Anyone see the special on Discovery Sunday night detailing the birth of the V-ROD? Not a bad show, but still not sure on one. For the 19K I can fly to Italy, pick up a Monster Duc, tour the countryside for a month and ship it back home.

Check out www.discovery.com. There is a survey going on how many people like the new bike and is it a Harley. So far 65% say no......Rube

 

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/harley/harley.html


works better.....Rube

 

I saw the show, and I like it a lot. I was not wowed by all the insider stuff about the development, engineering and testing but that is because I am in the design, engineering and testing side of the automotive business and it is pretty typical.

As far as the bike I think it a nice balance between tradition and new technology and is a great next step for Harley. The fact that 65% of the harley guys don't think it's a harley is not suprising and I bet it also doesn't worry Willie G. any (he says it is a #@&&#*# HD by the way). They went into this not to give the current customers more of the same....they did it to open up to a whole new market....which is the people who don't love and won't buy the current Harleys. Don't like the V-rod, fine, buy a Road king or softtail...they aren't going away soon.

It reminds me of when dodge rolled out the ram pickup 8 years ago or whenever it was and only 30% of the people liked it. The Dodge reponse, when asked about such a low approval rating, was that they thought it was great because they had like 7% of the full size pickup market at the time and now had a legitimate chance at moving up to 30%

 

v-rod doesn't look bad but a little too much like the bmw cruiser to me.
wish they would have just added liquid cooling to their present line, stay with what works.

 

I voted on the on-line poll and said that it wasn't my idea of a Harley, but yeah, I do love it. I'm not sure if I'll fork over $20K for one though. If Harley wanted to open a new market, drop the prices on some of their lines and rein in the dealers adding "value-added" parts and jacking up the price.

 

I like the all "alluminium" look. Any time you can drive a stock bike off the lot and smoke the rear tire is allright with me. This bike could be compared to our trucks, the manufacturer knows there is a market for people that want the custom look without the custom price. It can be real easy to drop an extra $20k on chrome, acessories, and paint on a "traditional" Harley.

 

i think the v rod is sweet lookin. wouldn't mind havin one sitting next to the HD. would match with all the chrome really nicely.

 

I think it is a cool bike.That's why I sold my 99 Road king in May and put the money down on one, come Feb. I'll be the proud owner of it.As far as price $19400.00 out the door with $1000.00 in parts and first service, another dealer here is $4000.00 over msrp which is $16900.00 ($20900.00) with nothing,hell I'm even in the chapter but no price break (Ray Price HD in Raleigh NC).I went to Goldsboro NC.In May i'll be at Myrtle Beach SC rally pulling it with my Harley truck, it will look sweet.As long as people have diff. thoughts about it I know i'll be happy having one of the first

 

But again that is just my opinion. It looks too much like a knee dragging crotch rocket. I will stick with my FXDWG. Thanks Rube for the info on Discovery channel. Pretty good stuff.

 

aquaman, post some pics when you get it (with the harley truck in the backround.) man... wish i had the money to get a v-rod, it's one fine lookin bike.

 

I'd get the V-Rod in a minute if one were available here. Trade in the wife's Sportster, but keep the Road King would be the way to go in my case. Think it is one fine machine and would love to have one.