Eh, that Hayabusa crossed the line at 95mph. Even a 600cc sportbike can break 130mph in the 1/4 mile. The Hayabusa rider clearly let off half way down the strip (you can even see it).

The Hayabusa is able to reach 120mph in 7 seconds, and in this video he reached 95mph in 10.8 seconds...

 

My son in law rides an '06 Nightrod. I love that bike. Looks great, fast - I think the only mods he's done is Power Commander and an extremely loud slip on.

As an old guy, there are a couple reasons I wouldn't buy one. As mentioned above, the high RPM thing, He keeps it right around 5 grand when he's riding. I prefer low RPM, especially on the highway. I'm going to be changing the primary on my 883/1200 conversion this winter, and I already have a 30T sprocket in there. I want to be under 3500 RPM on the highway (75MPH should be about 3350 RPM if I've calculated it correctly).

The other is seating position. Too crunched down for my liking. But I think they've changed it somewhat for 2012, I haven't sat on one.

 

Yep -

 

i agree, i had a vrod at the same time as my sporty, and the vrod sat in the garage more times than the sporty. no matter what you do the vrod sounds like sh*t, so heavy on the right side your constantly fighting against it. i sold the POS faster than any other vehicle ive ever owned.

 

The V-Rod is quicker than the air-cooled Harleys if you compare 5th/6th gear roll-on times, so I don't know why anyone would feel they have to ride around at 5,000rpm. There's plenty of power on tap without downshifting.

 

this sorta sounds like the cowboy days when there was the "fastest gun in the west". no matter how fast you get your bike to go, be it a busa, or a new v-max, there will always be someone come along that'll suck your headlight out. my 2300cc triumph rocket III exists only to rip the arms out of the shoulder sockets. it's a hoot, and will stay with a busa up to 100mph, then the aerodynamics take over and the busa is gone. just be happy with your mods to your bike and let the fastest gun in the west win. he likely earned it. by the way, the rocket III has more torque at idle than a busa does at peak. but i dig my harleys more. they just got character, and style that nothing else can match. used v rods can be bought cheap, and i guess they're okay. i've never ridden one nor really ever wanted to. to me, they just look goofy.

 

The Triumph Rocket III is not nearly as quick as the Hayabusa in acceleration (see test numbers from german mag Motorrad below). As you can see it's much slower even to ~90mph (140km/h). The Rocket III is about on par with a 600cc sportbike when accelerating at lower speeds (below 90mph). Above 90mph it doesn't stand a chance against even the 600.

2006 Rocket III
0 - 70 km/h - s
0 - 100 km/h 3,4 s
0 - 120 km/h - s
0 - 140 km/h 6,1 s
0 - 150 km/h - s
0 - 160 km/h - s
0 - 180 km/h - s
0 - 200 km/h 14,1 s

2003 Hayabusa
0 - 70 km/h - s
0 - 100 km/h 2,7 s
0 - 120 km/h - s
0 - 140 km/h 4,3 s
0 - 160 km/h - s
0 - 180 km/h - s
0 - 200 km/h 7,4 s

 

The VRod is a very fast motorcycle, 1150cc Porshe Motor

I would prefer having a VRod compared to a Hybusa or other sportbike for the comfort.

There may be some large 1800cc Metric Cruisers that could be faster, infact I think some of the large Metric cruisers like the 1800cc suzuki boulevard that are acutally a bit faster than the hybusa.

 

The VRod is a fine machine. I say take on for a test ride and see if you like it. It's different than a traditional Harley, it revs much higher and the power band is up above 5,000 RPMs where a normal Harley is about to redline. It is definetly a quality made machine, you won't be spending a lot of maintenance, especially if you do it yourself.

 

If you want a fast bike, get an actual fast bike. Plenty of crotch rockets out there, plenty of non-harley muscle cruisers, vmax comes to mind. If you want a Vrod because it's a harley then get it, if not get something else.