HARLEY’S HERO

When Harley-Davidson released the water-cooled V-Rod back in 2001, it sent a message that the motor company knew it needed a “power cruiser”. A technically advanced hero bike. Everything from the engine to the overall design of the V-Rod was a pretty radical departure from the retro bikes that dominated Harley’s line-up.

Of course, the V-Rod still had a V-Twin engine, but this Revolution engine — co-developed with Porsche and based on the engine in the VR-1000 Superbike Harley used in competitive drag racing — was the first overhead cam, liquid-cooled Harley-Davidson engine to see mass-market production.

The market was lukewarm at first in the good old US of A;