Rode my 1st Harley Davidson
 

...and I must say...I liked it!


I had to go to the dealer today to have a headlight recall done on my bike. So while I waited I decided to take the VRod out for a spin. It was brand new...only 10 miles on it when I pulled out of the parking lot.

Very quiet stock exhaust. The weight wasn't what I expected. Took little effort to get it up off the kick stand. Clutch engages way out at the end of the lever travel....opposite of my Buell.

It was very comfortable with the forward controls. The seat felt GREAT. Nice little pad against the butt to stop you from flying off the back.

Handled MUCH better than I expected. Big 240 rear tire...but it moves plenty well through a corner. I scraped pegs or boot just about every time I leaned over though. Over all not bad for a big cruiser.

Brakes felt nice and solid...ABS is nice...but didn't test it.

Rev's very slow...meaning...I gave it the berries a few times leaving stop signs and it would take off very quickly... I'd look down and it's only pulling 5 grand (red line is 9,000rpm).




I was very impressed with it. I'd buy one if I had the money. Loved it.





Stock photo:
http://images.motorcyclecruiser.com/...ight_front.jpg

Are they using special engine mounts to dampen the vibes or is it typical rattle your teeth out Harley?

Nope...really smooth. Tranny was nice and slick too.

yup my coworker has one. i rode a couple dif models and their fun. couple kaw,zuk,honda cruisers, shit i love everything. The only prob I had I was so scared to lean them because my friends floor boards would scrape even barely turning. I have seen another buddy though lean the shit out of his kaw and take corners pretty fast. If I ever get some loot i'm def buying a cruiser as a second ride they were so much comfy than a sportbike,felt like driving a big ass couch with a lot of power. good review

It was fun fast and comfortable. I'd buy one today if I had the cash.

there is something to be said about a finely balanced cruiser, sounds like ya had fun!

One question tho, upon returning it they didnt question the scraping of the pegs at all?

Nope...I told the guy about it half way through the ride....he asked me what I thought at a stop sign.

He was the sales manager...and he was hauling ASS around these corners. I was doing my best to keep up on a bike I didn't know.

(Don't worry...I was in full control.)

thats pretty friggin cool! Our local dealers dont typically offer or allow test rides, so I wasnt sure how theyd feel about that kinda thing.

Would never worry about you being in control or not, a few others, maaaybe...

This guy could rail on whatever HD he was on. Maybe a night train. He also knew the roads. In fact, when I told him about scraping...he said "thats what the feelers are for!". :lol:

That bike is sick :drool:

Truth be told I'd take the new Vrod Muscle over the standard. It's got an inverted fork, ABS stadard, a cleaner rear fender and A SLIPPER CLUTCH.

Never been a fan of the Vrod, but that black one is badass. I' think someday I will have a Street Glide for long trips. Best looking model IMHO

That's the Vrod I rode at the demo.

It's also considerably more expensive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgxnw0lHSMo

looks fun even if it is a harley

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qLhatB4KP4

Marko... A good quick and accurate review of the Night Rod Special. Limited clearance is my only regret with the thing, otherwise it is outstanding. Something about being on a cruiser with some giddy-up and go.

A Lunch Ride Over Juniper Pass on the VRSCDX - Streaming Video

http://www.farson.com/dx/dxsilverheels.jpg

Yeah they are badass... and its the begining Marko. It started to twinkle in when you realized how bad ass the Buells are... 90% of the people who bash the HD's have never rode one, let alone owned or rode one for an decent amount of time.

it didnt feel too comfortable? every harley i been on feels like im too relaxed-cuz of the forward controls.its like sitting in a recliner

thats probably why i dislike em, wouldnt say im a hd basher tho.
id really like to build one, but id never ride it

Hmm what makes this different from other HDs HMMM no PUSH RODS = Motorcycle Engine not tractor motor:dthumb:

Good vid. Do you have stock pipes on yours? They are very quiet. First thing I'd do is put something with a little more bite on it.


You know what, you are absolutely right. It started 2.5 years ago when I rode my first Buell. I didn't give two shits about them before that. I feel in love with that engine. When I bought my Buell in May....I started doing some more intense research. Harley's aren't the piece of shits they used to be. They are good bikes. Brembo brakes, Showa suspenders, slipper clutches, ABS...the list goes on.

And you're right...the bashers are people who have never rode one.


It felt great. I like forward controls. If I buy a cruiser it's gonna have forward controls. The seat felt great. Granted I was only on it for 10 miles...but it was very comfortable for the time I spent on there.


:lol: I like pushrod engines. Obviously. My Buell is a pushrod twin. It's a phenomenal motor. If you disagree, you've obviously never put any amount of time on one.

It's not the engine that draws me to the Vrod...it's the look of it. I don't really like the looks of the air cooled pushrod HD's. If they made a pushrod that looked like the Vrod I'd buy that instead. I like the sound of the air coolers.

Marko is wise...

Nothing wrong with Harley that good old fashion German engineering can't cure.

"I like pushrod engines. Obviously. My Buell is a pushrod twin. It's a phenomenal motor. If you disagree, you've obviously never put any amount of time on one. "

Marco not to be oppositional but Back in 06 when I was looking for a twin sport bike I spent 4 hours on a used XB12 Which because of its looks I wanted to like. What I found was that it had excellent braking the chassis was set up perfectly for someone of my weight and that in comparison to every other V Twin sport bike I rode IMHO throttle response was lacking and simply did not live up to the Jap 1 liter RC51 TLR or the Ducati I rode.
I chose the Ducati 999.
I am not slamming Buells but my experience with them limited as it is tells me that the engine desinged in 1936 has been the limiting factor in Beull developing a major following
I know I am in the Minority in the Cruiser crowd when I say this but there is NOTHING that a push rod engine does that can't be done better by a a OHC engine

I'd take a 999 over a Buell too. No question. The throttle response on mine is fantastic. There is a small stumble right from closed throttle to open...but after that it's buttery smooth.

I have heard of several instances where there are drastic differences between Buell motorcycles. I dont know why there are such inconsistencies...but mine has been flawless and trouble free. I have read the exact opposite from guys who own the same year and model. :idk:

Hence BMW is revising their aircooled boxer twin line to go to DOHC starting with the HP 2 Sport.

Moved this thread to 'model review' section.

A guy at school has one, pretty sweet not my taste but its cool in its own right. They haul ass btw
________
New mexico dispensary
________
BREAKUP ADVICE FORUMS

I think GM and it's LTx and LSx motors would disagree....

Especially if your talking about just a SOHC, DOHC breaths a hell of a lot better of course.

And like Ebbs said below me, what are you basing better off of. More peak Hp, higher reving, more tq, theres a lot of dif factors which come into play.

well first you'd have to define "better" more effecent? or more power?

im pretty sure he was referring to motorcycle engines only(its a bike forum). and in that aspect, hes right. the jap cruisers are sneakily watercooled, and im 100% positive they only have pushrods for looks-theyre cutting into the harley market, and its gotta have a certain look to steal their buyers

same displacement wise-what aircooled pushrod twin makes the same hp, revs as high, same torque, same efficiency as a watercooled i4?

that being said tho, u dont buy harleys to haul ass.

when the vrod came out it was harleys most powerful engine ever, while still being the smallest engine(atleast when it came out, think its alil bigger now but so are the other engines) theyve used since like the 60's, its watercooled and has no push rods....

they see the light lol, its just they only turn it on when they want to. cant back up the vrod name with that crap ass twin cam. u get gd shit otherwise, brakes, susp, efi, fit and finish, but their core consumers dont really ask for more power anyway.

thats how i see it anyway

Most HD dealers have demo bikes.

:iagree:

For anyone who needs me to clarify my opinion. I believe that an OHC at the same displacement and degree of tune will always outperform a Pushrod engine. This is in part due to less reciprocating mass and as always fewer moving parts equals less to go wrong. I also recognize that an OHC is more expensive to manufacture and requires a different skill set to tune and maintain. ( A good illustration of the impact of economic on engine performance is that as far back as the late teens racing engines routinely used overhead valve conversions but it wasn’t until the late 30s early 40s that overhead valves were available on affordable cars)
In terms of motorcycles the best comparison I can come up with is the 2 Air cooled American cruisers on the market today HD using its Pushrod engine producing HD big bore producing 66 -71 RW HP (some one help me with the torque ) and My Wife’s 03 Victory big bore 92 RW HP with 94 ft lbs of torque. (my Victory doesn’t count cause I have tweaked the shit out of it) The numbers are at the rear wheel not the lovely “at the crank” fairy tales that every manufacturer seems to have. The major difference in the engine are 100 CI Victory OHC 103 CI HD pushrod, HD 45 degree V twin inline cylinders requiring “Knife and fork” connecting rods ,Victory 50 degree V Twin off set cylinders using standard connecting rods.
Just for the sake of clarity Star (Yamaha’s Cruiser line ) Upper models us a push rod air cooled monster.

Torque on the Harley air coolers are in the area of mid-70's to low -80's.

i think you just shit on yourself with your own argument. you do know it took TEN YEARS of development for the ls motor to equal the output of the LT5 right? imagine how much more power they would be making if they could drop the pushrod/crossplane architecture?

The big HD engines I saw in IA on the dyno were putting down mid 80's hp and around 100 ft/lbs torque at the rear wheel.

mostly stock, but many had an exhaust on 'em.

Thank you for making my point Larger displacement still less horse power. Oh ofr the recored the numbers on the wifes Victory are corrected raw data saus it was at something like 107 rw hp. Again I'm not saying that pushord engines don't work ( I Chevy 350's and 427s) Just that an OHC will Always do it better.

:gary:

Few years when full electronic valve control comes it'll be an old pointless discussion anyways. :idk:

You are probaly right

RPM's have a lot to do with that as well.

when you only have a 4K range to play with, vs a 9K range :idk:

Back in the day 1 hp per cubic in. was pretty damn nice, now 2+ hp per cubic in. happens NA.

I can see it now...2 solenoids per cylinder. Gone will be the old days of swapping cams and adjusting the timing. It'll simply be plug in your laptop to you ecu and dl your new cam settings. I can see 3-4 hp per cube one day. Wouldn't that be nice. 300+ hp out of 100 cubes. Everyone could be happy, good performance +small motor cheaper on gas.

Of course going to need a battery a little bigger then 9v to work everything.

Bah humbug. Forge the bottom end and well rev that push rod bitch to the moon too.

i like my harley more every time i ride it. everyone should have the luxury of owning a psortbike and a cruiser. they are both so much fun to ride.

is that some new type of bike?

:lol: damned rubber fingers! my brain works faster than my fingers can type.

happens to me all the time.

:iagree:

got to test out my buddie's vrod last sunday and i have to echo a few of marko's points. very comfy bike. killer styling, didnt feel very confident with the far forward nature of the riding position but i think thats mostly my lack of experience with it. really starts moving above 6k. tiny tiny tach

I had fun on it. It takes a little time to get used to those forward controls...but ultimately if I had a cruiser I'd have forward controls on it.

true, i just dont like not being able to lean off as much

you got to have forward controls... its the only way. The wife's sporty mid controls suck IMO, that's why I have a set of highway pegs I made for it.

You can convert a sporty to have forward controls. The 1200 custom has forward controls on it form the factory.

Yeah but the wife likes the mids and they are favorable to a noob.

So, a while back I did a bunch of engine simulations where I'd pick a head, and then vary the stroke, and a bunch where I'd keep the same displacement and vary the bore and stroke to see how the output changed.

What I found was that the amount of air you can get in and out of the head was the critical factor. Torque peak occurs when the port velocity is in the 700'/sec range. Since everyone usually changes exhaust and intake manifolds, that means you can focus on the head and valves to determine performance capability. What I found was the more valve area you have, the more power you can make, if you can fill the cylinder. 4 valves usually have more valve area than 2 valves. So for the same engine a 4 valve head will flow more air. But what I also saw was that you can change the stroke and as long as you can spin the engine high enough, you can consume the air the head can flow. So for a short stroke engine torque peak will be at a higher rpm, and the same engine with a long stroke will just pull the torque peak to a lower rpm.

If you have a long stroke, you don't need DOHC's, the torque peak will be low enough that you don't need high rpm valve stability. A pushrod system will work just fine. However if you shorten up the stroke, you might run into valve float before you finish getting to your torque peak.

Also I think, if you normalize torque output per rpm with gearing between the long and short stroke engine the output will be similar.

And lastly if you're racing in a displacment limited category, you are better off going for Big bore, short stroke, high rpm as that gives you the most valve/port area. And this is the exact kind of engines unlimited class racing has evolved.

Yea that was my Vrod dave rode. And I'll also have to agree with markos points its a fun bike. And like dave said it rips like no other once it hits 6k lol

you got to admit though, there will probably be some interesting problems with the first model years :idk:i think its a long ways off.