Written by Story by Mark Barnett
Excerpted from Barnett’s Magazine Print Article
Time for another in our series of make believe Harley-Davidsons, or concept bikes if you want to be snooty about it. The V-Rod engine is a stout, durable, good looking, and powerful engine created by Porsche engineers. It also has character. It doesn’t have the grunty, torque-laden character of Harley-Davidson’s air-cooled engine. Rather, it has a slick, ultra-high quality feel about it, a lively high, but not too high, revving powerband, and a turbine smoothness which is incredibly enjoyable. This is an engine that could bring non-Harley riders into the fold. Harley-Davidson corporate tried hard to do this, placing the original V-Rod in a power cruiser niche and backing it up with a very serious drag racing team to help promote it. However, I think it is safe to say, not as many converts were created as desired.
The V-Rod that could take a larger bite out of the BMW, Honda, Aprilia, Ducati, and other make sport touring and standard bike markets would have a few modifications. First, I think the engine should be sent back to Stuttgart and put on a diet. It will need a sixth gear, another ten horsepower, and that would be about all. It is a peach of an engine already. When Harley-Davidson came out with the VRSCR Street Rod, the most sport oriented of all the configurations offered, within two paragraphs, Motorcyclist magazine mentioned that it was 200 pounds heavier than a Ducati Monster. So not only must the engine be put on a diet, but the rest of the bike as well. Non-Harley riders care a lot about weight. A sporty V-Rod that weighed 150 pounds less with just ten more horsepower would be a completely different animal.
Then there are the cosmetics. And that is where Oberdan Bezzi comes in. He definitely has a feel for sport bike and standard bike aesthetics, not even shying away from making improvements on Bimotas and MV Agustas, bikes acknowledged by most as the most beautiful non-cruisers ever (see Oberdan’s web site at http://motosketches.blogspot.com/). As you can see, Oberdan envisions the V-Rod as a sleek, simple bike that could be sold as a naked bike without a fairing or as a sport touring bike with a small fairing and some sleek saddlebags (not shown). To push the bike into the full touring bike field, from the RS to the RT position in BMW lingo, a taller windshield, larger bags, and fairing lowers could easily be added. This could be a platform to go after market share from BMW, Ducati, and Triumph, three companies who are pretty much on the move nowadays.
This new V-Rod would be very narrow, rugged, simple compared to others, and have a solid dealer network which already has nine years experience with this basic platform. I think it could be made quite competitive. It could also be made into a decent police bike if not too tall. I recently lost a police bid which specified water-cooling, at least 125 horsepower, and a six-speed gear box.
That’s it for this month. Next issue we should have Oberdan’s single done. This will be a beginner bike presented in three forms: sport, standard, and cruiser, all with a horizontal, 600cc single with just a hint of Sprint (Harley’s ‘60s and ‘70s re-badged Aermacchi single which was very popular). Once the single is complete, I’ll put the whole group of bikes online. I’ve been waiting to put them up as a group to get feedback on all of them at the same time. Should have this worked out very close to the time this article comes out, or shortly thereafter at www.barnettharley.com. I’ve enjoyed the emails people have been sending with their ideas. I haven’t yet worked on the V-4 high-tech tourer, but I’m working myself up for it.