All Reviews – V-Rod Muscle Review: Harley-Davidson Shows Off The Muscle (s)! – A Harley on anabolic!

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V-Rod Muscle Test: Harley-Davidson Shows Off The Muscle (s) !

All Reviews - V-Rod Muscle Review: Harley-Davidson Shows Off The Muscle (s)! - A Harley on anabolic!

While Harleys often evoke chrome, noise and torquey but placid engine, the V-Rod Muscle would almost embody the opposite: stocky like a Pitt-Bull and inspiring as much respect, the American also sends very big gas. Test !

A Harley on anabolic !

Quietly camped on its delicate crutch to handle – and which stoically supports the 292 kg dry of the beast! -, the V-Rod Muscle shows off its intimidating silhouette which mixes, with a certain panache, the custom codes dear to the production of Milwaukee with the squat and rounded lines of a dragster. Denis, the happy owner of an antediluvian Fat Boy, can’t get over it: "is that a Harley? It looks like a cross between a Suzuki Intruder and a V-Max", exclaims our interlocutor met at the detours of a photo shoot.

Devil ! By developing this explosive cocktail based on a bodybuilt silhouette and the famous 60 ° twin-cylinder Revolution – designed with the collaboration of the Porsche research center – with 1,250 cc and 123 horsepower (!), would Americans have strayed too far from an image and a concept cultivated with care for a good hundred years? ?

For Denis in any case, the affront is size and the pill difficult to swallow … And it is not the presence of a double camshaft driving the eight valves, nor of the large radiator imposed by the output – 114 Nm of torque at 6,250 rpm and 11: 5 compression – ESPFI (Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection) twin with sequential injection which will convince him of the legitimacy of this VRSC range built around the V-Rod, the Night-Rod Special and now the V-Rod Muscle.

And again, our tattooed biker with American tastes did not notice that the imposing tank is in fact a decoy concealing a bulky air box, itself responsible for stuffing the two large 105 mm bowls! The "real" tank – plastic, the hell! – is hidden under the saddle and accepts up to 18.9 liters of unleaded.

The opportunity to castigate one of the rare sloppy finishing details on this American-style show of force: besides the fact that neither the saddle – stapled without elegance – nor the fuel cap can be locked, raise the seat driver exposes the eye to ugly electrical networks which enclose the tank cover. Not very aesthetic, even worrying when gasoline overflows on these cables and other plugs…

Disillusioned by so much daring on the part of a brand rightly revered for its traditionalism, Denis is simply stunned when he learns that the V-Rod Muscle is equipped with an anti-dribble clutch (yes, yes!), Brembo calipers actuated by aviats hoses … and supervised by a discreet ABS! Our friendly "rider" then prefers to start his venerable twin and set off again to cut the road (to Memphis?) In a noise capable of covering the takeoff of a Boeing. !

Insensitive to this shock of cultures, the V-Rod Muscle continues to play the big arms under amphet ‘. The ace ! Its intimidating number takes the lead in the wing when starting the bi, as its sound appears as a timid purr, surprisingly muffled and, to tell the truth, well below the sensation of power that the beast distils stopped.

Not that a Harley-Davidson must necessarily backfire like the Champs-Élysees on the evening of July 14, but the V2’s melody is timid, almost sanitized like on some Japanese twins. Too bad, both the superb and colossal engine and its long exhausts flanking the 240mm rear Dunlop (!) Alone aroused the promise of a hoarse, bestial soundtrack, adapted to this obvious desire to stick it full. view !

Because the purists – the real ones! – may choke on their beards, if the V-Rod Muscle is probably not the most faithful muse of the Milwaukee firm, the fact remains that it throws a max! Moreover, the slightest stroll in a busy avenue inevitably triggers the curiosity and admiration of onlookers: the Harley has an undeniable charisma, reinforced by intimidating proportions (2410 mm long and 34 ° hunting angle!) and a bluffing quality of realization.

Neat and slightly glittery paintwork, flawless welds on the frame and the chrome swingarm, nicely integrated belt transmission, XXL format handlebars topped with superb flashing mirrors: the V-Rod Muscle will delight aesthetes! How not to salute this electric network cleverly camouflaged in the handlebars, these two prominent radiator covers with a pure design and this large LED taillight surmounting the new rear fender cut ?

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