I test drove a new 2014 V-Rod Muscle today...

[Bminder]

Noel and Dan,
From the quick perusal of the kid's paper, I thought I read that Porsche collaborated on the motor as a way to get more exposure in the US to a different market of people, or something to that effect.

On another note,
Last night a couple in my church let me ride their Harleys.  He has an 03 Road King that's got some engine mods, nothing crazy, and she has an 01 something or other, I forgot. Same motor as his bike but stock.
I really didn't care for either bike.  They only wanted to go in a straight line, the handle bars had a scary amount of flex... just wasn't impressed at all.
They felt very different from the 2 Vrods I've ridden.  The Vrods actually felt and handled more like my FJ than they did the 'regular' Harleys.

[The General]

Thanks Fred, but that just acknowledges the association with Porsche without explaining why or to what extent.

Noel

Looky here, some college kid did a paper on why Harley and Porsche would collaborate!
http://run.unl.pt/bitstream/10362/11613/1/Alves_2013.pdf

Billy

We are witnessing the decline of a nation here.  Stand and observe:

"As a result, the major conclusion was that the drivers of that alliance indeed agreed with the general theories on the matter. Factors as venturing on new segments of the market or having access to unique resources worked in favor of this partnership, as Harley's new engine and motorcycle proved to be a global success."

How-the-fuck-about 'To develop an engine and motorcycle that appealed to non-neanderthals, Haley realized that they needed technical expertise they did not have in house'?

College pukes, SMDH...  my only solace is this kid will eventually get a job, and they'll smack him down for unclear, wordy, nonsense.  -That is, unless of course he goes into academia, in which case, they'll probably give him a damn medal...

Dan

That's all good and well Dan, and it's obvious what was in it for Harley, but I still don't get why Porsche would want to be associated with them.

They hardly need an image boost and even if they did HD is not the place to find it, quite the opposite I would have thought.

Can you believe we've been talking about Harley's now for 3 or 4 days. Unless someone comes up with an interesting topic in the next 24 hours I'm going to post a trip report tomorrow night, you have been warned.

Noel

That`s easy Peasey Noel.

Posh had tried everything else to understand the American Way. The French are well known for successfully designing stuff outside the square. (except for thumping triangles!)
But have you seen the way they handle Sheep?



They simply have no idea!

Their brilliant marketing department had all but given up when they found this efficient way to infiltrate the minds of America`s greatest marketing jargonaut.

This project was simply a great opportunity to analyse their failure. When you can`t create what the customer wants, next best step is to change his mind.
(But first, one has to know that mind.) ...In this case I would call that a serious, almost impossible challenge...... but demonstrably, (if you can recognise the thin edge of the wedge) they appear to be making progress!
(Brilliant Basteds, but I hate them. I have refused to buy anything French since the time they tested a nuclear bomb in our beautiful pacific.)

BTW....my mate Jimmy2 rides a Diavel. He`s modified tha suspension and tweaked the motor. He doesn`t like ta stand around cause he is ugly. ....they are perfectly matched! 

[fj johnnie]

  I just can't stop thinking of the "Pinks" episode where a guy on a 83 Suzuki GS 1100 beat the V-Rod. Bwah hah hah.

[RD56]

Does anyone know exactly what the connection with Porsche and the V-rod engine is, other than both being internal combustion engines.

It is indeed an odd collaboration between between a company producing one if the best engineered automotive products in the world and one making the worst. Why would they sully their reputation and image by associating with a manufacturer of agricultural grade machinery mocked by pretty much everyone except its customers.

There is nothing about Harley or their image that I can see Porsche wanting to be associated with.

Anyone know?

Just curious.

Noel

Noel. I worked for Porsche for several years and grabbed as many legal souvenirs as possible. They put out a prodigious amount of detailed technical info about their cars as well as numerous items from their design and development groups. I always loved their early cars, especially their 4 cam engines for the 356 and 904. I know I'm going to get eaten alive when I say this but my understanding is that they produced the first engine to produce 100 bhp per litre with their 2 litre 4 cam  engine for their race cars in the 1960's. They detuned the engine for the street to around 180 hp for the 356 Carrera 2.  They were a bitch to work on but ate must of the contemporary racing iron for lunch. The engines were art. If you can find one today they are five or six figure pieces.
Porsche has collaborated with several strange bed partners of the years. Remember the 500 E MB. The engines were hand built by Porsche. Hell of a car. Long time racing competitors. The following is a quote taken from Porsche Engineering Magazine in 2003, the magazine that describes the whole VRod project:

"Porsche is the only car manufacturer                                                     
to make its extensive engineering
knowledge available to international
customers from various sectors.
In conjunction with its domestic and foreign subsidiaries, the Porsche
Engineering Group provides expertise
on a global scale in the fields of
automotive engineering and transport
under the Porsche Engineering
banner.In so doing Porsche Engineering
has access to the resources of
more than 3,000 engineers from
construction, prototype, production
planning, procurement, logistics
and production divisions."

One of the crazy things that I remember when Porsche introduced the Vrod, is that one of the engineering requirements for the engine was to produce an engine that could idle or move at a parade pace for one hour straight without overheating.
Getting to the point here, there is a three page write up on the Vrod in the magazine mentioned above. Happy to send it to you via email if you have an interest.

Rick

[motohorseman]

Does anyone know exactly what the connection with Porsche and the V-rod engine is, other than both being internal combustion engines.

I owned a 1983 944 Porsche and will never buy anything Porsche or German again.

Owned that car for over a decade, got to know every nut and bolt on it, and learned quite a bit about Porsche and German engineering.

The VRod was possibly the only Harley I wanted - but with the Porsche connection, well -

Makes it easy to say no.

Just say no.

[ribbert]

Does anyone know exactly what the connection with Porsche and the V-rod engine is, other than both being internal combustion engines.

I owned a 1983 944 Porsche and will never buy anything Porsche or German again.

Owned that car for over a decade, got to know every nut and bolt on it, and learned quite a bit about Porsche and German engineering.

The VRod was possibly the only Harley I wanted - but with the Porsche connection, well -

Makes it easy to say no.

Just say no.

That's a shame. If it was such a dog, why did you persevere with it for 10 years?

As a mechanic I like and appreciate Porsche engineering, like working on them and love driving them. The 924, 944 and 914 may not have been their finest moment and many manufacturers are guilty of building shitty cars to expand their market. The 924's weren't flash but a 944 turbo was not a bad car at all.
Although Porsche remains all about the 911, the Boxter and Cayenne are excellent cars, particularly the Boxter, it's way better value than a 911.

Whatever your experience (you didn't actually mention anything specific), I don't think it's fair to bundle up all Porsches and anything German and bag it, and to dismiss a V-Rod on the basis of it's connection is a bit of a stretch. I think you'd be on your own holding that opinion.

Hang on, isn't this a motorbike forum? ah.... OK, FJ's are better than Porches.

Noel

[ribbert]

Thanks Rick, that is really interesting. I was expecting more of a one-off decision by a previous employee type scenario rather than a general practice of information sharing. Bit of an anti climax.

Thanks for the info, love the stats and the history.

Noel