I'm curious what VRod owners would like in a next Gen VRod motor.I don't own one, I have a 03 Dyna. I like Vrods and have ridden them a few times but don't like the seating position, I like mid controls like my Dyna. I think a new motor should be shrunk wrapped over the internals to make it as compact as possible and offered in a standard style bike, and that bike needs to lose about 200 lbs. Cosmetically for my tastes if the motor was finned all the way down to include the cylinders and even the cam covers it would look better and maybe even benifit cooling possibly allowing a smaller radiater. And more horse power, sht Ducati, Aprillia, BMW are making more power now with smaller twins.
Next Generation VRod motor.
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The engine is actually already pretty much as small as it can get around the internals. DOHC engines naturally use my room with the 4 valve heads and cam chains needing to travel up one side of the engine. The cylinders are actually in the case so I think you mean for fins to go all the way down the heads.
BTW: You can get a V with mid controls.
BTW: You can get a V with mid controls.
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Remove the fins, they aren't needed. Hard coat anodize all the covers, cases, heads.
Large piston adjustable forks, better shocks, hard bags and top box, adjustable windscreen fairing, reduced rake, 17" hoops...basically a sport touring package.
Mid controls? Get an R or DX and put that Dyna away. My R rides better than my wildest Low Rider dream (FXLR).
Large piston adjustable forks, better shocks, hard bags and top box, adjustable windscreen fairing, reduced rake, 17" hoops...basically a sport touring package.
Mid controls? Get an R or DX and put that Dyna away. My R rides better than my wildest Low Rider dream (FXLR).
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I would ask for a six speed transmission. You will not find any argument over less weight. That is something that is commonly accepted as necessary. A modern ignition system that can deal with airflow changes would be a huge improvement. Oh yeah how about a fuel gauge that actually works.
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I think you mean "Get an R or D". DX have forward controls.
There are no mid control VRods made anymore. Yes, I meant for the fins all the way down the heads. I doubt the motor is a physically as small or light as it could be. Compare it to a Buell, Aprillia or Ducati of the same displacement.
You didn't read my post very well, I said compact and light, that Vmax is an ugly pig.
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Look at a KTM LC-8 engine. The V-Rod engine is larger and heavier than other V-twin motorcycle engines of similar displacement. It could stand to loose some size and weight. Then again, nothing in the V-Rod engine is critical. It has automotive margins of strength and durability, nothing is loaded to the limits of the metallurgy. Reliability is premium.
I would like to see a future V-Rod with sensible weight reduction all over the bike so it is under 600 lbs wet, a six speed transmission, a little easier service access for valve adjustments, a separate odometer and multi-function display so I can see both total miles and one of the trip odometers at the same time, a working fuel guage (!) , a center stand (please give us a center stand) and a tool kit under the seat.
Aside from that, I would love it if Harley took a page from BMW and Moto Guzzi and built a luxury touring, sport touring and naked roadster on one basic frame that was optimized for good handling. HD won't ever sell enough Street Rod style bikes, or enough sport touring style bikes to justify a unique chassis for them. But, if a traditional luxury tourer, a sport tourer and a naked roadster all shared the same basic frame, driveline and major suspension components, differing mainly in fairings, luggage or lack thereof, floorboards or mid set controls depending on the model, and maybe wheel sizes keeping other major components common, maybe, just maybe HD could justify the business case and break out of it's rut.
I am thinking of how BMW built a naked R-100, sporty R-100S, sport touring R-100RS and traditional touring R-100RT out of one basic bike with minor tuning and gearing differences, fairings and saddlebags, or how Guzzi built the Le Mans sport bike, 1000SP sport tourer and the big 1000T3FB police bikes and tourers off of the basic V-7 chassis (which is still being made forty years down the road for the Guzzi California !) Imagine if Harley built a frame that was so inherently right that it could be used for model after model for four decades. That's what Guzzi did with the original V-7 frame.
Absent that, at least give us a mid control option, even if it's in the P and A catalog. I can make compromises but being limited to forward controls, or floorboards, is a show stopper.
I would like to see a future V-Rod with sensible weight reduction all over the bike so it is under 600 lbs wet, a six speed transmission, a little easier service access for valve adjustments, a separate odometer and multi-function display so I can see both total miles and one of the trip odometers at the same time, a working fuel guage (!) , a center stand (please give us a center stand) and a tool kit under the seat.
Aside from that, I would love it if Harley took a page from BMW and Moto Guzzi and built a luxury touring, sport touring and naked roadster on one basic frame that was optimized for good handling. HD won't ever sell enough Street Rod style bikes, or enough sport touring style bikes to justify a unique chassis for them. But, if a traditional luxury tourer, a sport tourer and a naked roadster all shared the same basic frame, driveline and major suspension components, differing mainly in fairings, luggage or lack thereof, floorboards or mid set controls depending on the model, and maybe wheel sizes keeping other major components common, maybe, just maybe HD could justify the business case and break out of it's rut.
I am thinking of how BMW built a naked R-100, sporty R-100S, sport touring R-100RS and traditional touring R-100RT out of one basic bike with minor tuning and gearing differences, fairings and saddlebags, or how Guzzi built the Le Mans sport bike, 1000SP sport tourer and the big 1000T3FB police bikes and tourers off of the basic V-7 chassis (which is still being made forty years down the road for the Guzzi California !) Imagine if Harley built a frame that was so inherently right that it could be used for model after model for four decades. That's what Guzzi did with the original V-7 frame.
Absent that, at least give us a mid control option, even if it's in the P and A catalog. I can make compromises but being limited to forward controls, or floorboards, is a show stopper.
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If HD were to re-design the Vrod engine, I'd like to see a configuration that would allow aftermarket shops to provide billet cases.
The MoCo will never do it right, but aftermarket will, and once they build something that can be copied it's on!
The MoCo will never do it right, but aftermarket will, and once they build something that can be copied it's on!
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354 Posts
Not asking much are you? Is there anything you like about it!
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For me, I think I would like to see a bigger bore V-Rod motor around 1600 to 1800cc. Keep the horsepower around 120 and lots of torque, maybe 100ft lbs. Anyone that wants 180 horsepower needs to get a Busa, which I rode for 3 years, to see how overpowered that is for a street bike. With that motor Harley could actually build a touring platform, a standard and a cruiser, and the motor would make sense for all three. I have been waiting on a V-Rod bagger platform for a while, but I'm not sure I will ever see it.
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This was done many years before the V-Rod hit the market.
Only 50 units were released to the public to make stock racing legal.The Revolution engine was copied from the race bike,and one of the most unique frames in the industry was wrapped around it.
The V-Rod is what it is and has gone down in history as one of the greatest leaps in technology Harley has ever completed.
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The original inline 4 we know so well today was drawn up and stuffed in a drawer just after ww2,believe it or not,in Milwaukee by a Harley engineer or 2.Tale has it,this is how the 750 Honda engine was born.
Harley has had many ideas in the past 50 years.The only problem I ever saw with most of them was they looked like any run of the mill Kawasaki for the era.After the Nova was canned,a few of the engineers left and went over to Kawasaki,giving them some of the ideas that are still used in jap production today.
This was a Harley idea that made it past the drawing board from 1975,but never saw production for sale to the public.
Harley has had many ideas in the past 50 years.The only problem I ever saw with most of them was they looked like any run of the mill Kawasaki for the era.After the Nova was canned,a few of the engineers left and went over to Kawasaki,giving them some of the ideas that are still used in jap production today.
This was a Harley idea that made it past the drawing board from 1975,but never saw production for sale to the public.
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Here's one that did make it for sale to the public.
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Sure there is, that's why I'd like to see it stick around, but it needs to evolve and improve if it's going to stay viable and attrack more buyers. I'd have bought one if it had the stuff I said I like. I don't like having my feet forward with all my wieght on my ass and my arms bent always using my arm muscles to hold myself up in the wind, very uncomfortable. And it wieghs too much, 200 plus more than a Beemer or Ducati, ridiculous. I'm a Harley guy, have owned nothing but since 1974 so don't take me wrong.
I had several FXR's including a T (Nova fairing and bags!)which I rode all over the country 70K miles. The R does ride substantially better.
That would mean making MOTORCYCLES instead of lifestyle/fashion accessories for the people who wear pirate costumes. I paint with too broad a brush, but still...
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No doubt that the MoCo wants to do it their way so they'll never be the same as the others. I just wish that the Harley and Buell engineers would have merged minds a bit more. Most HD types are looking for a sport bike. I know I'm not which is why I didn't buy an R1125.
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