# It took 99 years, was it worth the wait ? Harley fans **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2001, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-99-years-was-it-worth-the-wait-harley-fans/73077 "2001-07-19T18:01:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-99-years-was-it-worth-the-wait-harley-fans/73077/1 "2001-07-19T18:01:27Z")
They finally decided to join the rest of the industrialised world and go with water-cooled internal combustion engines. Lookee [here](http://www.harley-davidson.com/motorcycles/motorcycles_family.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=440149&bmLocale=en_GB&bmUID=995565246656) what do you think. It’ll draw some knocks from the traditionalists, it looks to have European influences, I guess working with Porsche is partly the reason. One thing is sure, it had better be more reliable than the air-cooled things 'cause fixing it at the roadside will not be as easy. I think its not bad, a little bit long and ponderous but I’d like to try one out. I gather that the brakes actually work on it. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2001, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-99-years-was-it-worth-the-wait-harley-fans/73077/2 "2001-07-19T21:13:28Z")
The board software inserted a space after the hyphen in harley-davidson in the url. If you want to see the link, remove the %20 from that spot in the url. VBulletin doesn’t like long strings of text without breaks in them, even if it doesn’t show up. ---
**Author:** ![Spiny\_Norman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Spiny\_Norman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiny_Norman)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-99-years-was-it-worth-the-wait-harley-fans/73077/3 "2001-07-20T11:13:51Z")
The traditionalists will presumably hate it, but so friggin’ what ? It’s not as if their vintage models will be phased out. H-D is apparently looking to expand their customer base, and that bike is presumably aimed at the market currently inhabited by BMW R1200C, Valkyrie or perhaps even V-max bikes. The tests I’ve read mention good handling, good suspension, etc. - to which one can only say 'bout bloody time. And I guess a touring bike with the V-Rod engine is on the drawing boards somewhere. One can of course worry about the archetypical “baby boomer weekend bikers” all of a sudden having 115 HP at their disposal instead of the usual stock Harley 60 HP, but getting in trouble on a high-powered bike is the privilege of anyone with enough disposable income to buy one. And on that note, the price tag looks a bit stiff to me. Still, kudos to Harley for producing a modern bike. Of course I’m a squid who thinks carbon fibre equals style, so what do I know ? 😛 S. Norman ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-99-years-was-it-worth-the-wait-harley-fans/73077/4 "2001-07-20T11:32:34Z")
I’m a (sadly former) Harley owner, and I like it! It looks kinda like a chopped V-Max. Sure, there will be traditionalists who hate it, but there are some guys who sneer at anything that’s not a kick-started hardtail. I wonder if Buell is going to do anything with this new engine? They might be able to build something to make the Ducati owners (hi Spiny!) take notice. ---
**Author:** ![tavalla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tavalla/32/89_2.png) [@tavalla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavalla)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2001, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/it-took-99-years-was-it-worth-the-wait-harley-fans/73077/5 "2001-07-20T15:30:43Z")
It’s not going to be available downunda for another few months at the very least, but one of the Melbourne papers ran a double page story on it last week. My immediate reaction was jaw-flappin’ amazement. Purely on looks and reviews, I want one! For a test ride at least - no way I could meet that price tag. Damnit. The look is something else, isn’t it? The best comment in the whole review, as far as the Rod’s appearance went was, “looking like a refugee from _Akira_…” On performance, the reviewer basically said it rocked; pretty good power, good handling - something that surprised me a bit, given dimensions and the raking on the front. The only real problem they mentioned was the ground clearance; one hard corner, the pegs are scraping the ground, and you’re severely at risk of bottoming out the radiator shroud. Oh Santa Claus, if I’m a good, good girl… :bats eyes in cute and appealing manner: …is there any chance…?