Late in June, Harley-Davidson invited 150 members of the worldwide press to attend the launch of the new V-Rod, the first in a new family of Performance Customs from Harley-Davidson, the first Harley derived from the Harley-Davidson VR1000 Superbike, and the first liquid-cooled Harley street bike ever.
The V-Rod shares no parts with its AMA Superbike inspiration, but the newest bike from Milwaukee does share the same basic engine architecture of the VR1000. The V-Rod features a 60-degree V-Twin configuration, double overhead cams, four valves per cylinder, plug top ignition coils, a down-draft air intake system (the fuel tank is under the seat), geared primary drive, liquid-cooling, and electronic fuel-injection. Porsche Engineering helped design the combustion chamber in the new engine.
The new engine is said to make 115 horspower at 8250 rpm and 74 lbs.-ft. of torque at 7000 rpm, calculated at the crankshaft.
The chassis matches big, 49mm conventional forks raked out at 38 degrees with a silver powder-coated steel tube perimeter frame, a polished one-piece cast-aluminum swingarm, and steeply-angled, preload-adjustable twin rear shocks to give a long, low dragster stance. Triple disc brakes (with steel-braided brake lines and four-piston calipers), wide cast aluminum disc wheels, and low-profile Dunlop Sportmax radials not only give the look of a real chassis, but according to Harley-Davidson representatives, the V-Rod goes better than it looks. The whole package weighs in at 597 pounds dry.
With any Harley-Davidson style is as big a part of the package as any other, and Willie G. Davidson led a group of engineers who worked in secret for years on styling the V-Rod. The biggest challenge was to incorporate the radiator into the package without detracting from the looks or performance of the machine. A lot of long hours in the styling lab and almost as many hours testing in a wind tunnel helped shape the shrouded radiator.
The Harley-Davidson V-Rod starts production in a Kansas City factory in August and will most likely be available in October for about $16,000 – $17,000.