Ask the man (or woman) who owns one and they’ll tell you “absolutely” or they just don’t care. The few I’ve spoken with seem to love their V-Rods and only have kind words to say about them. But, I did mention “the few” as frankly, I don’t see a lot of them and when I do, they’re usually being ridden, not parked so maybe that says something right there. The few that I have seen are basically stockers and I mean stockers right down to stock exhausts even. Maybe the V-Rod is so different that they don’t feel the need for customization to stand out in a crowd of Harleys.
But then there are some owners like Todd Price of Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, who for whatever reason can’t leave well enough alone. Jack Cofano caught up with Todd’s bike at the Charlotte Easyriders Show and took a passel of pics that definitely shows Todd’s a guy who’s not afraid to let it all hang out whether its own a V-Rod and possibly getting the evil eye from air-cooled aficionados or taking it to the next step with a paint job that takes it to the next level of Todd’s obvious self-assurance and individuality. The elaborately detailed paint job may just seem a little familiar to you and you’re not sure why. The paint scheme was inspired by Swiss painter and sculptor, H.R. Giger, who is probably more well known within the motorcycle crowd as the Academy Award winning visual effects designer for the movie Alien or for his work with bands like Korn and Danzig to name just a few. But possibly without knowing it, his work or stylistic influence has long been a favorite of tattoo artists and adorns the bodies of many bikers unbeknownst to them. When you see one side or one view of Todd’s V-Rod, you’ve only begin to see the whole damn paint job as Giger-style stuff just keeps on going and going. Whether you like it or not, whether you like V-Rods or not, this is one paint job you have to at least peek at like a highway wreck.
Todd’s basically left the V-Rod architecture alone when he had Myrtle Beach Performance (www.myrtlebeachperformance.com) in Surfside, South Carolina, create this bike. Mechanically, other than a pretty damn wide 280mm rear tire he’s stuffed into a space once reserved for a seemingly super-model skinny stock 180mm. He also jettisoned the stock pipes for a set that makes its presence loud and clear even at rest. But, the biggest change was the one-piece body and a headlight of headlights that will enthrall you, scare you, or make you exclaim, “WTF?” Hey, that’s just like a stock V-Rod, nobody walks away from Todd’s bike without an opinion and I’d like to think that’s exactly what he was going for. Even though they might be after looking at it, nobody’s ever going to say Todd’s afraid.