---
title: "Harley-Davidson Has Quietly Killed the V-Rod"
description: "The unique muscle bike co-developed with Porsche has been put out to pasture."
date: "2017-08-24"
modified: "2017-08-24"
authors:
  - name: "Eric Brandt"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/eric-brandt"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/article/13769/harley-davidson-has-quietly-killed-the-v-rod"
categories:
  - "Motorcycles"
  - "News"
  - "The Garage"
tags:
  - "Discontinued"
  - "harley-davidson"
  - "motorcycle"
  - "muscle bike"
  - "sport bike"
  - "v-rod"
---

# Harley-Davidson Has Quietly Killed the V-Rod

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/08/v-rod.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

While many are [mourning the loss of the Dyna Big Twin lineup](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/13744/what-does-axing-the-dyna-lineup-mean-for-harley-davidson>), the most un-Harley motorcycle in the Harley-Davidson family has been quietly discontinued during the heavy-duty revamp of the Milwaukee bike brand’s [2018 lineup](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/13728/harley-davidson-unveils-2018-softail-lineup-ditches-dyna-models>): the V-Rod. The 2017 V-Rod Muscle and Night Rod Special were the final iterations of the VRSC (V-Twin Racing Street Custom) line.

Introduced in 2001, the V-Rod was intended to compete with Japanese motorcycles that many riders were flocking to as reliable, low-cost Harley alternatives. 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 lineup.

As its name implied, the V-Rod still had a V-Twin engine, but this Revolution engine—co-developed with Porsche, and it was 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 cylinders were placed at a 60-degree angle, rather than the 45 degrees that's key to creating the signature Harley-Davidson sound.

To meet Porsche’s standards (and possibly as a marketing gimmick), the Revolution passed the famous Düsseldorf Test at the Porsche Engineering Group’s Weissach Development Center in Germany. The Düsseldorf Test is a rigorous endurance test that requires an engine to run for 500 hours without failure. This proved that the V-Rod was both powerful and reliable.

As for the rest of the bike, it looked like no other Harley ever built. It had a hydroformed tubular frame, an athletic stance, a gas tank under the seat with a round-topped airbox cover up front posing as a gas tank, and it went easy on the chrome and other frivolous dressings common on Harleys. It was big, tough, and powerful, yet subdued, not unlike a classic muscle car.

The Harley-Davidson V-Rod will be missed. It was the [Harley for the non-Harley rider](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/12489/analysts-are-wrong-about-why-millenials-arent-buying-harleys>) that stood out as proof that the brand was capable of doing something different. From my own experience, I’ve heard a handful of riders say something along the lines of “I don’t think I’d ever own a Harley...except maybe a V-Rod.”

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/brandt004>)