I have never heard Erik say he wanted an inline or anything other than what he built Dwight. Yes that was the problem.
I don't know that Harley or Erik ever considered the motor geometry was the problem with sales. They had the AMA give them special favors in racing and only of late, and too late did they look at and use Rotax.
I think we all agree the Sportster motors were not sport bike material but I think Erik and Willie did not see that at the time. I believe if he wanted a motor he could have gotten Willie to buy him one. HD poured money into Buell and as we see now it was a bad investment.
Do we know that Erik was not allowed to go the Porsche route? The V-rod is not a sport bike by the way guys. It was never meant to be. Its a fast boulevard cruiser. It really doesn't compete with anything. It is the technology they need to move forward when the RUB movement is over.
Maybe in the next 10 years HD will have to go fast on the street. We will see. For now they sell tank badges with a bike attached to them.
When I twist the tail on my Victory and it jumps out of the hole, I just shake my head wondering why HD does what it does. But, they are not an evil company for goodness sakes.
