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Harley V-Rod vs. Victory Kingpin

67698 Views 214 Replies 44 Participants Last post by kowalke67, Jul 15, 2004

sportbike_pilot

Discussion Starter · Jul 6, 2004

Nice!

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V-Rod not so bad for a long trip

I took my V-Rod from Baltimore to Memphis the summer of last year. I did the (aprox) 1,000 miles in one day and had fun the whole way.

The touring windshield generated too much turbulence around my head so I removed it, the bags I had were the same as in this test but I also had the passenger backrest and a small luggage rack (for an extra bag). The seat I had on was not the sundowner (that makes the bike look too chubby) but the custom seat from the H-D catalog (slimmer but very comfortable).

True, I had to stop about every 100 miles for fuel, but since I wasn't on any kind of a rush that was nice... and every gas station had someone who wanted to talk to me about the bike or the trip.

I wasn't sore at all... except from smiling all the way to Elvisville.

Would I have been more comfortable on a bigger bike? Probably. And I would have had to stop a lot less often for gas too, but I would not have had such a good time I bet.

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SilverBullet

· #73 · Jul 6, 2004

No problem, what you'd get is a good street fighter.

Should it be added to the H-D lineup? Probably not since there's not enough demand for the current cruiser, but somebody should build it in limited numbers to see what happens. I know I'd like it but would not buy it.

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SilverBullet

· #142 · Jul 7, 2004

Re: Willie G, you listening?

The V-Rod as it is works nicely to do what was intended to do: kick regular cruiser ass, feel svelte and light (by cruiser standards) and look good doing it. It does all that.

I love my V-Rod and have tons of fun riding it, but I can tell the big difference that it makes to have a passenger. My wife weighs about 120 lbs but I can FEEL (and hear) the bike being unhappy if I try to accelerate hard under 4000 rpms for instance (something that doesn't happen when riding solo). I'm about 190 lbs so we're not talking even 400 lbs combined to make the engine feel anemic at low (not even too low) rpms.

IMO the Revolution engine needs to grow in low end grunt and higher torque figures to fulfill duties such as touring or carrying around more weight.

For serious touring duties the motor must be improved (most likely enlarged). Since the fuel storage would require expansion (it is now under the seat using up as much space as they could allocate) it seems to me that it would take a new design to make it work ($$$ involved to make it happen).

The V-Rod is not selling terribly well, so I'm not holding my breath for H-D to come up with variants of the VRSCA.

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