Photo: Bad Land
Back in 2015, when the bike sitting before us was originally made, Harley-Davidson was just a couple of years away from deciding on the discontinuation of its line of muscle motorcycles.
Known the world over as the VRSC, or V-Rod, these machines were introduced in the early 2000s as a means to prove a point and beat Japanese bike makers at their own game. And proved they did, as for the next 16 years or so, V-Rods began to dominate the lives of riders all over the world.
But, like with all things in life, it didn't last, and the family started to sink, prompting the American bike maker to pull the plug in 2017. But even if it did that, V-Rods are still around, in very large numbers, although extremely different than how Harley originally envisioned them.
It's the custom bike industry we have to think for this, as it quickly adopted V-Rods and apparently never let them go. Granted, many of these builds no longer look like something that can easily be recognized as a V-Rod, but the spirit and heart of the American machine are always to be found in there.
Just take a look at this bike here, once a 2015 V-Rod and now something that's called Musashi Transformer thanks to a crew called Bad Land. We're not entirely sure what hides behind the name (Musashi can mean anything from the name of a Japanese province to the name of a person), but we can guess why the "transformer" word is used: the bike looks nothing like it used to.
And that's a bit deceiving, as the most important of its elements are still there: the frame, although modified a bit, is original, and so is the bike's Harley engine, tampered with solely with the addition of a custom exhaust and air filter.
The bike is however dressed entirely differently than before, and by that I don't mean only the black overalls it now dons. The wheels are now different than stock (Bad Land elements sized 21 inches at the front and 18 inches at the rear) and wrapped in Avon Cobra tires, the fenders under which they sit are aftermarket as well, and so is the fuel tank sitting on top of the frame.
Bad Land made and installed not only that, but the girder fork at the front and the swingarm at the opposite end as well, needed to support a 300 mm wide wheel. It fitted Brembo braking hardware, a new headlight, fresh handlebars and grips, and even a new radiator cover.
What came out at the end of all this work is a V-Rod that looks nothing like it used to, a Cool-Rod for the modern rider who still remembers the thrills of riding an American muscle bike back in the day.
But, like with all things in life, it didn't last, and the family started to sink, prompting the American bike maker to pull the plug in 2017. But even if it did that, V-Rods are still around, in very large numbers, although extremely different than how Harley originally envisioned them.
It's the custom bike industry we have to think for this, as it quickly adopted V-Rods and apparently never let them go. Granted, many of these builds no longer look like something that can easily be recognized as a V-Rod, but the spirit and heart of the American machine are always to be found in there.
Just take a look at this bike here, once a 2015 V-Rod and now something that's called Musashi Transformer thanks to a crew called Bad Land. We're not entirely sure what hides behind the name (Musashi can mean anything from the name of a Japanese province to the name of a person), but we can guess why the "transformer" word is used: the bike looks nothing like it used to.
And that's a bit deceiving, as the most important of its elements are still there: the frame, although modified a bit, is original, and so is the bike's Harley engine, tampered with solely with the addition of a custom exhaust and air filter.
The bike is however dressed entirely differently than before, and by that I don't mean only the black overalls it now dons. The wheels are now different than stock (Bad Land elements sized 21 inches at the front and 18 inches at the rear) and wrapped in Avon Cobra tires, the fenders under which they sit are aftermarket as well, and so is the fuel tank sitting on top of the frame.
Bad Land made and installed not only that, but the girder fork at the front and the swingarm at the opposite end as well, needed to support a 300 mm wide wheel. It fitted Brembo braking hardware, a new headlight, fresh handlebars and grips, and even a new radiator cover.
What came out at the end of all this work is a V-Rod that looks nothing like it used to, a Cool-Rod for the modern rider who still remembers the thrills of riding an American muscle bike back in the day.
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