The trouble is that Yamaha already did it 20+ years ago with the V-Max. It is the head of that class, IMO.

 

Hmmmmm 1130cc againstone withtwice the displacement, and the rest of 'em with half again as much,, if I was one of the Import Bikers, I would not brag about that fact!

 

Another thing I found interesting was the price of the various models, ranging from around $12,500 to almost $20,000.

 

Why would a Sportster be able to take a V-rod off the line? have you ever looked at the gearing in a V-rod? built to haul a$$ off the line.

It's got the lowest gears of the current stock Harleys. Built to put 120+ horsepower pavement-grabbing widerubber to the road. It would blow the pipes off a Sportster, off the line, down the line, past the line, all over the line, inside and out.

It would take the line, suck it through it's turbo charger, and blow it out its tailpipes into the face of the Sportster following far behind.

Sorry, but that's just the reality, no matter how much we love our Sporties...

 

It can if you pull up next to the rice burner and kick at it with your foot until the guy and his bike falls over.


V-Rod versus a Cow Vulcan 2000 (V-Rod won):
http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/roa...000/index.html


I remember years ago, back in the '70's, a friend of mine parking his Cow Z 750 at a biker bar in our town. When he came out to leave, it was literally covered in ****. Seems the Harley bikers there, and there were a lot of them, didn't take too kindly to it, and gladly showed him how they felt about it.

His brother and I still talk about that from time to time.

 

The 2007 R1 has been advertised having 189 crank hp. It's also 999cc. My coworker's R1 has been on the dyno and while it isn't quite stock it does make 178 rear wheel horsepower.

My mistake on the weight. Dry weight is 390 lbs.

 

1) Because a sportster is lighter than a V-rod and lighter things move off the line faster
2) Because a 1200 sportster is making more power than a V-rod until ALMOST redline at which point the V-rod then starts pulling stronger and takes advantage of its much higher redline and much greater top end power.

Have you ever ridden a V-rod? Go to a dealership and ride one, then ride a 1200 sportster right after it and tell me which one is faster off the line. Although the sportster is done for after that.

Crank hp is different than rear wheel horsepower. Also, the japanese bike manufacturer's like to lie about things like horsepower and redlines on things like sportbikes. There are several examples of sport bikes out there that never reached their advertised redline. It's not drastic (since these machines are impressive), but most tend to have a fudge factor built in them.

As for your coworker's R1 having 178 rwhp. I don't doubt that at all, but it isn't a stock bike. I'm sure he had to do some work to that bike to get it there. Any idea what he did to it?

 

Don't care who can beat whom. I just like to ride and have fun!!

 

Very True.....

No Harley is a "race bike", not even the V-Rod.

Harley'sare made for cruising, and they do that in style.

If you want to go fast, buy a ZX-14, or any other of the numerous flavors of super bikes that are available.

 

My Sportster attracts good lookin women faster than any rice bike made!