2016 Harley-Davidson® Night Rod® Special

The dark horse always has the most mystique.

If you think all the blacked-out metal looks sinister, you’ve got the right idea. The Night Rod® Special motorcycle is pure aggression from fast back tail section to streamlined front end, built around a liquid-cooled 60° V-twin engine stuffed full of racing-derived serious business like dual overhead cams, 4-valve heads and velocity stacks feeding its double barrel exhaust. In other words, things happen when you twist the throttle. Better if it all happens under the cover of darkness.

Take a good, long look at a V-Rod motorcycle. Massive rear tire. Low, aggressive profile. Dragstrip-inspired handlebar. If you have a hard time figuring out where the performance leaves off and pure style begins, you’ve got the right idea. The V-Rod family was our first line of liquid-cooled motorcycles, and when we experienced the explosive power of the Revolution engine we knew we had something very good on our hands. So we went deep into our racing heritage for the fire-breathing looks. The big 240mm rear tire enhances the dragster styling. It’s also the only way you’re going to harness all the off-the-line power. The pipes are a big part of the performance equation. They’re also proof that a performance exhaust doesn’t need to look like it’s welded out of coffee cans. Notice how even the radiator is styled to become part of the design instead of an interruption to the flow of the eye. Speed bumps, even of the visual variety, are not allowed.

Like everything on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, there’s a story behind the 1250cc Revolution engine powering the bikes in our V-Rod series. This one starts on the racetrack, with the company’s VR1000 superbike engine. Watching it roar around the track got the gears turning on a way to bring the same sort of high-end performance to the street. So the story takes us to Germany, and a unique collaboration with legendary automaker Porsche and their world-renowned team of engineers. The final result? Dual overhead cams. Four-valve heads. Liquid cooling. A velvety smooth delivery of power all the way up to redline. In short, the industry’s most perfect blend of torque and horsepower in a revolutionary high-revving V-Twin design. There couldn’t be anything more uniquely Harley-Davidson than that.

A machine like a V-Rod motorcycle doesn’t happen without putting massive amounts of technology into the effort. As you might guess, we do it our own way. The Revolution engine itself is not only a marvel of modern engineering and metallurgy, but of grueling performance tests. That’s how it delivers the ironclad durability and low-maintenance worthy of a Harley-Davidson V-Twin. The performance Brembo brakes also include an Anti-Locking (ABS) system. But we stylized the sensor, so you see the clean lines of the bike. With all that comes with a V-Rod motorcycle, you may want to take technology even further and add the optional H-D Smart Security System. Stick the fob on your ignition key ring and it arms and disarms the electronic security system automatically. One more example of the attention to detail that makes Harley-Davidson® motorcycles unique.