Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128335
rag racing is a piece of cake, right? Line up, get ready and dump the clu tch? I mean how hard can it be to basically leave a stoplight as fast as possible?Well, like any fo rm of racing, or sport fo r that matter, the peo ple who are really good at it make it loo k really easy, and t hat 's wha t sucks everyo ne else into thinking it's not that hard . The funny thing about drag racing, especially for the novice, is t hat the harder you t ry, the mor e mistakes you end up making and the slower you go. It's rea lly frustrating, which is why at the launch of Harley-Davidson's new line of eva (Custom Vehicle Op erations) customs at Irwindale Spee dway, I recorded the quickest ET of the day within the first five passes I made on the Screami n' Eagle VRod. It then took me the better part of two hours to get my times close to that level again. I was completely obsessed and determined to find my groove again. The fun part however, was making over 40 passes on three different H-D CVO models - all of w hich shred asphalt with a vengeance while trying to do so. Harley-Davidson's eva line of limiteded ition, high performance motorcycles has been around since 1999, and the concept has proved to be extremely popu lar. For 200S Harley-Davidson offers three CVO models, including the Screamin' Eagle Electra Glide, the Scream in' Eagle V-Rod and the Scream in' Eagle Fat Boy. Perfo rmance modified bikes can be a love/hate relationshi p. We all secretly wan t our mo to rcycles to pack more punch than the bikes that roll off of the showroom floor, but reliability always seems to be th e deciding factor between an intelligentl y modified machine and one that is dest ined to give you probl ems . That is w hy these Harley- D Davidso ns are so impressive. They are factory-built customs tha t not only prov ide impressive levels of performance, but their reliability is easily on par with t hat of their stock siblings. The price of admission to a eva bike isn't cheap, but when you take into accou nt the list of modifications and the level of perfo rmance , all backe d by a factory warranty, it's really a good value . More impress ive to me was how the H·D staff on hand at the dr ag strip e ncouraged me to co mplete ly t hras h on thei r bikes. I'm talking seri ous The Scream in ' Ea g le Electra Glide. burno uts , clutch-torturing launches an d so me not-sa-smooth trips through the gear boxes. The end result was not only impressive performance, but perfect reliability - the bikes were bulletpr oo f. 1 made around 40 passes dow n the strip myself, but there were about eight other jo urnalists all doing the same th ing on t he same group of bikes . And we de parte d for our st ree t ride after the dragstrip portion of the intro ductio n without do ing anything to the bikes. Harley-Davidson obviously has a lot of confiden ce in its eva prod ucts. SCREA M I N ' EAGLE V - R OD increase in power over the stock motor. The H-D V-Rod is already a potent performer in stock form, but that also makes it the perfect platform fo r performance rnodifications. What makes the 60 -degree liquid. co o l e d Revoluti on motor such a great basis for modification is its race- derived heritage . The eva V-Rod is fast. I don't mean www.cydenews.co m "for a Harley" fast, I mean it is legitimately fast. At Irwindale's eighth-mile track I was able to break the lights at the finish with a 93.49 mph trap speed, not bad for a cruiser running stock tire pressures. The first order of business tha t eva tackles mod ifying the V-Rod is increasing the bore from 100 to IOSmm, increasing displacement fro m 1130 to 12SO<<. The 60degree V- win receives new pistons and T cylinders while t he cylinder heads are CNC· ported for increase d intake and exhaust flow, in addition to optimizing the cam timing. This all res ults in a claimed 10-percent The bike still reta ins the stoc k exhaust pipes as we ll as the stock airbox, so those of you who like to fiddle can easily extract even more power from the eva V-Rod, proba bly in the neighborhood of another 10 horsepower. A heavy-duty clutch is added to deal with the additional power. There is o ne thing that the Screamin' EagleV-Rod won 't be accused of, and that's being a sleeper, The bike not only performs, but it screams for attenti on with its paint, styling and accessories. Th ree colors in the same custom scheme are available: Candy Blue and Dark Candy Blue , two -tone Candy Cherry, Electric O range and black, and all come with a color-matched powdercoated CYCLE NEWS • AUGUST 4,2004 47