10 Of the Best V Twin Motorcycles 

Oh the engine has hardly changed at all, power is a couple of horses more and it’s had mods to meet emissions but apart from that it’s the same trusty motor. There’s a good reason it’s been around a long time

That’s carbs for you

Nice 👍🏻

@@bikerdood1100I agree an amazing motorcycle!

Interesting 🤔

And that’s why I put them in there

Well you would think so, but you never know

True but had to keep it down to 10 so sacrifices had to be made. Maybe I’ll make part two

Sportster is a very underrated bike. But amazingly mostly by Harley owners

@@bikerdood1100 Having ridden mostly Japs ,and the odd Brit ,I was apprehensive about moving to Harleys,but the Roadster 1200 Sportster proved to be the perfect crossover.Perhaps it was just the case of just slowing down ,and actually seeing the countryside ,instead of who was the fastest to the next place.See you in the Biker's retirement home ,eventually.

I genuinely think the sportster is the best of Harley Davidson But their is this bizarre snobbery from owners of the bigger bikes . My wife ran a sportster for a few years but when we rode into Europe we found the tank range to be too small. She replaced it with a Guzzi V7, lighter, easier to handle and twice the tank range. It was no brainier in the end

@@bikerdood1100 Judging by the number of Evo Sportsters sold, their production longevity and the availability of aftermarket parts available I would have to disagree with you, they are a good bike for what they are designed to do, short blasts. Long distance touring bikes they are not and never have been.

The later Evolution 80 big twins from the 1990’s are even more reliable than the Evo Sportster from my experience. I’ve put over 200,000 miles on my 1996 Fat Boy and it just had to be towed once for an electrical problem. It has been extremely reliable and I never had to rebuild the engine up until now. I also have a 1997 Sportster 1200 Sport and it is also reliable, but I have put only 50,000 miles on it and had much more issues with it than I had on the Fat Boy.

Perhaps so but not a name known too well in Europe to be honest, rather like Yale or Flying Merkel they are virtually unknown this side of the pond

Definitely America's best motorcycle.

​@@bikerdood1100 Isn't it enough motive to enlight the Europeans and non Europeans viewers of your channel? Don't get me wrong, I don't intend to criticize you, just to provoke some reflection that could make your contents even better. Best regards from Brazil. ✌

@@felipedourado5721 well there’s nothing wrong with genuine constructive criticism and thoughts

I agree Crocker was the greatest, fastest, best looking . Harley had to get rid of them made sure they could not get any wheels for their bikes.

It will go down as a classic I think

We try

Glad you enjoyed it

Nota uk bike so not at all familiar with it. Can only fit so many in or the run time gets a bit crazy Maybe I’ll do a part two if it’s popular

Lots of love for V twins of all shapes and sizes in the comments

They can indeed Expensive when new but the market has changed leaving a Jap bike just as expensive today if not more so

So I hear

True I just had to make cuts to keep the list down, sometimes the hard part is deciding what to drop

I’m very glad you enjoyed it

Often a V twin is fairly straightforward in terms of servicing

Wow Comment went a bit dark at the end there

@@bikerdood1100 That's because I have both feet in the real world. Exotic machinery has to be kept secure!

@@buckwheatINtheCity ok ? But they are made to be ridden one should remember, they aren’t art installations or investments they were built to move and enjoyed. Modern bikes are more likely the victims of theft because they are easier to move on. I always store my bikes as securely as I can, we have had a bike stolen in the past but our focus is on riding and enjoying them not hiding them away The Morini incidentally is one of the least expensive bikes in the video, by a Very wide margin

Very Very rare sight in the UK but lovely little bike

@@bikerdood1100 It's rare, even here in Germany. About 5,000 were built. I found figures from 2009: At that time, only 435 Bergmeisters were still registered worldwide, and only 30% of them outside of Germany.

@@Volker_GR shame Would love to ride one some day. As a Guzzi rider I’d love to compare

Very striking looking bike I like the nacked model in particular But yes quite rare

Well they are are very rare now particularly here in the UK . I don’t think I have ever actually seen one outside of a magazine article.

Saw one in a local dealer a couple of months ago, very nice

They are awesome bikes never rode an SP1 but I own the firestorm

Well only so much room of course. I couldn’t really include the Britten because it was nether a production bike. I believe it was planned but John Brittens death brought that plan to an end

@@bikerdood1100 The Britten was never destined for mass production, strictly a race bike.

Well BSA and Triumph won the AMA championship too Pity about the whole bankruptcy business really

They did, Romero won on a Triumph and Mann won on a BSA. And Roberts on the Yamaha topped by his legendary win at Springfield in 1975 on the TZ-750 4 Cylinder 2 Stroke Road Race engine. But once the XR-750s got rolling, they rolled..

Well big lazy engines last

Considered the WLA But thought I’d save it for a video on military bikes

@@bikerdood1100 That's a great idea for a video. Look forward to it.

The Bros was a grey import only to the Uk Nice bit of kit, Honda never really developed the concept because Suzuki had a lot of success with the SV a true modern classic

@@bikerdood1100 I bought it when I lived in Japan for three years which is a bit of a bikers paradise. So many bikes and so many bikes we don’t see here.

That’s a sporty beast

Strange I had one for 11 years and had literally non of the problems listed We even have an 81 v35 now And it’s still going strong

Shame GT is a rare beast , hope you weren’t injured

I have the big Breva and my. Wife the V7. Not sure which one I like the best

@@bikerdood1100 I believe the Breva is based off the same motor as the Griso if I remember correctly. For me I just love the exciting massive torque of the big twins pulling my arms off. I went from a SV1000 to a Transalp 650 to a VFR800 before getting to this Griso, the 1000 was unreliable so I had to sell it, the Transalp was horribly underpowered with a 650 v-twin, and although the VFR had much better power with the V4 I found the feeling of it underwhelming with the mediocre torque/acceleration and less vibration with 4 cylinders. Now I have the power of the VFR but 35% more torque, and all the right shudders and shakes.

He is a loon of course But it’s a good point about the little SV though

Real ground breaker I often wonder how Suzuki came up with the idea to build a Vtwin For them it was very left field

That’s nice

@@bikerdood1100 I hope you're not quoting Mrs.Brown.

RS 250 What a beautiful little bike that was

I’m planning a separate one for two strokes. Takes long enough to make these things, could have made it 20 V twins but I’d have gone insane before I finished 😂

No I wanted one from each company. Released 2 videos featuring the CX already and I intend to put it in a video about commuting bikes. Couldn’t ignore the VTR to be honest

Suzuki seem to understand frame and suspension some time before the rest Then they built the original GSXR 1100 and forgot them all 😂

We still have one in regular use too As. Seen in the video

I have an SV 650 2018 model. Incredible machine. I make 3,5 liters per 100 Km. Smooth engine and plenty of torque. The market is full of inlines two but L twins or V twins make a big difference.

@@josevi5835 it seems like Suzuki are dropping the SV in favour of their new parallel twin How boring of them

@@bikerdood1100 bad move from Suzuki, distinction is an important feature nowadays.

It’s a nice motor, I only wanted one bike per company and well the VTR had to go in, hence no CX either

@@bikerdood1100 You very much picked the wrong one; how many ride a honda 52 V2...ride safe.

@@potskifilms definitely didn’t Every video needs a bit of sporty glam. Had it been another Honda I’d have gone CX in all honesty

@@bikerdood1100 Totally bizzare choices. Doubt you have any long term experience of many of them, clearly none of the Honda 52 V twin. Ride safe.

I agree but I put the Pantah in a video on most important bikes for that very reason

Yes it was sold in some territories as the Bros, there was also a 400 version. Meet styling and a good example of less is more, which is something most journalists don’t believe of course

Hindsight is a wonderful thing as I tell my son you can’t keep every bike after all

Does are Buell count ? They may b3 a bit too exciting to qualify

@@bikerdood1100 The Buell was just a Sportster but in a frame that actually handled. Performance wise it was a disappointment. If you wanted a sport touring bike it was fantastic. It was as comfortable as my old BMW R90/6 that was dressed like an R90S. Heavy. Really heavy though. I worked for a Harley dealer and no, a Buell doesn't count as a Harley

@@JR-bj3uf Buell was owned by HD I quite like the quirky styling

@@bikerdood1100 They were owned by HD. They used their engines but the Harley faithful rejected the idea of anything that wasn't "feet forward, easy rider" type bike. I actually loved the bike except for the weight and for the use of plastic on items like the oil tank. It was going to break at some point. Plastic doesn't last forever.

@@JR-bj3uf I had a couple of Buells during my time with Harleys - first a '97 'razorback' M2 and then an '03 XB9R. I think Harley were very keen to use the Buell range to tap into the sportbike market, but most of the Buell models suffered from lack of development/debugging and an obsession with weight reduction to the detriment of overall reliability. The costs of main dealer servicing costs were also atrocious, even relative to Harley. All things considered, my favourite Buell model was the X1.

In the Uk it does

@@bikerdood1100 I think you mean ABS

I tend to agree even though mine is a big block

@@bikerdood1100 - the power may be down on the small blocks, but so is the weight. That gives them a good power to weight ratio. They are more flickable handling-wise, too. Weak points are the 2-part friction welded valves in the Heron heads. They stretch, closing up the tappet gap and eventually burning a valve out….which often then drops the head off which wrecks the combustion chamber / piston crown. As I found out. Increasing the hole in the oil feed dowel to 2-3mm diameter improves the oil flow and cooling to the top end.

@@timhicks2154 it’s always worth keeping a close eye on valve clearances Bigger problem on the 4 valve motors that’s for sure

@@bikerdood1100 - yes. I set them a bit loose. Then I can hear if they nip up & go quiet. The 4-Valvers used the same 2-part valves and the valve springs were way too strong. Pulled the heads off even quicker!

That’s the claim by Indian but it’s not true of course I’ve got an image of a Guzzi style V-twin from 1902 and their are likely earlier machines still in Europe. Motorcycles were very much a European thing that made its way to the States Reached England in the 1890s when British bicycle makers started to fit European engines to their frames. As for the first British V-twin I don’t know but Norton won the inaugural 1907 TTs twin cylinder class with a V-Twin engine supplied by Peugeot

Basically a cruiser in a set of Euro cloths Good solid, practical bike Perhaps not the most exciting for what it’s worth Nearly brought o a few years ago as a general run about Love anything with shaft drive

Slightly unusual choices, remember the Yamaha well friend of mine had one they were very popular bikes with customisers for a while

Even later to the party... The Yamaha 750 Virago SE 1981 was a game changer. Styled as a soft chopper, it was a remarkable ride already in original fit. Monocoque steel frame , beautifully engineered -750cc-, 75 deg. V-Twin - SOHC, twin Keihin carbed with 65 Nm @ 5700rpm, super narrow engine with a deep crank, 16" 130/90 fat rear tire, connected through a cardan drive you could shift (up or down) not using the clutch. Lower the fork 1.5", replace the 16 liter tank for a 24 liter Laverda- on the cheap, ditch the soft chopper seat for a seventies Italian Mono Seat , open up the Air intake, rebore - up compression to 9.5 :1 and port the heads, straight through dual exhaust and re - jet the carbs... She was such an agile, curve devouring joy to ride. Crashed her on a holiday with 65K km on a single track road near Kinlochbervie North-West Cape of Scotland, after a whiskey drenched night with some local fishermen... The TR1, 930cc, chain driven version that I hoped to replaced her with, lacked so much of that spirited handling, I sold it within months...

@@keesvandermeulen2396 but why the 750 ? Wasn’t just another metric cruiser to use the American phrase. Why not go bigger or better yet smaller with the 535 a tough little bike and probably Yams biggest seller amongst their cruisers

@@bikerdood1100 I own the predecessor of the 535, the XV 500 K, build in 1983. Marvelous little bike, more power than the 535, and revs up to 8500 rpm. Super smooth engine, virtually no vibrations. I get about 23 kms to the litre in the mountains of Portugal. Very nimble with its short wheelbase of only 141 cms. I don't understand why this bike doesn't have a massive cult following.

I suppose to be fair to the panhead it’s much older The Japanese generally know how to put a good bike together though With the occasional slip of course

Already got a video of its own

@@bikerdood1100 ahh I'll check it out thanks 👍

Not too many V twins in the list there Few exotic machines though

@@bikerdood1100 Anything in a V or a twin does it for me. All those bikes I have owned. I still have my BMW R65 as well. A good old air head

This is why I don’t drink

Should have written VTR1000, sorry!

Oh sports bikes. If you not used to tunes V twins there’s one hell of an adjustment

@@bikerdood1100 At the same time he owned a V&M Blackbird, then a tuned GSXR1000K5, before buying trashed recent Ducati V twins and restoring them.

@@davidmaclean2239 kinda like your bikes fast and furious

Already has its own video

Parallel twin Great bike incidentally Layout only not firing order

Nice mix of choices there

VTX 1800 HONDA 😎

Ok 👍🏻

That is very true both in good and occasionally bad terms Mostly good

@@bikerdood1100 only bad when it's a classic Ducati. A love hate relationship with my 888 🤣

@@ianlaker6980 we have all had those relationships And some ladies are very high maintenance, essentially the Latin ones 😂😂

Got to pair the thing down a bit Maybe do a part 2 if it proves popular

Only room for so many

Nope Left it out Nor necessary the same 😂

Yes and ?

@@bikerdood1100 knucklehead & the one I had,a shovel.

Pretty well known hence why it’s also in my scariest road bike video also

Nice A Very beautiful one too

A good bike for another time perhaps. Not as crazy as the TL thankfully

?

@@bikerdood1100 Showing my age, Suzuki RGV 250, the last one with the 70 degree v-twin strangled for Japan but unrestricted was a great little bike! Emphasis on little…

@@killcondo oh now those I remember Absolute tiny weapon. I always say that 250 is the perfect size for a stroker, much beyond that and all the engines short comings become an issue

True, well apart from the odd cam chain

And your point is ? A bikes a bike, why place it a box. Cruiser , sportster whatever Only 108hp 😂😂

@@bikerdood1100 VN 2000 (a comparison) a bike i ride daily bikerdood

I’ve done two videos already on the CX I’m very fond of them 🙄 FYI I intentionally used one bike from one manufacturer on that particular video and felt I needed to switch it up after already featuring the CX twice While the CX was fitted with a Turbo on both the 650 and the 500 I’m pretty sure they didn’t fit a auto box in there. Honda had pretty much abandoned the Hondamatic gearbox by then It was fitted to the 400 dream but I don’t believe anything shaft driven. I don’t have a contempt for HD, we owned for about 5 years. I just won’t super coat thing. Not my style at all. I was quite nice about the knuckle head. It’s not my fault that modern manufacturers, not just Harley incidentally are obsessed with the idea that bigger is better. There’s a point we’re bigger is just bigger.

@@bikerdood1100 I respectfully suggest that you look beyond the shores of the small island that you occupy and then you might start to appreciate what bikes like HD and Indian are all about. I am from New Zealand and HD are the best selling 750+cc bike here, I have also traveled extensively in the US and believe me, a HD Road King is a very nice way to travel and see the country. I traveled nearly 5000 miles, often at 90+ MPH for hours at a time, and never missed a beat or felt stressed.

@@onecookieboy When touring with high daily mileages in mind, I think the Harley Big Twins are far better than a Sportster, especially if you are going to carry a passenger or even just a ton of camping gear. In turn, I owned first a 1990 883 Sportster, then a 1987 FXRS-SP and finally a 1990 FXRT. I later replaced both my FXRT and my Buell XB9R with a BMW R1150RT. That gave me the comfort and capacity of the Harley with at least as much usable performance as the Buell.

@@derekp2674 Exactly, Sportsters are exactly that, sort of sports bikes, not for touring or long distance, just look at the size of the fuel tank.

@@onecookieboy Indeed. Big Twins tend to have larger tanks and, also, fuel gauges too. When running tour groups across Europe I got the learn the point on my fuel gauge where the Sportsters in the group would start going onto reserve and then we could arrange to all refuel before anyone ran out. But some Big Twins would only need to fill up every other fuel stop. Many Evo Sportsters came with those silly little peanut tanks but either these were phased out on UK bikes or most folk wanting to tour on Sportsters would fit larger tanks, so we were seldom troubled by those.

I have two, one shorter one longer. Use the longer one occasionally because some people liked it , everyone is different

I’m putting the Pantah in my next video. The Guzzi has better mid range torque than the Morini particularly at 500 where the Morini never worked so well . Production quality issues manly effected very early models in reality. I ran a V50 for 11years and had very few problems even though it was over a decade old when I got it. I rode it all weathers incidentally Early models were built at the innocenti factory but production was moved in house later. We have own a few large block Guzzi’s to incidentally and they are very different than the small blocks. Is more powerful better I’m not so sure. We currently run 2 small blocks and one large block. The bigger bike is better for passengers but that’s about it really and it’s very thirsty by comparison. I have ran Guzzi’s for more than 30 years so I would know really

@@bikerdood1100 I own a V50 III, Ambassadors (3), Eldorados (2), and Converts (1.5). I also have a 500SL Pantah and '77 Morini 3 1/2 Strada. Have owned dozens of Guzzis in the last 40 years, and three other Morinis (2 350 K2s and a 500 Strada). I work on classic European bikes for a living - including scores of big-blocks and at least a dozen small-blocks. Any of the 350 Morinis would keep pace with a V50 II, and be "nipping at the heals" of the V50 III. A V50 II is gutless until revved, mid-range power is lacking. The V50 III is much improved - nice mid-range and pulls well in upper rpms. Small-blocks have valve issues, the transmission breather is a poor design and pukes oil out, ignitions (point and Bosch e.i.) are not great, starter relay needs to be rewired, coil power runs through the kill switch and a lot more things that Guzzi could have done better. My V50 III averages 50 mpg (US gallons), all of the big-blocks (except the "automatic" Converts) will do the same. Meanwhile, a Morini 350 will return mpg in the mid 70s. Just my experience.

@@Amboman4 I have to say I have never got more than 45 mpg (uk) out of a big block including fuel injection models. We average 55mpg from our V7 on the commute, but around 60 when touring. Sometimes a little better. From my V50 agin mid 50s ditto my Targa . 70 even in smaller US gallons seems Very optimistic especially when 51mpg is the figure most testers quote Unbelievable optimistic actually

Which one in particular ?

@@bikerdood1100 Twincam 88

To be frank I think the old Sportster was probably their best Bigger bikes were to large and no so reliable

@@bikerdood1100 You are right!

😂