American Iron

American Iron

Harley answers Victory (and everybody else) with its Twin Cam motor and a more-capable chassis

DAVID EDWARDS

HERE'S A FIRST: USA vs. USA IN A MEGA cruiser comparison, a real red-white-and-blue rumblefest. Interesting subplot, too, with an upstart newcomer taking on the established veteran. Fun stuff. You know about the Victory V92C, made in Spirit Lake, Iowa, by Polaris Industries, pro ducer of snowmobiles, ATVs and personal watercraft. Inspired by the roiling success that is Harley-Davidson (110,000 units sold in the U.S. last year, 54 percent of the over-750cc market), Polaris cut an engineering team loose in 1994, charged with building a better cruiser.

In many ways, they succeeded.

Underpinning the V92C is a stout, well thought-out frame; nothing fancy, but a cut above most cruiser fare. Further distancing the Victory from many of its competition is quality,

well-damped sus pension. Up front a 45mm Marzocchi fork is held in place by massive triple-clamps; pop

the seat and you're greeted by a Fox shock attached to a triangulated swingarm. Brembo sup plies the brakes, the front a four-piston affair bit ing down hard on a semi-floating 300mm rotor.

H-D Dyna Glide Sport vs. Victory 92C

It's this chassis that gives the V92 a handling advantage over the usual cruiser. The bike arcs into corners with accurate turn-in, no perceptible chassis windup and excellent feed back. It was the chassis' rightness, right out of the box, plus the signifi cance of Victory being the first new American streetbike in more than 50 years, that led Cycle World to

`.1 J LI LIIU L L~ t T (.J( &(-~ LJ name the V92C as 1998's Best Cruiser in our annual Ten Best Bikes contest.

Not that the thing was perfect. Our pre-production testbike had a less-than-slick gearbox and noticeable driveline lash, promised to be cleared up in production. Some of us were disappointed that the clean-sheet 1507cc Vee, complete with fuel-injection, oil-cooling and four valves per pot, made no more than 55 rear-wheel horsepower-only slightly above par for the class. Early talk was of readings at least into the 60s, maybe even the 70s. There were also delays in delivery related to vendor problems and minor quality-control bugaboos (weepy fuel-tank gaskets, blown-prone taillights), so much so that all 1998 V92s were rebadged as ’99 models. Our testbike was number 193 out of a proposed first-year production run of 3500.

Moving on to the Harley. Unless you’ve been on an extended adventure-trek in the Arctic, you’ve already read about the new 1450cc Twin Cam 88 motor, and know how good it is. Yep, it looks a lot like the old Evo motor; yep, it soldiers on with air cooling, pushrods and a measly two valves per cylinder. But pop a few covers and the differences are prolific. First (and hence the name), each cylinder gets its own camshaft. Take the jugs themselves-finning is way more generous; thicker liners stand ready to accept lOOcc overbores. Combustion chambers are better shaped with more streamlined ports. The bottom-end is incredibly beefed, from crankpin to cases. The oiling system was studied and thoroughly revamped.

In short, the Twin Cam is an Evo motor made bulletproof. It’s mechanically quieter, runs cooler and, judging by our 6500-mile testbike, is damn-near oil-tight. It’s also a runner, pumping an honest 60 ponies to the rear Dunlop, jumping it right to the head of the twin-cylinder cruiser class. The powerband really impresses-where the Evo was short of breath and wheezing by 4500 revs, the Twin Cam zings right on up to its 5500-rpm redline, and is looking for fore. Fun to flog, and you can't say that about very many cruisers.

Harley-Davidson

FXDX

$12,995

And, yes, there has been a recall on the Twin Cams, as you can read about in this issue's Roundup. Seems the cams were coming loose, a major embarrassment seeing as how H-D Engineering boasted of 2.5 million miles of durability test ing and 14,000 combined hours on the dyno. We're told the

remedy is a double-strong "belt-and-suspenders" fix. Wrapped around the Twin Cam is Harley's now-familiar rubber-mount Dyna Glide frame. The FXDX comes by its Sport designation thanks to a lengthened, more heavily damped fork and twin shocks lifted from the

Dyna Convertible model, which also chipped in with an extra front brake caliper and rotor. Now, understand that you're not going to be ambushing any GSX-Rs along Racer Road, but the hiked-up suspension gives a useful increase in cornering clearance and an additional disc is always a good thing.

The FXDX's pared-down, blacked-out look-it's sort of a hybrid cruiser/sport/standard-seems to be finding friends in unexpected places. At a recent California demo-ride site, some 60 percent of• those trying out the Sport were non-Harley own ers, many with sportbike experience. And if the bike's look isn't to your liking, there are five other non-tour ing Twin Cams in the company catalog.

So, head-to-head, out on the road how do these two shape up? Well, around town, the nod goes to the Victory, due to its excellent suspension and wider, better-padded saddle. We also liked the V92's info-laden instrument face, mounted inside the headlight nacelle. You get analog speedo and tach, the usual idiot lights and a digital display that can be toggled between odo, tripmeter, clock, fuel gauge, battery voltage and two levels of instrument backlighting. Very clever. The Harley's seat seen in these pho tos, by the way, is not show room-issue. We ordered it up from the accessories catalog after sampling the skimpy padding on the scooped-out stocker. The extra foam ups comfort, increas es legroom and gives you a better shot at the flat-track-bend han dlebar. Get your dealer to throw it in at purchase time.

IL III L pui~iia~c uiiic. In the swervery, both bikes are entertaining, but the FXDX with its deeper cornering angles and rev-happy engine slowly (but surely) draws away from the V92. Pushed harder, the Victory really whacks its lower muffler in right-handers, lever ing the rear tire up and out-an interesting method of tightening your line, but not recommended. During testing we had a chance to sample Victory's optional hop-up kit ($299 uninstalled) which consists of opened-up mufflers and a new EFI chip. Big difference. As in 64 rear-wheel bhp (up 9 on stock) and 81.5 foot-pounds of torque (up 7). We suspect there'll be a 1:1 ratio of kits to V92s sold. Franidy, this is where %the power should have been all along. In fairness, we should point out that Harley also has hop-up kits for the Twin Cam. Stage I, basically airbox mods and a carb rejetting, adds about 5 horsepower; Stage II adds cams to that mix for another 5-bhp bump. Both are bargain-priced and when installed by a dealer don't affect warranty.

Victory

v92c

$12,995

Anyway, stock vs. stock, there really isn't much of a con test between the two powerplants. Fact is the "Hardly Ableson" of jokes and jibes from non-believers has engineered the world's best large-caliber cruiser motor. On the considerable strengths of its Twin Cam 88, then, the FXDX finishes first here.