's amazing that anyone can experience such a variety of conditions within the boundaries of a single state, especially in the short space of a week, but that's just one of the many factors that make California such an incredible part of the Great Southwest.

The motorcycles we rode were pretty incredible in their own right, starting alphabetically with the BMW K1200LT. At the time of our test, the U.S. branch of BMW had not yet received any 2006 LTs, so we settled for an '05 instead. No big deal, since the '05 and '06 models are identical in every respect.

Source Cycle World