Meh, so talking about trying that old thing again?
It's been done by one manufacturer in a big way (Honda), one in a small way (Yamaha) and one filled a tke in it (Suzuki). All had more money and drive than HD and V4's are mostly gone from the motorcycling landscape (except for a few models).
Honda made the biggest dent in the 80's by putting their all behind the V4 and penetrating every segment (sportbike, cruiser and standard), but even they faded away to just the interceptor (until the ST was released).
Personally, I'm a big fan of v4's (have an Interceptor and a Venture). The way they deliver their power just agrees with my style. But they're long ago been torpedoed amidships by the inline 4 in a performance application and people seem to just want big v-twins in cruisers.
Unless Harley is going to wade into the inline sportbike pool, they might as well stick to their v-twin tractor engines. The V4 thing has been done and it's a niche market at best. Not only that, the sportbike market tends to be "young". That's not a market Harley is going to be likely to break in to in a big way, mainly due to the way they price their products as much as anything else. Then there's the fact that the majority of the sportbike market are "posuers". It doesn't matter if they can go fast on your bike or not, it's whether or not you've made the bike with the highest speed or fastest 1/4 mile. That takes cash, cash that Harley just won't invest. We say that with their superbike racer in the 80's. Coulda been great, weren't commited enough...
V-Twins seem to be all people want from Harley anyways, though I have no idea why....
