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Went to the Stockport Harley Davidson place yesterday and had a test ride of a couple of H-Ds. I figured I'd been slagging them off for about a quarter of a century without ever riding one, so it was high time I acquired a more authoritative opinion. Shying away from the worst excesses of chrome, and the whole 'lifestyle' thing (you can even buy a H-D sleeping bag, bar stool and table - that'll come in handy on a long run...), I'd booked an XR1200 and a V-Rod, just to see what all the fuss was about.
The XR was pretty good, handled better than I'd thought it would, but the finish and detailing were pretty basic/poor, and the engine, although engaging, was so agricultural at tickover it made a boxer twin seem like a gas turbine... Some odd ergonomics, too - terrible mirrors, and clocks which were more style than function. Brakes were good, if not very progressive, but it seemed to run out of urge fairly quickly, too - I'd be surprised if it was anywhere near as quick as the Vara (now that's a phrase you won't hear every day)
The V-Rod, on the other hand, was a different class of bike. Stonking engine - the XR had made me smile with its power delivery (up to a point), but the V-Rod made me whoop out loud. Good brakes, and a bike that long, and with that rake of fork has no right to handle that well (once you have the concept that the front wheel merely exists to get the stupidly huge back wheel pointing the right way...) I was on the Muscle (is it only me that thinks a manufacturer which sees fit to call models things like Muscle and Bad Boy is trying a bit too hard?), which apparently has the more extreme riding position, and therein lay the rub - after 40 minutes, I couldn't wait to get off the thing.
To save you all the bother of arranging a test ride, here's quick test you can try at home to see if you'd be comfortable on a V-Rod Muscle at any sort of speed: sit on the floor at home in your bike gear, with your legs out straight in front of you. Now grasp the toes of your boots, and have someone kneel behind you and pull your shoulders back. Hold that position for, say 35 minutes, and repeat out loud "This is a bloody great seating position, I look dead cool and hard." It's a testament to the quality of the engine that it makes you want to do this at all, much less check out the upper levels of performance. In carefully controlled test conditions on a private airfield I've just made up, I got to around the ton mark before I noticed my arms beginning to lengthen, and realised I was having difficulty swallowing. If you like to drive any distance at a reasonably high speed, and would like to arrive at the other end looking like an Orang-Utang with lumbar issues, the V-Rod is the bike for you.
When I staggered back into the sales rooms, the salesman looked sympathetic as I recounted my discomfort in low, strained tones. "Yeah," he said "I can't ride that one for long either." I was going to ask why then in the name of God he'd sent me out on it without explaining the risks to my vertebrae, but another shooting pain pinged up my shoulder blades, and I decided to retire hurt for the day.
Getting back on the Vara was like getting into a warm bath - everything fell pleasantly to hand, I went back on the motorway at some speed, and the experience was effortless. Heading up the bypass, a HD rider (a Sportster, I think) who'd left at the same time as me got all Marlon Brando from the lights (and, to give him credit, he was trying pretty hard - as was I, for comparison purposes), but I was delighted to see him falling back as we passed 70, hunching down behind his bars as the inevitability of air resistance on a seating position akin to a star jump took its toll. I could have smoked a pipe, and indeed I quite felt like doing so. It only took a couple of hours on inferior machinery and a moderate amount of physical discomfort to reaffirm what a great bike the Vara is.
And yet...and yet...can I have a Vara with a V-Rod engine in it, please?
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Originally Posted by Muzz
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