I'd like to know that too. Saw a brilliant doco on him last year - would love to see how far he got with his bike development
It's really tough to break into the high performance world on your first 'jump'.... Twin contra rotating crankshafts? That's a complex solution, that affects many other aspects of the overall design. Sort of like BMW's K bikes, without the 'torque steer' twisting the chassis around the long axis. Add in funky front and rear suspension, and you have a lot of development to do to make it all work....... and a bigger pig in the python, if you want it to go to mass production....
Competing with people who have been refining the same fundamental design for 20+ years digging out 1% gains year on year -- you don't walk in with a 'clean slate' design, and match the very best of that sort of development.
Triumph tried to go toe to toe with the Japanese with their first 600cc inline sport bike. A good motor, good performance, but didn't match up. Tough to do that; so they built the 675, and are no longer directly compared.
Now, they are successful.
H-D tried to develop a vee twin liter bike, and go racing with it. After 5 years, they pulled the plug, and turned the mess over to Porsche. The V Rod is a very distant cousin to that effort. Buell was not a part of that effort.
More recently, here in the Portland OR area, the Norton name was brought back, and it too died 'abirthing'. Great motor, great bike.... not enough money. That one is being brought back by someone with a bit deeper pockets, but I suspect it too will crash.
Indian? Let's not go there.
Victory, with Polaris' money, was expected to lose money for it's first 5 or 6 years. I assume it's now in the black, but they didn't get there without re-doing their signature motor, and bringing in Arlen Ness and his kid to design customs..... Big, big money.
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