Right place, right time and … bloody hell.

News has been a problem this month, not least because of the software issue, and the best thing to do with news is leave it to the last: that way it's still news, see?

So off I go in search of something worthy of note and have a quick look at the US Harley site and … no, surely not? It can't be … can it? It bloody is! A new Harley … announced … the day before!

So, you can keep your St Tropez press release, and TV's snake man's recent purchasing decision. This is news. All of it. Everything else pales into insignificance.

The Harley-Davidson VRSCA V-Rod

Not just a new model, not even a new frame … or a new engine. This is a wholly new Harley-Davidson motorcycle from the ground up and its like has not been seen before. The last time such a fundamentally new model was launched was 1951 when the venerable 45 was replaced for the '52 season by the bike that was to become the Sportster - and that shared lot of technology with its forebear. Before that? The 1936 Knucklehead - whose family line is still recognisable in the Twin Cam 88.

It is by no means a common occurence: well, obviously because the descendants of those two new models provided the entire model range until now.

It is quite unlike anything in the current or any previous model range and, it has to be said, it looks as though it takes more than a few styling cues from customisers on this side of the pond who have been pushing the envelope with regard to custom styling for ten years and more.

The only thing that looks even vaguely familiar is from the Deuce. Remember us banging on about how Deuce technology would migrate to other models? Oh how wrong could we have been? We were talking forks and seventeen inch wheels not the back mudguard, and even then it's only a suggestion of a styling influence.

So what can be so different? Well look at the damn pictures! What do you recognise?

All New Engine!
I'll bet that all the V-four theorists are choking on their beers right now, because the new motor - developed with Porsche and derived from the experiences gleaned from the VR1000 - is going to put the mockers on the development of another new engine for a good many years … unless Harley-Davidson have entered a whole new bullish arena.

From the top, you've got an all-new 60-degree liquid-cooled DOHC (that's double-overhead cam to those struggling to come to terms with overhead valves) with four valves per head and Fuel Injection. In true Harley tradition they've given it a name and that name is "Revolution", and it is as appropriate as the Evolution was before it. It displaces 1130cc, or 69 cubes, courtesy of a bore and stroke of 100x72mm: a short-stroke Harley engine!

Still a V-twin, it is inevitably going to vibrate but it isn't going to pass anything more than is desirable to the rider - or possibly pilot - as it uses a combination of rubber mounts and a balance shaft to keep things running smooth.

Continuing the new ideology they've even given power stats for the new motor, and at 115hp I'm not surprised! 100hp per litre has long been seen as an acceptable level and Harley have hit it on the nail. But horsepower figures are only part of the equation: Harley riders tend to talk the torque and it is here where the character of the new engine is brought into the open. A figure of 74ft lbs, or 100.3NM, is none too shabby at just below the carb-equipped Twin Cam 88's 106, but the spin speed is double! Peak torque at 7k? That's nothing: peak power is at 8250rpm!

The engine breathes through a 2-into-1-into-2 system that has nothing in common with the staggered duals except that they both exit on the right. Quietened-down to meet strict noise regs, they are said to be endowed with a distinctive sound but we can only guess at what that might be.

The transmission is also a major update to the basic premise of a traditional Harley-Davidson. No more, the separate shell behind the crankcases: a legacy from the days when the gearbox was invented. No more the massive primary drive cover: it's all helical-cut gears and living in a common case now, foreshortening the engine unit quite significantly, and reducing the width at the rear of the power unit. The clutch also gets hydraulic activation.

All New Frame!
So they've got as new motor, and slapped it into what? A reworked Dyna, for that is the street chassis. Err, no.

A hydroformed perimeter frame.

A what?

A frame that runs around the side of the engine rather than cradling it within its bicycle-derived pipework. The bottom frame rails are removeable to let you get the engine out, and it's the first chassis of its type for Harley-Davidson. Not too revolutionary though, as it has been proven on everyone else's bikes for the last fifteen years so there are no issues about it being up to the job. What hasn't been done on the rest of the world's bikes, though, is to give it such radical geometry, and radical it certainly is.

Harley have never been afraid of long wheelbases, and the V-Rod's is certainly not breaking with tradition here with 67.5-inches between the spindles, partly achieved by a 34-degree rake, and helped considerably by an additional 4-degrees built into the yokes, giving it an incredible 38-degrees between the fork legs and the vertical. That's the shallowest rake yet seen on a production Harley and it'll be fun to see how that equates to road manners. The 49mm forks should keep the front end tight, though.

Still at the forks, the risers and handlebars are a one-piece affair, and are topped off with a Dan Dare speedo, tacho, fuel gauge that is referred to as a clamshell. Beneath that is a headlamp that could well be the test of the model's visual acceptability. Using reflector-optic technology it allows the whole thing to be aerodynamically laid back - what d'you mean, your Sportster's eyelid does that? Look at the pictures and make your own mind up.

The long, low aspect of the whole plot does retain a low seat height of 26-inches, and a Badlander-style seat is one last link with the past.

The rear swing-arm too is new and is a one-piece polished cast aluminium item that offers exceptional rigidity, and rear suspension is taken off the rearmost point of the swing-arm, FXR style..

Lastly, the wheels may look like stock Harley fare of old, but only so far as being disks because they are disks of different sizes: a nineteen for the front and an eighteen for the rear. Rather than the riveted contruction that they've used before, these look to be spun aluminium and look the business. Both wheels are shod with low-profile radial tyres (120/70ZR-19 and 180/55ZR-18 respectively) and are stopped by four pot callipers on floating disks - two at the front and one at the rear. And we all thought that the new four pots were just a final acknowledgement that the brakes needed seeing to, rather than a development for such a radical new model..

Disappointingly, the lean angles for the V-Rod are less than the current Super Glide Sport at 32-degree each side, but you can't have everything. The tarmac will determine whether the steering geometry makes such leans angles necessary because you've got to consider that Harley-Davidson consider this to be their Sports Cruiser.

All New Bodywork!
Surely they've reinvented the fatbobs to suit?

Well, no. The rear mudguard styling is recognisable from the Deuce, the front mudguard is … well, a front mudguard, and the tank is … a Ducati Monster from where I'm sitting, X1 Lightning if I'm being generous. It looks very much like a cover rather than the tank proper, X1 style, and it is. It isn't the fuel tank at all but the air-box for the downdraught velocity stacks that feed air to the fuel injection: the tank is under the seat. The big news is that the 'guards, covers etc are all anodised aluminium: half the weight of steel and everyone's favourite recycleable material.

I'll leave you to the spec sheet because I need to lie down now, but I'll leave you with a final "bloody hell!" and a doffed cap to the designers and engineers at Harley-Davidson who have managed to thumb their nose at just about everyone with this radical reintepretation of a motorcycle from their historic stable. In their press-release Willie G himself makes a lot of noise about it being a natural successor to Harley-Davidson's air-cooled heritage and it remains to be seen how well accepted it is by the die-hard enthusiasts, but all of a sudden you can see why the dealer expansion program is moving so quickly: they are looking at expanding their market quite considerably, and that needs to get the bike into the buying public's reach. And if there was ever a bike to bring new people into the Harley-Davidson family, this - on paper at least - could well be it.

To read more about the recently announced Buell XB9R click here