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High_Side wrote:

Ryethil wrote: I've always had a crazy thought of buying a wreaked V Rod with a good motor and gearbox then breathing on it a bit then sticking it into a more responcive chassis. I think it could be a killer. However, I don't think Harley will build anything like it soon...

Why not a Street-Rod as a foundation? They were the better handling V-Rod, but they didn't have the look. They are the cheapest of the bunch to buy used as well.

Sorry about not answering earlier but I sleep in when I get home from a shift.

To me the Street Rod on paper had so much promise but HD couldn't let it go and blossom as a street performance bike. The Street Rod possibly had the best handling chassis of the V Rod group but they had to keep the styling clues from the V Rod. The biggest problem with the V Rod group is a steering geometry and overall length that makes it very stable in a straightline but compromises the same bike in a cornering sense.

My breathed on Sportster can't keep up with the V Rod series in a straight line but I can out handle the Street Rod in the twisties. I'm reminded of the early rice cruisers. They were pretty much std Japanese engines which had serius HP output and shoe horned into what the Japs thought was a semi-cruiser frame. A lot of people like them but they weren't cruisers nor were they naked standard bikes. This lack of focus seems apparent in every V Rod.

I don't see why you couldn't create a much better handling bike with the right tweaks. As for straight line, the sky's the limit. The Street Rod is a good bike for this kind of treatment. But I feel that after a certain point it you'd find yourself in uncharted waters. Then you'd need a lot of experience or a lot of funds to pay someone who does to redesign the frame. Another thing that frame would have to do is to be compatable with the Screaming Eagle 1300 cc engine. I have a lot of road racing experience but I find the effort daunting. I'd have to find someone with deep pockets to finace my try at immortality. But if I succeeded, what a bike it would be. Handleing equal to the potential of the Porsche engine.

Actually I think that if they made a canyon carver out of the V rod then they would take business away from the Buell bikes. I think they did that a bit with the XR1200. I'd rather have a performance Sportster then a one of the new Buells and I have a Buell. But imagine a V Rod designed like an XR1200. It would be truely awesome.