Street Rod: 2006 Harley-Davidson VRSCR Street Rod.(RIDER TEST)(Cover Story)

Publication: Rider

Publication Date: 01-APR-05

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COPYRIGHT 2005 Ehlert Publishing Group

History may prove me wrong, but I think that Harley-Davidson's strategy for introducing its liquid-cooled, metric VRSC family to the air-cooled faithful and new customers alike was pretty insightful.

It couldn't do so in a traditional FXD Dyna Glide or FXS Softail-like cruiser--the howls of "Blasphemy!" would be heard all the way to Tokyo. For different reasons, a sport or standard water pumper could be just as strongly dismissed--at least at first--by the competition's customers as an expensive wannabe. No, Harley needed something unique in which to bolt its first liquid-cooled mill, something that would garner everyone's attention and few, if any, accusations of being a copycat.

The 2002 V-Rod was the result, its long, low styling, fat tubular-steel perimeter frame, disc wheels and satin-finished bare aluminum bodywork literally shouting uniqueness, a kind of dragbike aura legitimized by its claimed 115-horsepower Revolution V-twin. H-D even introduced the V-Rod to the U.S. press at the Irwindale 1/8th-mile dragstrip, as American as apple pie and NASCAR.

Measuring its subsequent success or lack thereof against Harley's other sellout model families is a bit unfair, but The Motor Company says it sold all 11,000 V-Rods to dealers the bike's first year, and that it doubled production for 2003 and sold the majority. It will build its 50,000th V-Rod in February 2005, a lot of motorcycles by any standard. The European market is a big part of the equation, of course, as riders there like metric liquid power--at one time the V-Rod was the best-selling Harley abroad when it was sixth here. In any event the bike has accomplished its primary mission--the majority of V-Rod owners have either come from or currently own competitive makes.

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For our part Rider loved the V-Rod's engine but was lukewarm about the rest, as the bike's handling handicaps it in corners, and it lacks comfort and range. Poor cornering clearance and 34 degrees of rake with a 38-degree fork angle may be well-suited to looks and the dragstrip, but elsewhere they're a liability. As early as the V-Rod launch we...

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