Harley-Davidson VR1000 Roadster Street Superhog

‘While I am trying to make Bike SA more relevant to the South African motorcycling scene, some stories that don’t necessarily adhere to those aims are too good to not be told. This is one of those stories, made all the better for being a small but significant and completely out-of-character blip on the normally staid and traditional Harley Davidson company. Ed.'

- Alan Cathcart

Exactly 25 years ago in 1995, Harley-Davidson's production of the motorcycles that made Milwaukee famous broke the 100,000 annual barriers for the first time. Moreover, the new-for-‘95 30th Anniversary Electra Glide® became the first volume production Harley-Davidson model to feature electronic fuel injection. But one year earlier, besides the Sportsters and Fat Boys, America's Finest had briefly added a new radically different customer street bike in its catalog which also featured EFI: the VR1000 Superbike.

For the first time ever, you could buy a V-twin Harley road bike that was a) liquid-cooled, b) had anything other than a 45º angle between the cylinders, c) used some means other than pushrods to work the valves, d) featured EFI and e) could break the USA’s 55mph speed limit then in force (until December 1995) in second gear. The fastest street-legal production motorcycle ever made in America could have been yours for ‘just’ $49,490 plus state and local taxes, a huge sum back then - in exchange for which you had to promise you'd never ride it on the streets of America. Germany was OK, though - because that's where the street version of the bike that brought Harley-Davidson back to road racing in 1994 was homologated for everyday use. AMA Superbike rules didn't say where a bike had to be approved for street use for it to qualify for homologation, only that it must be so somewhere in the world. Build at least 50 bikes with lights and a number plate - then go racing.