Written by  Story by Mark Barnett.

Excerpted from Barnett’s Magazine Print Article

We are winding down this series of concept bike articles and have gotten to the one which gave me the most trouble. To remind everyone, we’ve been putting together some ideas that we think would help Harley-Davidson with conquest sales: bringing in existing Japanese and European bike customers. Harley-Davidson has been building exactly what their customer base wants and gradually improving it for years. The last thing a hardcore Harley rider wants to see when new models are released is a showroom full of radiators. These bikes are extra models, not replacements. 

Having reminded everyone of that, the touring class has been where Harley had done well with conquest sales in my opinion. We’ve taken many Goldwings, BMW K1200LT’s, and big Kawasakis on trade at our store. The air-cooled, Twin Cam dressers have modern electronics, excellent smoothness, excellent power in the 103” and 110” versions, and dynamite looks. The three bikes presented here are solely for those seeking a high-tech, high-horsepower alternative touring experience.

The first bike in the upper right is a V4 version of the V-Rod engine stuffed into a current Harley chassis. This bike would be for those who drive 80 and 90 mph all the time out on the open road and want 160 horsepower or so. This would be a little like a Yamaha V-Max motor but not neutered as Yamaha did when they presented a similar looking touring version a few years ago. Now for those riders who aren’t necessarily enamored with the Harley style, this motor was also stuffed in a more modern looking chassis pictured at the lower left. This bike I imagine with an aluminum frame that holds the fuel a la Buell. This way the weight of the fuel doesn’t get too high and the bike doesn’t feel top heavy, a common problem with overhead cam engines. Might as well throw on the most aerodynamic fairing possible and tuck in the bags tightly for a smooth rip through the wind. This bike would be aimed at the Goldwing, the new BMW K1600GT, the Honda ST1300, the Kawasaki Concours, and the sportier end of the touring segment in general.

Developing a V4 version of the V-Rod engine would be expensive, so I’ve also thrown out a V4 version with a longitudinal crankshaft (photo lower right). Harley could buy their way into this segment by purchasing the start- up company Motus. Their current offering is shown in the middle. I don’t know if Motus is for sale, but they’ve made a V4 hot rod of a motor that sounds like a sprint car and is easy to work on with its valve train sticking out in the air like that of a Moto Guzzi. Hey, it’s just a thought.

I appreciate the emails that have coming in supporting this series of articles; it has been lots of fun and Oberdan has managed to capture the spirit of everything I suggested. He has been hesitating greatly with my unibody Cosworth inline four and my five-cylinder radial touring bikes, however. Maybe he’s just trying to save me the embarrassment, we’ll see.