 Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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After 16 years and one minor displacement upgrade the 1250cc V-rod VRSC series last model year is 2017. Actually V-Rod production has already stopped and the bikes in the system are the last ones available. Reports were the V-Rods were good for about 10,000 units sold per year and the development cost were certainly paid for. I test rode a V-Rod Muscle and couldn't get past the riding position, with the forward controls the bar was way too low for my comfort. But the 122hp was fun albeit at a bit higher RPM than usual for a Harley. Harley Davidson does stop production for a couple of years and then reintroduces an all new version of certain models as they did with the Dyna Wide Glide and Low Rider so an all new V-Rod might be in the works. 
2011 Triumph America (10/2011 to 07/2014)
2012 Harley Davidson 1200C Sportster
2014 Harley Davidson Dyna Wide Glide
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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The V-Rod's had terrible ergos as you mentioned. I have seen a lot of V-Rod conversions to V Road Glides, they looked and rode a bunch better. Harley never did much with the V's, the ergo problem was never addressed and the new Muscule was even worse with the big pipes on both sides. Kind of a waste of a good engine.
Tin Man 2
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Joined: Feb 2005
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Fe Butt
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Fe Butt
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I guess you two have forgotten about the short-lived "Street Rod" version of Harley's VRSC line up, and which featured mid-mounted foot controls.
But true to form, because mid-mounted foot controls don't say "cruiser" to the Harley faithful, this model failed to sell in comparison to even the rest of the slower selling V-Rod line, and thus was dropped after only two years of production in 2007.
(...the Street Rod and the also short-lived flat track inspired XR1200 being the only two Harleys that would intrigue me enough to consider their purchase for a while, btw)
Yep! Just like a good Single Malt Scotch, you might call me "an acquired taste" TOO.(among the many OTHER things you may care to call me, of course)
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Joined: Jul 2007
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Worn Saddle
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Worn Saddle
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I always like the look and the idea of the VRod. There is one locally that is chrome and Red, beautiful bike. Funny, I thought the VRod died more than a year ago. I'd like to have one for fun. If these bikes weren't that popular, perhaps one can be picked up for cheap in a few years.
Fidelis et Fortis
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Quote:
I guess you two have forgotten about the short-lived "Street Rod" version of Harley's VRSC line up, and which featured mid-mounted foot controls.
But true to form, because mid-mounted foot controls don't say "cruiser" to the Harley faithful, this model failed to sell in comparison to even the rest of the slower selling V-Rod line, and thus was dropped after only two years of production in 2007.
(...the Street Rod and the also short-lived flat track inspired XR1200 being the only two Harleys that would intrigue me enough to consider their purchase for a while, btw)
Oh, I remember the Street Rod, never rode one of those but I sat on one at the dealership and it would have been impossible for me to ride. I'm 6'1" 240 (note the rider in this picture is Not 6'1") and with it's high mid controls felt like my elbows were hitting my knees. Even a standard new Bonneville is a little tight for me and forward controls are much more comfortable which is why I had an America. It's the very low bar that got me on the V-Rod kind of like if a Speed triple had forward controls the rider triangle is shaped like a taco shell.
Last edited by outerbanks; 01/20/2017 6:30 AM.
2011 Triumph America (10/2011 to 07/2014)
2012 Harley Davidson 1200C Sportster
2014 Harley Davidson Dyna Wide Glide
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Quote:
I always like the look and the idea of the VRod. There is one locally that is chrome and Red, beautiful bike. Funny, I thought the VRod died more than a year ago. I'd like to have one for fun. If these bikes weren't that popular, perhaps one can be picked up for cheap in a few years.
The V-Rod has a reputation as durable and trouble free but complicated (For a Harley) to maintain. The bike was supposedly one of Willie Davidson's favorite projects which might explain why there were very few changes over it's 16 year run. If the boss thinks it's perfect don't suggest it ain't you know. Hopefully an updated version of the powertrain will make a comeback in a new model.
2011 Triumph America (10/2011 to 07/2014)
2012 Harley Davidson 1200C Sportster
2014 Harley Davidson Dyna Wide Glide
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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I did not forget the Street Rod, I was prepared to buy one until I rode one. The pegs placement was terrible,bad ergos. What a waste of a good engine. I also rode the Xr1200 and found the short gearing made the bike feel"funny", I think short gearing only works with a high reving engine, not a Sportster. They tried to make the XR fast with gearing instead of tweaking the engine for a bigger improvement in power, the little they did do was not enough.
Tin Man 2
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Joined: Feb 2008
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Loquacious
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Loquacious
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It's a shame that Erik Buell didn't get the opportunity to put a V-Rod motor in a tuber...
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Old Hand
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Old Hand
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Maybe they are smart enough to save the engine and gearbox. With just a little wider spread in the gears, this would be great for a sports 3 wheel. Might even be they are thinking of reviving the Tri-hawk with this engine.
Let's hope there's intelligent life somewhere in space 'cause it's buggar all down here. -- Monte Python
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Joined: Feb 2005
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Fe Butt
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Fe Butt
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Quote:
It's a shame that Erik Buell didn't get the opportunity to put a V-Rod motor in a tuber...
Same thing I always thought too Ken, and considering that first, the V-Rod's engine's origins lie in H-D's VR1000 U.S. Superbike race series entry of the mid-'90s, and secondly because one would think H-D giving the most modern engine on their shelf to sport bike designer Eric Buell when he was associated with them would've been a no-brainer.
Yep! Just like a good Single Malt Scotch, you might call me "an acquired taste" TOO.(among the many OTHER things you may care to call me, of course)
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Joined: Jun 2007
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Loquacious
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Loquacious
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I test rode a V-Rod Muscle and couldn't get past the riding position ...
I've sat on one but never ridden one. I didn't like it either.
I was at a bike shop last August picking up my new (new to me) bike and a V-Rod pulled up.
Bloke gets off. He's 76 yrs old! I was talking to him for a while.
He said, and I kid you not, "it's the most comfortable bike I've every owned".
As he had no doubt been riding longer than I've been walking, I didn't ask him wtf have YOU been riding all your life?!!
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"You can't believe everything you read on the internet" : William Shakespeare
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Quote:
I guess you two have forgotten about the short-lived "Street Rod" version of Harley's VRSC line up, and which featured mid-mounted foot controls.
But true to form, because mid-mounted foot controls don't say "cruiser" to the Harley faithful, this model failed to sell in comparison to even the rest of the slower selling V-Rod line, and thus was dropped after only two years of production in 2007.
(...the Street Rod and the also short-lived flat track inspired XR1200 being the only two Harleys that would intrigue me enough to consider their purchase for a while, btw)
By the way Dwight Harley Davidson knows some V-Rod owners might prefer mid controls and like most of their bikes they offer kits to install either mid or forward controls whichever the rider prefers. Not many motorcycle manufacturers offer this flexibility.
FACTORY KIT
2011 Triumph America (10/2011 to 07/2014)
2012 Harley Davidson 1200C Sportster
2014 Harley Davidson Dyna Wide Glide
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Joined: Feb 2005
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Fe Butt
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Fe Butt
Joined: Feb 2005
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Quote:
Quote:
I guess you two have forgotten about the short-lived "Street Rod" version of Harley's VRSC line up, and which featured mid-mounted foot controls.
But true to form, because mid-mounted foot controls don't say "cruiser" to the Harley faithful, this model failed to sell in comparison to even the rest of the slower selling V-Rod line, and thus was dropped after only two years of production in 2007.
(...the Street Rod and the also short-lived flat track inspired XR1200 being the only two Harleys that would intrigue me enough to consider their purchase for a while, btw)
By the way Dwight Harley Davidson knows some V-Rod owners might prefer mid controls and like most of their bikes they offer kits to install either mid or forward controls whichever the rider prefers. Not many motorcycle manufacturers offer this flexibility.
FACTORY KIT
I have to admit that that's another good point, OB. Yep, H-D's in-house accessory catalog is quite extensive.
This is the very reason I had to design and fabricate my own mid-mount foot controls for my BA a few years back, as not even the aftermarket ever supplied what I was looking for in this regard.
Just got tired of sitting on my tailbone and not having my legs help support my torso and help cushion the jolts one receives from riding over patches of rough and irregular roads. To say nothin' about the idea that it never really felt "right" having my feet forward while riding "spiritedly" through the twisties.
Guess I never was a true "cruiser guy", still however I kept the forward pegs and occasionally fold 'em down to act as "freeway pegs" and another place to locate my feet on long straight smooth and "boring" stretches of highway, though.
(...and with all the other customizing I've done to it over the years such as cutting down the fenders and many other things, my '02 BA now resembling much more the classic Britbike look and less the American-style cruiser it started out as)
Yep! Just like a good Single Malt Scotch, you might call me "an acquired taste" TOO.(among the many OTHER things you may care to call me, of course)
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Loquacious
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Loquacious
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I liked them for the fact that Harley did something a bit different... always a bit too streamlined, I guess would be the word. Kinda like why I really never cared for Victorys I guess... I won't miss them either.
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Should be Riding
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Should be Riding
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Blowing gravel off rural roads
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Learned Hand
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Learned Hand
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Quote:
Maybe they are smart enough to save the engine and gearbox. With just a little wider spread in the gears, this would be great for a sports 3 wheel. Might even be they are thinking of reviving the Tri-hawk with this engine.
there is a local company here in WI that makes a front wheel trike type conversion out of V rods. Not sure why they picked the V-rod but so far as I know its the only 3 wheeler they do.
05 speedmaster - 1100cc, 11:1 racing pistons, Carillo rods, thunderbike cams, ported and polished head, 2mm over intake and exhaust valves, Barnett kevlar clutch, scepter pipes, oversize manifolds, 45mm HSR's, TTP stage 4 firestarter
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Bar Shake
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Bar Shake
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Quote:
I liked them for the fact that Harley did something a bit different... always a bit too streamlined, I guess would be the word. Kinda like why I really never cared for Victorys I guess... I won't miss them either.
+1 I liked that they had the water cooled Porsche designed engine I thought would be silky smooth. When I finally got to test ride one for 30 minutes I go WTF it vibrates like the other Harley's. Plus it was one of the most uncomfortable bikes I've ever ridden. I was never so happy to get back on my TBA. 
"Catching a yellow jacket in your shirt at seventy miles per hour can double your vocabulary" Author unknown
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Joined: May 2010
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Check Pants
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Check Pants
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Quote:
Quote:
I liked them for the fact that Harley did something a bit different... always a bit too streamlined, I guess would be the word. Kinda like why I really never cared for Victorys I guess... I won't miss them either.
+1 I liked that they had the water cooled Porsche designed engine I thought would be silky smooth. When I finally got to test ride one for 30 minutes I go WTF it vibrates like the other Harley's. Plus it was one of the most uncomfortable bikes I've ever ridden. I was never so happy to get back on my TBA.
I thought it had a BMW designed motor, no? German engineering is generally pretty good either way. Harley probably had to specify an out of balance design to stay Harleyesque.
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Joined: Feb 2007
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Fe Butt
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Fe Butt
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I thought it was a porsch design.
I learned all I need to know about life by killing smart people and eating their brains.
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Loquacious
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Loquacious
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I had heard Porsche too.As Ryk said, either way.
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Actually the engine was a Harley design, Harley does not keep a large Engineering department so they hired Porsche engineer's to fine tune their basic design. The engine was fine but the Ergos sucked big time. It's like they wanted the bike to fail, how could anyone approve that Ergo package?
Tin Man 2
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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From what i've read through certain Porsche articles and and the Exce11ence magazine which is only about porsche's they only designed the water cooling system.
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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Joined: Jan 2005
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Bar Shake
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Bar Shake
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Quote:
Actually the engine was a Harley design, Harley does not keep a large Engineering department so they hired Porsche engineer's to fine tune their basic design. The engine was fine but the Ergos sucked big time. It's like they wanted the bike to fail, how could anyone approve that Ergo package?
Yeah Harley told them what they wanted and it was Porsche who designed it for them. And it might have been uncomfortable but that sucker was fast!
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/26/automobiles/a-harley-takes-an-engine-from-porsche.html
"Catching a yellow jacket in your shirt at seventy miles per hour can double your vocabulary" Author unknown
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Re: Harley discontinues the V-Rod
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The engine was based on the VR1000 of course but that was an all out race motorcycle project with no consideration to meeting high mileage street durability and emission requirements. The list of engineering resources that Harley Davidson contracted to work on the project is suprising like Roush Racing and Cosworth of course Buell and others. This is the bike Buell should have had from the beginning to refine for the street and bring to market. This is a detailed article with prototype photos: VR1000 program Porsche Engineering's site still brags about their development work on the street version of the engine: Porsche engineering 
2011 Triumph America (10/2011 to 07/2014)
2012 Harley Davidson 1200C Sportster
2014 Harley Davidson Dyna Wide Glide
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