Smooth, easy to drive and fast.
That was the decision for 250cc Grand Prix World Champion Marco Melandri, Randy Mamola, 13-time 500cc Grand Prix winner, and 500cc Grand Prix winner Simon Crafar on a MotoAmerica-spec Harley-Davidson Road Glide. King of the Baggers in the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The demo rounds were organized by the company as part of the announcement that Harley-Davidson and Dorna will work together in the future. The partnership is designed to increase the visibility of Harley and MotoGP around the world.
The trio are joined by Moto America racers Kyle Wyman and James Rispoli, as well as former MotoGP, World Superbike and British and AMA Superbike competitor John Hopkins. After several rounds, Melandri, Mamola and Crafar held a news conference to talk about their experience.
“It looks like a game from the outside,” Melandri said. “But when you’re on it, it’s a racing bike. And the engine is just as powerful as the Honda V5. (Melandri raced the Honda RC211V in MotoGP, taking the V-5 machine to five victories.)
Krafar in 2010 He said he raced in the BEARS series in 1989 – the name indicates whether the eligible bikes were British, European or American – on a bike with a Harley engine in a special racing chassis. He remembers the bike fondly, but loved the power and sound of the King of Baggers machine.
“The engine is great, I want one!” he said.
Mamola says the bike suits him perfectly, and his expectations of a difficult-to-manage beast proved unfounded. He was impressed with the power, braking and shifting as well as the lack of vibration.
“Everything was in a perfect zone,” Mamola said.
The only real downside was going from a dead stop. The machines were so long and heavy that even the tall Crafar had to take his body off the machine to get one leg down, and that was critical because, Mamola said, “If it starts falling, you don’t go.” Hold on!”
Another downside, according to Melandri, is that they told him before he started exactly how much one of the bugger racing bikes would cost, and that meant he was worried about crashing.
Asked how much the bike cost, Melandri replied, “Too much!” she said
