|
Classic Bikes
Custom Bikes
Individual
Racing Bikes AJP
AJS
Aprilia
Ariel
Avinton / Wakan
Bajaj
Benelli
Beta
Bimota
BMW
Brough Superior
BRP Cam-Am
BSA
Buell / EBR
Bultaco
Cagiva
Campagna
CCM
CF Moto
Combat Motors
Derbi
Deus
Ducati
Excelsior
GASGAS
Ghezzi Brian
Gilera
GIMA
Harley Davidson
Hero
Highland
Honda
Horex
Husaberg
Husqvarna
Hyosung
Indian
Jawa
Kawasaki
KTM
KYMCO
Laverda
Lazareth
Magni
Maico
Mash
Matchless
Mondial
Moto Guzzi
Moto Morini
MV Agusta
MZ / MuZ
NCR
Norton
NSU
Paton
Peugeot
Piaggio
Revival Cycles
Roland Sands
Royal Enfield
Sachs
Sherco
Sunbeam
Suzuki
SWM
SYM
Triumph
TVS
Ural
Velocette
Vespa
Victory
Vincent
VOR
Voxan
Vyrus
Walt Siegl
Walz
Wrenchmonkees
Wunderlich
XTR / Radical
Yamaha
Zero
Video
Technical
Complete Manufacturer List
|
Harley Davidson VRSCA V-Rod
The original VRSCA V-Rod® has caused more than its fair share of jaws to drop. Just try to peel your eyes off the aluminum bodywork, sweeping exhaust, and Machined Aluminum Disc wheels now fitted with high performance Brembo® brakes. Check out the dragster-style 49mm 38° raked fork. 180mm rear tire. Silver-leaf-coated hydroformed frame. And though there’s a … spectrum of glittering paint colors, all anyone may ever see is a shiny blur. That’s because the liquid-cooled, fuel-injected 60° V-Twin Revolution® engine supplies a full 115 horses and torque from here to eternity. All that’s left is to get your boots out to the forward foot controls and enjoy the cruise. The VRSCA V-Rod redefined the power-cruiser category, offering an award-winning marriage of custom styling and liquid-cooled performance. Raked way out there, with a 38-degree fork angle, forward controls and pull back welded handlebars, drag-style aluminum disc wheels and chrome slash-cut exhaust, the V-Rod is one unmistakable motorcycle. The scooped-out seat is just 26 inches off the ground. Dual slash-cut chrome exhaust pipes deliver the wound-out song of a high-performance Revolution V-Twin. Triple-disc, four-piston Brembo brakes and black hand controls are new for 2006. Staggered 10-Spoke Cast Aluminum wheels are an option. A security system is standard. Choose from 13 color options plus the deep silver Anodized Aluminum finish that made V-Rod famous. Liquid-cooled, 1130cc Revolution V-Twin engine
Review Harley-Davidson stunned the world motorcycle press when it unveiled its V-Rod in California recently, the first all-new Harley in 50 years! "If you do it properly, a burnout won't hurt an engine. Just hold the throttle on about six five, hold the front brake on hard, and pop the clutch." It certainly was a novel way to introduce a new model to the international journo contingent, and a definite first in the eyes of this hack. Here we were being actively encouraged to abuse the crap out of Harley-Davidson's new V-Rod, time after time after time after time. And with all the big knobs from Harley watching on what's more - including Willie G Davidson (Vice President of Styling and grandson of the company founder), Bill Davidson (Director of Motorcycle Product Development and son of Willie G) and CEO Jeff Bleustein. Burning Rubber In fact, the first time any of the journos were going to sample the V-Rod was at full throttle bouncing off the rev-limiter down the dragstrip. That's right - no familiarisation with the controls, no acclimatisation ride to check the handling, no practice run to find the gearchange points. Just rev 'er up, and power off down the 220-yard strip as soon as the light turned green. And all this at a Harley launch. The whole world's gone stark ravin' crazy. Mean and Aggressive Then there's the engine - four valves per cylinder, fuel-injected, downdraft induction, double overhead cams, gear primary drive and around 106ps at the rear wheel from the liquid-cooled 60-degree 1130cc V-twin (claimed horsepower is 115ps at 8250rpm). And the chassis? How do 49mm-diameter front forks, one-piece cast-alloy swingarm, 120/70 and 180/55 Dunlop D207 rubber, aluminium body panels, braided-steel brake lines, four-piston calipers and fat solid-disc wheels sound? And the list goes on, from a tacho needle that turns red at redline, to an underseat fuel tank that not only keeps weight low but also allows for a nice big airbox where the tank would normally reside. Plus the whole damn bike is metric rather than AF. That's right - a Harley which has all metric fastenings. In fact, this is the first all-new Harley-Davidson since the K-model of 1951, with the V-Rod likely to herald a whole new family of models in coming years based around the new powerplant. There's a buzz of excitement around Milwaukee these days.
Buzzing Tacho With both staging lights on, the tree started its countdown. And with the words 'if you see the green, you've lost' ringing in my ears I was off on the last orange. An elapsed time (ET) of 7.696sec was commendable, as was a top speed through the eighth mile of 92.03mph (147.25km/h). But my reaction time of 0.575sec had my 'opponents' stunned – there's obviously still life in the ol' fella. Pity about the wheelspin off the line though! US drag racer Todd Canavan (representing US mag Hot Rod Bikes) was the only one with a quicker reaction time at 0.522sec, but his ET was 'only' 7.735sec (with a terminal speed of 95.34mph). Sadly however my form didn't continue into the next round of runs, as my fellow three Aussie journos kept reminding me for the rest of the day after they'd collectively risen to the challenge and kicked my butt in round three. Canyon Capers Whether the bears at Bear Canyon actually shit in the woods I can't answer, but I do know that yours truly nearly did when I came upon the Los Angeles County Sheriff hiding in the bushes near a 40mph speed restriction sign. 'It's okay, you're not in trouble - I'm waiting to apprehend an offender with a domestic violence violation order on him, explained the armed member of LA's finest, waving a shiny pair of handcuffs in my direction. The road was a mix of long straights, fast sweepers and tight tightening-radius turns - something more suited to 996s and R6s, rather than a lowslung dragster with a 1713mm wheelbase and 38-degree fork angle. However, that seemed to be the theme of Harley's launch strategy for the V-Rod - abuse the living daylights out of it at the strip, then take it into sportsbike territory for a spirited fang. Talk about extremes. Long and Low However, there is one drawback - this is one bike where scraping your heels around corners comes way before toes or knees. Platform soles or stiletto heels are definitely out. The hand levers aren't adjustable, and may cause problems for those with small paws, but the controls are light, and the front brakes powerful enough to chirp the front tyre. There's also plenty of stopping power via the rear disc, helped by the weight bias of the stretched-out V-Rod. I was amazed at just how hard the V-Rod could be pushed in the tight stuff. Sure, the pegs will grind, as will the rear end of the muffler and even the leading edge of the alloy radiator shroud, but lean angles are far greater than I would have imagined. I didn't even manage to bottom the suspension, and couldn't even get a hippy, hippy shake out of the frame. Straightline stability is excellent. Unsettling Feel I found it all a bit strange at first, with quite an unsettling feel from the front-end whenever I wanted to change line, as well as when tipping into tight corners. The bike wanted to flop into slow corners, just as a mid-angle lean was approached - which made for some interesting antics as the cavalcade of V-Rods peeled on to the freeway entrance ramp the first time. Smooth flowing corners however weren't a problem. But I learned to adapt. By day's end I wasn't giving it a second thought, and the less tentatively I rode the V-Rod the better the front-end felt. Strange- but true. Sheriff Proof Unfortunately I only got to sample the one V-Rod during my one-day ride in the US, but a follow-up conversation with an overseas colleague suggested that some variation in the tension of the steering-head bearings on the testbikes may have helped cause the trait I observed. He'd sampled two bikes and only one displayed the flop tendency, but without the opportunity to adjust the head bearings I'l just have to wait for a local V-Rod testbike to be made available before passing judgement. Great Donk It's the V-Rod's engine that is the jewel in the crown, and the VR1000-inspired donk is a beauty. It combines low-down grunt with top-end power - lug along at 2500rpm, or hit the rev-limiter at 9000rpm. It's at home on both counts. There's an evocative induction roar as the revs rise, and a pleasant V-twin lilt from the twin pipes which gives a hint of what awaits with a freer-breathing system fitted. And there's no increase in vibes as revs rise, nor is there the on-off light-switch feel at the throttle that many fuel-injected bikes exhibit. The gearbox of my prototype testbike was a bit notchy, but with only 125 miles on the odometer when I headed off (hey, we were in the US after all), I guess that's to be expected. The V-Rod's engine would be perfect for a ballsy nakedbike. And it's seemingly bulletproof. Dragstrip Shenanigans The only modifications to these two V-Rods were a set of Screamin' Eagle street pipes and a recalibration of the injection system to suit - which gave an extra 8ps. Every journo got three runs down the strip, so each bike chalked up around 35-40 consecutive eighth-mile runs without so much as the ignition keys being removed - including some pretty ham-fisted burnout attempts by novices to the art of smoking rear tyres! But that's a feature story in itself... These same two bikes had also seen duty the day before with the first group of journos to pass through the V-Rod launch program (I was in Group Two, with two more groups to follow), including one Japanese journo who insisted on slipping the clutch the whole way down the strip. Despite this out-of-the-ordinary (ab)use, there were no overheated engines, oil leaks or fried clutches. Absolutely bulletproof. I can think of a number of European and Japanese bikes that wouldn't have stood up to that sort of carry-on. I was impressed. Bristling Technology The V-Rod concept was born in 1995, development commenced in earnest in mid-1996, and now we have the beginning of a new model line-up from Harley to complement its Twin Cam 88 range. There isn't a Japanese cruiser that is as technologically advanced as the V-Rod, nor any mass-produced motorcycle that has openly created a new category like this. There are hints of Yamaha's Vmax, and even a hint of the Hunwick Harrop Phantom 1500, but the V-Rod has taken it to a new level. Plus it's got that undeniable cred of the H-D name on the tank. And while that badge commands a premium price, it also brings with it strong resale value. Impressive Quality The bolts on the underside of the mufflers look a bit daggy, but as these were pre-production bikes I'll give Harley the benefit of the doubt - and assume they'll be fixed come September when the production lines start rolling. The $29K question Production of the V-Rod starts in little over a month, with a price expected to be close to that of the Deuce - currently $28,500. The only question remaining unanswered is whether V-Rod demo rides from Harley dealers will require a compulsory burnout outside the dealership. Here's hoping... Source Bikepoint
|
|
Any corrections or more information on these motorcycles will be kindly appreciated. |