1983 kz1100 vs 03 vrod

Which is sad because it is one of the best designed bikes they have LOL- and the Buell was really starting to show promise. I am a fan of the XB12 Ulysses as well, it was really a good adventure bike.

Fun Bike to ride!! Comfortable riding position.
And reliable Too !! Just ditch the slant back headlite for a Headwinds bullet style and they even look good then.

Forget all the magazine hype about 1/4 mile times ,they were bs in the 70s and theyre still bs today.
Put a decent non pro rider on any bike and they aren't going to put down the times those magazines are showing 90% of the time,if I could pick the track/time of day and weather conditions I got to ride in I could post amazing numbers also. :woohoo:
Meanwhile back here in reality people on this site tend to ride kz's not v45s/v65s so it doesn't really matter how a v-4 Honda does against a v rod,it matters how a kz stacks up against a v rod.
A stock kz1000 with a header/carbs and good rubber will have its hands full with a v rod,Ive said it on here for years and have seen nothing to prove it wrong yet on our local track.

A V-rod is basically a 120hp motor in a 700lb plus bike. the bike is really at best, an 80s tech bike. I mean, for the money, you can find plenty of old 80s bikes that will eat it's lunch. You really have to go back to the 70s to find a bike that is actually slower in class.

So a brand new bike can barely beat a nearly 40 year old Japanese bike. At that point it is "oh, i am sooo impressed LOL".

I have ridden a few V-rods, and they are okay bikes. Not too bad riding position, and there was one that handled okay, forget the model, but it would actually do okay in the twisties. Maybe it was the Nightster? I forget- been about 5 years or so. Had raised footpegs and such. Had it in my shop for tire change. Me and the owner went riding, switched off bikes. I had a 1k Fazer then. ya- not close LOL

That is why my answer to the v-rod is "meh, okay". I am more peeved of how they did the buell in more than anything- just as things were getting interesting.

Most tests I've read had the Vrod at low to mid 11s in the quarter mile, and the V65 magna near the same, so either is a fast bike for sure. I guess it's true then that the Vrod is equal basically in performance to the fastest bikes in 1985. I don't like Harleys, but had a V45 Honda, and that thing they should have had a law suit and gave everyone their money back + $10,000 in punitive damages. Maybe and my gosh hopefully the V65 was better, or I'd have to side with the Harley as much as I despise them things.

Really? What was the prob with the honda? Mine has 200k miles on it and I rode it in winter in Alaska not to mention Iron Butt rides from Anchorage to Mexico City and back. My Z1 was a nice bike but took more maintenance than the honda- I atribute that to changes in Tech as well.

As far as the V-rod goes, it was more than a half a second slower in the 1/4, bike to bike,against the fast 80s bike. It wasn't even close. It has to go back to the 70s and before things really heated up in the early 80s. I believe the GPZ 1100 and 750 turbo beat it as well. The HP in the V-rod is not bad, but the weight is horrible. The XS 1100 would probably be pretty close- and that was a touring bike.

To get the V-rod into the 11s takes a near pro or experienced drag racer.

My V65 I was bumping on the high 10s low 11s with 3 years of drag racing it. I am not a small guy. the factory pro rider for Honda put the magna down to 10.83 and the Sabre is lighter and has more HP.

One of my good friends and a real motorcycle guru, and a national record holder used to ride his low 9second KZ to the track. It was a fun site to see- he flipped his wheelie bars and had his drag slick and tires tied to the wheelie bar and changed it up at the track, ran the bejesus out of everyone and tied his trophy to the wheelie bar and rode home.

BTW- this guy was a Kawi dealership owner, and has two survivor Z1s, including a documented 1972 Z1 in Showroom survivor condition. He also has a 73 he bought for his dad and a 74- both survivors with stock paint even, in like new condition. I posted a bunch of pics of that stuff some years ago here in fact LOL

I have nothing against H-D except for bang for the buck- if I find a cheap one, I pick them up and flip them like every other bike. But thier high cost actually makes them harder to flip in reality because there are less rich customers than semi-poor customers LOL

Two personal H-Ds I have owned that some thought to be "fast for a H-D" that I was not all that impressed with- one of them being a contemporary with the Z1 and some H-D lovers actually thought it was fast as a Z1 was my old 1977 Cafe Racer. I think it was an XLHCR ? number designator- would have to look it up to remember exactly. Had it from 1984-1986. The Z1 would absolutely walk away from it.

Upon further reflection- I have to say this

A V-rod is a power cruiser- something the Japanese bikes basically invented in the early 80s, and it's basic performance reflects that. However- it is slower than every power cruiser it was meant to immitate. That is not impressive.

Even further, it did re-stoke the power cruiser genre, and for that, we got bikes like the m-109 Suzuki, which absolutely spanks the V-rod in every category.

So basically, the V-rod is a kinda cool bike if you like HD, and for that, it is a marketing success.

RonKZ650 wrote: I flat hate Harleys or anything that even reminds me of one, but the Vrod is a high 11s/ low 12s quarter mile bike, which is pretty good for a Harley. The stock KZ1100 would run about the same when new and running 100% in tune, but the J engine was only good for 10,000 miles. A V65 Sabre or Magna would beat either if it was running right, but I would have even less confidence in that engine than the J after 10,000 miles.

Really, I have seen KZ1000 Police bikes go for tens of thousands of miles without issues. Those are J motor bikes. Where did you get the idea the J motor only lasts about 10,000 miles?

before I sold my 77 kz1000 I raced my friends vrod. (grant my bike was not stock still yet 30+ years old) I was more than they could deal with. but fast bikes no less. I have a roadking now. I am in the market for another kaw now. personally I look forward to the sound of a classic 4 again. I don't discriminate as long as you ride.

A J motor only lasting 10k miles? Who says THAT?

CruisingRam wrote: A J motor only lasting 10k miles? Who says THAT?

I, too, am curious about this! Ron, I think someone might have fed you some bullshit...

So did you run that v-rod yet ?
At the next all bike race Nov. 3rd I'll get one
to run me and see what happen's.

CruisingRam wrote: That is not a street legal bike either. I have a V65 Sabre which was a 10 second bike bone stock in 1985. Listed as the fastest bike in the world at the time. A busa and a ZX14 will hit those same times at half the price of the screamin Eagle. And you can ride it across the country at the same time. Harley doesn't make a bone stock 10 second factory street bike. the power cruisers- KL900 Kawi "Eliminator", V65 Magna, Suzuki Madura and Vmax make all the Vrod factory derivatives look laughably slow at a fraction of the cost, and more reliability.

Vtwin air cooled pushrod bikes had their heyday, and the CB750 ended that run forever, the idea that a H-D was "fast" for anything other than being a Harley.

I don't have a problem with H-D other than I believe them to be horribly over-priced. I was especially disappointed when the let go of Buell, just as it was headed in the right direction with the 1125.

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Looks like it ran in the high 11's.....you can make the call on what it ran.

www.dragtimes.com/Honda-Sabre-Timeslip-21237.html

dragtimes.com/video-viewer.php?v=nZa4nApSxT8&feature