Bagger Racing: Do You Dig It? – Question of the Day
King of the Baggers share the stage with MotoGP at COTA
This weekend, MotoAmerica’s King of the Bagger series is getting a big boost on the international stage as a supporting class to the MotoGP round at Circuit of the Americas. Bagger racing has been around for a few years now, but this was the first time it took place at the same track and weekend as MotoGP.
For many people, this may be their first chance to see these giant machines out on a track, and for the uninitiated, it’s probably hard to see the appeal. I mean, these are baggers. Barcaloungers on wheels. If you only saw them on the street (more often than not you’d hear them before you saw them), you might find it hard to imagine an Indian Challenger or a Harley-Davidson Road Glide leaned over on the same track as a Ducati Desmosedici GP24.
Our own Troy Siahaan got a first-hand taste of what it’s like, riding championship-winning baggers from both Harley-Davidson and Indian. Troy was surprised at just how nimble the bagger racer could be, and after a bit of mental recalibration, found he was riding it just like he would any other bike on the track.
But for those of us who weren’t fortunate enough to get to ride one, we ask our Question of the Day: Bagger racing – Do you dig it?
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Dennis has been a part of the Motorcycle.com team since 2008, and through his tenure, has developed a firm grasp of industry trends, and a solid sense of what's to come. A bloodhound when it comes to tracking information on new motorcycles, if there's a new model on the horizon, you'll probably hear about it from him first.
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I recently watched a King of the Baggers Race, actually not bad, think primarily just Indian and Harleys. Most of the racers have a background in Flat Track, so lots of talent out there.
Add an "import" bagger series. Have to top 5 from each cap off the season with a race for World Bagger Dominance at the end of the MotoAmeriseason.
I'd be watching purely to see if which got factory bags first: the M109R or the Hayabusa.