We purchased the V-REX from California Boss Hoss yesterday and today we got to take it for a ride. To be honest, we weren’t expecting too much. After all, this is a bike created from a drawing/painting of the futuristic bike above done by Tim Cameron. In the drawing, the bike has many forward thinking ideas that are not realistic in a real road-going motorcycle. Two-wheel drive through a fluid mechanism in the wheel hubs is an example of technology that is not ready for prime-time. Christian Travert’s V-REX is not only more beautiful than the drawing, it is more practical.

    When you throw a leg over the V-REX, the first thing you notice is that the steering is feather-light. The handlebars turn from left-to-right with virtually no effort. All of the controls and instrumentation are standard issue Harley Davidson V-ROD, so it’s easy to figure out how to get the bike started up and underway. As you let out the clutch and the bike starts moving forward, you immediately go into a kind of sensory overload about everything that is different from what you are use to in a motorcycle.

    The steering remains as light as it was before the bike started moving. The bike does not squat under acceleration. The front end does not dip under hard braking. The bike does not stand up when trailing the brakes in the corners. At 80 MPH, the steering is still as light as it was when the bike was standing still and the engine is still pulling like a bulldog that’s looking at a poodle across the street. Interestingly, there is no harsh feedback in the bars when you hit potholes at speed, but there is a sensation of feeling in the steering that allows you to understand what the tires are doing. Simply stated, the handling is better than any cruiser we have ever ridden and the front end is superior to our here-to-fore favorite front-end suspension, the BMW Duolever. Did I mention how much we loved the brakes? Totally clean, smooth and progressive.

    Amazingly, the bike is comfortable. The air-dam on the front actually works. You can ride at freeway speeds with no pressure on your chest. Although it looks like the bike has no rear suspension, it does and the spring-rate and damping feels spot-on.

    What we thought was just a beautiful recreation of a artist rendering, has turned out to be a completely new kind of motorcycle that takes a fresh approach to handling and suspension and wins on both counts. This bike is to motorcycles what the iPhone is to cellphones. Everyone else is going to have to play catch-up.

    Now if we could only talk Christian into doing a bike with rearsets and clip-ons...