Harley Davidson’s Project Nova
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- Опубліковано 16 жов 2024
- A look at Harley Davidson’s first liquid cooled performance motorcycle, the Nova.
Email: csa1nt@outlook.com
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Very much appreciate this piece of Harley history. I had no idea about this project before watching your video. Excellent as always, thank you!
No problem 👍
These days, Hardley-Davidson Inc has so many engines and variants, there isn't a dealer mechanic alive that knows how many were conjured up since 1999. HD's BEST days were when they had TWO engines to choose from, and when they made 75,000-150,000 annually. F Jochen.
Very interesting absolutely had no idea of this bit of Harley history. And going with the Evo was the hands down right way to go.Looked like a nice evening for a rip.
It was an alright evening, but those are getting pretty few and far between now.
The ownership group who bought the Company back from AMF couldn’t afford the risk of the Nova project. They made the right decision to pursue the Evo concept. Does anyone know where those Nova prototypes are? And yes, the V-Rod didn’t thrive, but man I’d love to have one! Good history lesson, and thank you.
I think the motor company still has the prototypes. At least one is on display at the museum.
The V-Rod was not exicuted right. It was some mish mash hot rod/cruiser that didn't do either very well, but that engine pulls like a lococmotive.
That was new to me! I think they did the right thing. I bought one of those Honda 750-K's new in 1978. At the time it was a dream bike. Now days I avoid chain drives and spoke wheels.
If I was younger, I think I'd get me your Fat Boy. Still LOVE my Triumph Rocket III Touring, though!
I’ve always wanted to try one of those Rocket 3’s. Powerful bikes!
I would have liked to see the nova , seeing as i have a revmax Nightster
I like the Nightster. Cool little bike 👍
Thank goodness the project was abandoned. No other engine has the same sound as the long stroking push rod Harley engine.
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Never heard of the Harley v4. I know Harley charges a lot for service but with the giant dealer network and the amount they spend on R and D (for a flop sometimes) I don't know how they stay afloat.
They sell a lot of shirts 😀
Yup, I suppose I'm the one keeping them open.@@canadiansa1nt309
Should have produced the nova. Have a softail deuce and still have an iron head sportster I bought over 40 years ago. Think of companies like Honda, make mopeds to goldwings. As us older bikers fade away, so will a limited model line of bikes
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First and foremost, Thank God, Willie G and other executives bought back Harley-Davidson in 1981!! As for the Nova project..they made the right decision staying with the EVO. They still got some of the styling on that model on the FXRT. With it's ferrin and hard shell bags, and the FXR style bikes are very much sought after to this day. Great video and review as always. Ride safe bro 🤘🏻💯👊🏻
Thanks boss 👍
A Harley is a V2 air cooled motorcycle. Period!
Have to be a voice joining in with the Army of Conformity here: I would also support having the Evo-Blockhead engine as the surviving carryover from the Bad Old AMF days. The Nova, as much as it proved Harley-Davidson's engineers could be progressive-minded, strikes me as more of a concept-car (or bike, as the case may be) where bits and pieces of the advanced finished work get built into new editions.
Nothing wrong with that 👍
EVO saved the company. Given limited funding, it was the right choice.
Agreed 👍
That Nova did not need many accessories it was going to come with a lot on it. A single carb would have made adjustments easy on the bike. It was also the perfect ugliness for the early 80's. The Porsche engine also meant they were putting serious thought in the motorcycle development. I would ride around today on a bike that because it is so ugly it would be cool.
Perfect ugliness is a good way to put it.
It would have sold just fine had the tariffs worked out the way they did. Unfortunately they had to choose one and they took the sorely needed update to their air cooled engines. had the nova launched, they would have had a chance to capture that market. People liked to complain about AMF but they were doing the right thing by this point. They invested money into the air cooled motors and this new technologically advanced platform. They had dumped the Italian bikes that had no chance against the Japanese. They were also the ones in charge who commissioned the clothing lines that ended up being money makers. It's a shame this bike never got built but when you look at the history of the motor company had it came to market and done well could the buyout have succeeded? Would AMF have sold it for what they did? Would the tariffs have gone in effect? Then, how would it have fared in the late 80s/90s with the plastic wrapped bikes the competition put out? The Vrod was a fantastic bike but it was too traditional for the tech crowd and too strange for the traditional HD rider so personally, I think the nova bikes would have sold well in the mid 80s but I don't see where they would have continued to sell as tastes shifted.
It definitely would have been interesting to see how history played out if they launched the Nova.
That bike was just ugly ugliness don’t sell
Definitely not the prettiest.
i remember reading about these bikes back in the early 80's, if i remember right, in easyriders magazine. harley made the right choice going with the evo because the novas would have received the same lukewarm fan fair as the v-rod did when it came out. none of the other bikes harley came out with (other than the air cooled sporty models) ever became popular enough to achieve any lasting success. look at the lackluster reception of the new sportster models. the evo launched harley into the mainstream and created an era of success the motor company had never seen before. something else you might want to look into is it was rumored at the time that honda was also thinking about buying harley when amf was looking to sell. if true that would make interesting content.
Agreed 👍
Clearly aay 'lern/ learn LEARNT. sumpin'...