Cycle News

2006 Harley-Davidson VRXSE Screamin' Eagle V-Rod Destroyer (Above) With riding cooch Gene Thomason looking on, eN managing editor Sea" Rouueau heats up the Destroyer's 7 -inch rear slick. Shortly thereafter, panic storts to set in. (Left) The eight in the nines: Thanks to Dr. David Asher (seated) our Destroyer press launch was not destroyed. Asher saved the day by showing up to perform NHRAmandated physicals for the seven of us who didn't already have an NHRA Pro license. pass would be a simple traffic-light launch from idle to feel the power of the Destroyer as we took it through the gears and got familiar with where the controls were located and how they worked. You can imagine my surprise when even this easy launch netted a time slip of I 1.94 at 110 mph. The next one would be for real. Under the watchful eye of Thomason. I was directed out of the water for the burnout on my second run aboard the Destroyer. This time there was no granny clutching involved. The Destroyer uses a two-step rev-limiter. which Thomason and the Harley support crew had set for 8000 rpm. The shift light was set for 10.000 rpm. Thus. when the staged beam came on. I hung the throttle wide open in anticipation of the flash from the three amber lights on the Christmas tree. No need to worry about throttle control as the rev limiter strangles the Destroyer, which emits a sound akin to a drowning cow. until the clutch is dumped. And it was the dumping of said clutch. the release of that 165 horsepower to the rear wheel that left all of us. myself included. with just a bit of anxiety. Held in. that clutch lever was the only barrier between the human instinct for self-preservation and the unleashed mechanical fury for which the Destroyer was designed. That said. and attempting to recall all of Thomason's instructions in a split second while on the rev-limiter. I muffed the start. I tried to snap the lever free while leaVing just one finger on it. but that finger hung it up just enough at the end of the throw that 24 bike lurched then slipped. then lurched again. pinning me to the seat. In a panic. I managed to short-shift and stay in the meat of the torque. Then it was just a matter of shifting whenever the red shift light came on. In far less than the time it takes to tell. the run was over. The verdict? How about a 10.18 at 134.97 mph? Not bad. but knowing how critical the first 60 feet is dUring a run, I knew I could do better. Cycle World editor Mark Hoyer proved it by running a time in the mid-9.90s on his first pass. making him the first of our group to break into the nines. In that first go around, nobody else did. In the second go around. I became the second journalist to break the nines barrier. You can go back to the beginning and read the lead paragraph of this story to learn how that occurred. but the rest of it is that after that first 60 feet. after the Destroyer rocked back off the wheelie bar and the front tire returned to earth. I made a pretty good pass. lowering the time set by Mark even further, by posting a 9.87 at 134.90 mph. Upon returning to the pits. Harley PR man Paul James was the first to congratulate me. but it wasn't exactly the kind of kudos I was looking for. "I've got good news and bad news." James said. "The good news is you're the fastest guy yet. The bad news is you can't ride anymore." "Come again?" "You can't ride the Destroyer anymore." James said. "In order to run in the nines at an NHRA track, you have to have a Pro license." "What did you do yesterday when the DECEMBER lA, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS Euros broke into the nines?" I asked. "None of them broke into the nines." "Well." I responded, "I think we just proved that I don't need a Pro license to run in the nines, didn't we?" James was not amused. The fact was that his entire press launch was going into the can with each run down the track. Pretty soon another guy got in the nines. then another. and before the day was half over. seven us were barred from riding the Destroyer, and without meeting the NHRA requirements for a Pro license. which includes haVing a complete physical examination. we were done. Typical Harley - fall in a pile of crap and come out smelling like a rose - James somehow managed to find a Harley-riding doctor to bail us out. Dr. David Asher of Asher Family Medical in Anaheim. California, who agreed to drive out to Fontana and administer the NHRA-mandated phYSicals - complete with piss test on all seven of us. Harley had saved the day. and we were back in business. On my third pass, I actually got the chance to think more about what was happening on the Destroyer. As I said before. that first 60 feet is critical. and there is no making up for the lost time of a botched start. After the first 60 feet, however. the sensation from run to run was pretty much the same. Despite not haVing any more wheelbase than a stock V-Rod. the Destroyer is extremely stable. You don't really steer the bike as much as you gUide it, using minimal bar pressure and subtle body English. You don't even really worry about where your feet are, so long as you're not dragging them on the pavement for the full I320 feet. The Destroyer just churns out sheer acceleration, with a flat torque curve all the way to the rev-limiter in each gear. It's heck of a good time. At the end of the run, turning off the drag strip is accomplished more in the fashion as that of riding an ATV or snowmobile, you keep the bike upright and lean to the inside to get it to arc around a bend. And that's that. Well. not all that. There's the part about the Destroyer costing $31,295 and being a limited production model. But there is good news on both fronts. First. that 30 grand may sound like a lot for such a limited use bike, but if you're a drag-racing fan, good luck trying to build any V-twin with the same capability for less money - here's a hint. you can't. Second. there are already plans to have more Destroyers than Harley first anticipated, meaning that if you are interested in owning one. you just might get your chance. Harley had originally planned to have 150 Destroyers produced. but demand at its dealer meeting was so overvvhelming that it is now likely that closer to 600 will be produced. Better yet. the AHDRA has already devised a spec Pro class for the for the Destroyer, meaning that if you want to race yours heads up with fellow owners. there's a place to do that. But for those who don't want to race. who still pack the cho-ching for a Destroyer and who are interested in buying one. go for it. If drag racing is your thing. then the Harley-Davidson VRXSE Screamin' Eagle V-Rod Destroyer is nothing less than the eqUivalent to a Ducati 999R for the quarter mile. Think about that, for nine seconds or so, anywa~ CIt SPECIFICATIONS 2006 Harley-Davidson VRXSE Screamin' Eagle LIST PRICE $31.295 DISPLACEMENT 1300cc ENGINE TYPE Liquid-cooled V-twin four-stroke 105 x 75mm BORE x STROKE 14.0:1 COMPRESSION RATIO CARBURETION EFI wI 58mm throttle bodies IGNITION Eleetronic race ECM TRANSMISSION Five-speed STARTING SYSTEM Electric 3.7 gal. FUEL CAPACITY WHEELBASE 66.9 in. RAKEITRAIL 34'/88.9mm SEAT HEIGHT 25.5 in. FRONT TIRE 23.5 x 4.5 x 18 REAR TIRE 25.0x7.0x 18 FRONT-WHEEL TRAVEL .4.0 in. REAR-WHEEL TRAVEL N/A. fIXed strut FRONT BRAKE DuaJ 292mm REAR BRAKE 292mm FINAL DRIVE Chain CLAIMED DRY WEIGHT 510 Ibs. COLORS Eleetric Orange and Black

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