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.