 Customarily
Minded: April 2004 |
by Richard
Rose
Associate Editor
Beginner Bikes Magazine
| The
V-Twin Enigma |
Welcome to this month's Customarily Minded. For April we're going
to look at the state of the motorcycling market and arguably its
most popular engine configuration, the venerable V-Twin. Quick historical
fact: While Harley Davidson is best known as the "masters of
the V-Twin", it was Indian that first belted one out for production
back in 1903 when Harley was just getting their foot in the door.
In fact Harley didn't belt out a V2 until 1909, and revamped it
in 1911 to the basic design that is still in use today.
No doubt there's a certain appeal to owning a V-Twin cruiser of
any kind. They pack lots of personality and potentially unexplored
power (look at Suzuki's SV line, the Ducati's, and the Honda VTR-1000),
and they just look good too. As for unexplored power versus good
looks, can you really have both? Is there truly a rule written in
stone that all cruisers must be lazy? That's what I'm going to tackle
here.
Look at the V2 sportbikes, their wide angled V2 mills don't look
as stylish as cruiser motors, perhaps with the idea that some of
them will be covered in fairing. But what if those mills were visually
refined? Would chrome covers look good on a wide angled V2? Well,
Yamaha has a 60º angle between their cylinders, not quite as
drastic as the 75-90 degree sport mills, yet many would say that
the V-Star motor still looks pretty good. Surely the more narrow
V2 looks "best", and make them a single pin to "sound
the best", but must we truly sacrifice dual pin power for looks
and sound?
The VT1100 Shadow did (as did other earlier Shadows from the 1980's),
and while it packs more power than the former 1100 ACE single pin
counterparts, it still looks just as good, but the flatter exhaust
note leaves many folks wanting more.
Take Harley's V-Rod, another "wider" angled V2. At 1130cc
displacement and a single pin crank, it puts out more power than
Honda's dual pin 1800 VTX mill. The 750 Vulcan and 800 Intruder
both sport dual pin cranks, and like stacking the V-Rod against
bigger bikes, test after test yields them as the acceleration kings
amongst the mid sized (and often larger) V2 crowd. Which begs the
question, can mid-sized V2 mills put out more without sacrificing
the "personality" of a single pin exhaust note?
Most of the single pin V2 cruisers today sport 3 valves/cylinder
or less, and one cam per cylinder. Would DOHC and 4 valve/cylinder
treatment with hotter cams make a more potent single pin narrow
angled V2? The major manufacturers have yet produced it, I would
like to know if they're at least contemplating it or at least testing
it in "secret labs", after all that new Hyosung Aquila
GV650 looks to be a potential hot rod of a machine with its 75º
DOHC 4 valve V2, in all respects it's practically a SV-650 motor
in a cruiser package. If it takes off and packs the power it suggests,
the Japanese manufacturers really need to consider adapting some
more performance mods to their mid sized V2 bikes, after all the
answer obviously isn't more cubic inches when bikes nearly half
their size are producing similar results with less displacement,
and more importantly, less weight (re: V-Rod vs VTX). And should
the GV650 be capable of embarrassing the big inch bikes, then they
really need to consider these alternatives...guess what bike I'm
eagerly awaiting magazine reviews on next summer?
Now back to alternative motor configurations. The inline four truly
produces more power in any guise, but they lack the "personality"
of the V2. Does it look out of place in a cruiser package? In the
eye of the beholder, as they say. I've seen plenty of sweeeet (not
a typo, that means sweeter than sweet) 750 choppers, and Kawasaki's
former ZL-600 Eliminator is something of a looker too, but with
the wide power plant jutting out from either side of the tank there
isn't room for forward controls, so you're stuck with a cruiser
with a more "standard" riding stance. Which brings us
right back to the beholder again. When it comes to cruisers, I subscribe
to the feet forward brigade, but that's just my preference and it
shouldn't be construed as what I think is "best".
...and then there's the V-4, a happy medium between the inline's
and the V-Twins. I still don't understand why Honda dropped the
Magna, along with the Nighthawk and Valkyrie either, with no replacements
on deck. From a marketing standpoint the Aero replaces the ACE easily
enough, maybe not so much for the 750 Spirit, but perhaps if chopper
styling is what the customer is after the VLX is still available
with a similar designed engine and closely matched performance.
Not that it makes it all justifiable...but the Magna was long overdue
for an upgrade under the tank, and with luck Honda might unleash
a VF800 version next time around, once again sharing the motor with
Honda's Interceptor as was the case back in the days of the VTR750.
Well, I can wish in the meantime.
But why dump the Valkyrie and CB750? The Valk nailed high marks
in every review it was subjected to, despite having a funky flat
six when compared to the "standard" V-Twin cruisers it
competed against. Surely Honda didn't can this gem because it didn't
sport a V2.
Which brings me to the CB750, Honda's historical trademarked machine.
Three generations and thirty five ago the 750cc motorcycle put the
Japanese manufacturers on the motorcycle map, featuring affordable
bikes with powerful results, and it all goes back to the CB750.
Easy to own and operate, and substantially powered too, who would
ask for more? Surely the 599 isn't a replacement, not priced within
a few hundred dollars of their ultra-performer CBR600 and thousands
over the CB750. And think about it, the CB750 was the original metric
cruiser...re: those sweeeet 750 chops.
But if bikes like the 599 and the other inspired "naked"
sports, like the Bandit, SV-650, Z1000 and ZR-7, etc are netting
respectable sales numbers, why not a cruiser-styled I4 to fill that
niche? Granted the Eliminator has historically been a two year model
(although the 125 makes a comeback this year following it's initial
two year run), perhaps it was another bike that was before its time
(bikes before their time? hey guys...it's definitely time now so
let's get them back in production! ), following the footsteps laid
down from bikes like the Honda NT650 Hawk and Suzuki VX800, naked
sports with motors based on their cruiser counterpart engines (the
VLX and Intruder respectively). Which brings us right back to square
one, can these motors be pumped up? Looks like they already have
been, albeit in dual pin crank mode. But it's already been explored
so it's definitely feasible. There's definitely a market for something
extreme in performance, low in the tonnage, yet cruiser-cool; who
wants to be the first manufacturer to explore it? Who wants to try
and play catch-up after they succeed? Anyone else out there paying
attention and catching on to this? And can sales associates be trained
to claim you won't outgrow a cruiser that's under 1000cc? Honda?
Suzuki? Ferris Bueller...Bueller...Bueller..? (Yes,
that was a pun directed towards the Motor Company. They made great
strides with the V-Rod, tell me if you're not interested in a Harley-based
450-650cc power cruiser?)
When
Beginner Bikes associate editor Richard Rose isn't (g)rumbling about
the state of today's market, he answers email at rich@beginnerbikes
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Bike
Of The Month |
Click to enlarge...
In the words
of Hank McCoy (a.k.a. "the Beast", any comic book readers
out there will recognize this one): "Oh my stars and garters..."
after such a review about the V-Twin possibilities what kind of
motorcycle could I dig up to echo these statements? Ah,here's
a likely candidate.
For starters this one has a stock motor, so it isn't everything
that article boasts. Or does it? Maybe if we knew just what the
heck it is that we're looking at, we might shed a little light
on the subject. The bike in question is a 1998 model, and is still
in production today, but a far cry from how it looks in this pic.
Nay, this is a Swedish one-off custom/concept project that defies
everything the bike was designed for, yet metamorphosis into something
totally off the wall and undeniably cool. Cycle World ran a one
page article on the bike a couple volumes ago, dubbing it "The
V-Rod Honda Could Have Built".
Now we know who makes it, so let's look a little closer and see
if we can identify its true origins. Wide angle V-Twin, aluminum
perimeter frame, 40º rake, inverted forks, dual headlamps
and a drag bar, forward controls, custom bodywork up the wazoo,
and just what did they do with the radiators? Yes, that's plural,
radiatorzzzz...this bike originally had two. Well they were replaced
by a single unit stashed under the tank, which has custom ventilation
to assist the water cooling process as well as the air filter.
So if the tank has holes in it for ventilation, how does it hold
gas? Answer: a la Gold Wing, the fuel cell is under the seat.
Well it obviously isn't your father's Gold Wing, and it really
doesn't look like any stock cruiser that would roll off of Honda's
assembly line, could it be...a sport bike? ! ? By golly we're
on to something now, at 1000 cubic centimeters of displacement
and dual radiators, this must be nothing other than a seriously
modified VTR-1000 SuperHawk, and the end results of all that work
earn this machine some high recognition as being Customarily Minded.
And it also confirms my longtime desires on chopping a Suzuki
SV-650...
Click to enlarge...
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