2009 Harley-Davidson V-Rod Muscle

When it comes to working with metal, Harley is the wizard king, able to make your mouth water with a single stroke of the milling machine. All Harleys are styling exercises (the catalog of aftermarket options is larger than a phone book). When the V-Rod debuted in 2002 it was the un-Harley, a younger, ruder brother with a Porsche designed motor and the long lines of a Panther in mid-leap. For 2009, Harley has completely reworked the original, with a hefty dose of steroids. The bike looks ripped. Eye-catching? You bet. The individual bits are brilliant—from the LED turn signals embedded in the stalks for the mirrors, the clutch and brake levers that fit like brass knuckles, to the three-ring dash that shuffles tach, speedo and fuel guage in a tidy masculine package. Every piece of bodywork—from flared-nostril look wire mesh air scoops or the inverted forks and massive triple clamp to the satin finish side exhaust to the massive 2,400 mm rear tire—screams “muscle.” Hence the name. This is a bike for profiling, for cleaving the country, sensitive to the sidelong glances of single women.

The V-Rod is all about the motor. A gonadal growl announces the beast, through five gears that shift effortlessly, into the realm of unlawful speed. Just like that, you sink back into the leather. The riding position is controversial, to say the least. With a seat this low there's nowhere for your feet to go except forward. We needed a GPS to find the foot pegs; when fully attached we felt like we were in the wooden stocks Puritans used to punish or publicly shame the brazen. Some call it the C-clamp, or the posture of one of those Garfield the Cats you see suction cupped to car windows. Your body forms a parachute to cup and amplify the effect of wind. (Harley offers mid-mount foot pegs as an aftermarket option.) The surprise is how quickly you get used to the handling of this decidedly long-legged, 67-inch-wheelbase machine. The big rear tire causes the bike to fall into turns, but at speed the bike handles like a guard rail. The Brembo disc brakes can bring the 674 pounds of heavy metal to a quick stop from any speed. And you will want to stop, if only to answer questions from the peanut gallery.