Harley-Davidson Night Rod
Harley-Davidson Night Rod
New for 2006
The further re-education of the V-Rod
DAVID EDWARDS
AT FIRST, IT WASN'T MUCH OF A FAMILY. NOT THAT IT mattered. When the 2002 V-Rod power-cruiser hit the streets, eyes bugged, jaws slacked, sensibilities were tweaked. Here was a Harley-Davidson for Harley hates, its engine developed in conjunction with Porsche, a double-overhead cammer with nary a pushrod in sight. The thing started life as an AMA Superbike roadracer, ferChrissakes, and even had one of those new-fangled radiators hanging from the front downtubes!
Styling was audacious, almost cartoonish, like something a super-hero might ride. Bodywork in bare, polished aluminum. Disc wheels carved from billet. Fork tubes kicked out to next payday. A headlight seemingly shaped by the wind.
With The Motor Company’s centenary a year away, the V-Rod announced-more like shouted-to customers, investors, journalists and disbelievers of all stripes that HarleyDavidson, damn it, could build a modern motorcycle. Next question.
At the time, we were promised that this was the first of a new branch for the Harley-Davidson product tree. More VRod derivatives would follow.
Not right away, though. It would be early 2005 before another model, the Street Rod, was announced. Answering critics’ complaints that the V-Rod compromised too much function for its outlandish good looks, we got a sporting standard with a reigned-in rake, longer shocks, a flatter handlebar, a thicker seat, mid-mount foot controls, Brembo brakes and more gas capacity. Cycle World was impressed (Honorable Mention, Ten Best Bikes) and so were the Europeans. With something like 60,000 units a year sold overseas, Harley takes its foreign markets seriously and the Euros have always appreciated a good roadster that doesn’t tie itself into knots at the first sign of a mountain pass.
The Street Rod has been less of a success over here, though. Somebody looking for a sporting naked bike has lots of other choices that don’t cost $15,000, and the traditional Harley buyer wants more of a laid-back, low-seatheight cruiser.
And so, new for 2006, we now have the VRSCD Night Rod (pause here while the more prurient amongst you make up off-color name derivations). It’s based on the hydroformed steel-tube V-Rod chassis, with shorter shocks and rear subframe than the Street Rod, resulting in a seat height some 4 inches lower (27.1 vs. 31) than the roadster’s. At 36 degrees, fork rake is smack-dab between the VRod’s 38 and the Street Rod’s 34. More best-of-both-worlds when it comes to footpegs. Primary controls are midmount, but there’s a set of folding highway pegs 20 inches
farther forward when it’s time to stretch. The bike gets the Street Rod’s 2-into-linto-2 exhaust, supposedly a little freer-breathing than the V-Rod’s separate, swoopy pipes. All three Rod models get the Brembo brake calipers this year, complete with
embossed bar-and-shield logos and nifty mesh pad-inspection covers. A “speedscreen” headlight shroud is special to the Night Rod.
No other bike-maker does accessories as well (or makes as much money from them) as Harley-Davidson. Our testbike arrived wearing the Street Rod’s 10-spoke cast wheels rather than standard slotted discs, a $275 upgrade and well
worth it. Also on board were chromed engine covers, a $495 option, bringing the bike’s sticker to $16,010. In Chopper Blue with black trim, this is a handsome motorcycle, an impression further fostered by quality pieces like the polished aluminum swingarm and hogged-out triple-clamps (ala Ducati 999, no less!).
The whole plot works pretty well on the road, too. You shouldn’t expect sportbike nimbleness here. Even with the tucked-in fork tubes, wheelbase reaches 66.9 inches, plus the bike weighs 631 pounds fully gassed, and if you press the issue in right-handers, expect the tarmac to punish those pretty pipes. Longer shocks would be our first aftermarket buy, then we’d head over to the Harley shop and ante up $289 for the “Tallboy” seat option. For anybody over 5-foot9 who spends more time riding than stopped, the extra inchand-a-half of legroom will be appreciated.
If the Night Rod’s backroad prowess is merely competent, then its 60-degree Vee motor is simply outstanding. While Milwaukee’s air-cooled boomers sign off at 5500 rpm, the Rod runs crisply right up to 9K, where it’s making an impressive 104 rear-wheel hp. You’d have to spend five grand and fit a blatty exhaust to elevate a Big Twin to that level.
Sometime this year, someone will buy the 60,000th VRSC model built. That’s small potatoes compared to the million or so Big Twins that have been sold in the same time frame, but fully 60 percent of Rod sales have been “conquests,” purchased by people who owned other brands of bikes.
What started almost five years ago as a one-bike statement has indeed grown into an important part of the H-D product line. We now have three distinct street models, the CVO special editions, the world’s first production dragbike in the V-Rod Destroyer (see Race Watch, this issue) and, of course the full-on factory NHRA Pro Stocker, which has covered itself in dragstrip glory.
Call it one small, happy family. □
