When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I miss it. I sold it a couple years ago to free up some cash for a home remodel. I'm currently building a Sportster for a friend and it's making me want another Harley. I've always wanted a VROD (the engine of which was designed in partnership with Porsche, BTW), so I might have to scratch that itch sometime soon.
I rode a Vrod a few years back - a total departure from my Buell S1; it was way more refined ( the Porsche part...) than the Sporty 1200 in the Buell - in fact the Buell literally shook itself to pieces. But it could wheelie for miles...
Harley could probably use Porsche's help again right about now too.
Aside from the AMF ownership debacle, I think one of the biggest mistakes Harley has ever made was not continuing development of the Revolution engine in the VROD. Like Porsche, they can only be aircooled for so long, and that engine could have been used in other bikes to appeal to a younger audience.
I am also not too sure about the electric bikes either - pretty spendy and a complete 180 from traditional applications. Leadership and decision making go hand in hand, so it is very interesting to watch. Pandemic probably isn't helping either.
Harley did an amazing job with the Livewire electric bike. But trying to sell it for $30k is ridiculous. To be even moderately successful that bike needed to be under $15k fully loaded, with "budget" models available around $10k. If they could have accomplished that, then that bike probably would have gotten a little market traction.
As far as I know, it is still available. I think sales have been really slow though, aside from the initial small group of buyers who were willing to pay the premium to have the newest coolest toy on the block.
The good news is that my 2010 Road King finally arrived back home from it's journey to Fuel Moto in Wisconsin and it's unscathed, just a bit grimy from the 4400 mile round trip. The bad news is that our Northern California skies are grayish (yellow?) and full of ash, so after an 11 week wait it's gonna be at least few more days until I can go for a ride. I'm very curious to hear and feel what 107 cubes @ 10.5:1 compression is like, but I'm going to wait for clear skies.
Of note, the 107 is exactly 25% of a 428 CID big block Ford FE. Bore and stroke is a bit different, but not much!
After an hour or so of detailing, it's starting to look clean again...
07-30-2020, 01:12 PM
