I think it's a crime that Eric Buell had to wait so long for a motor to truly complement his chassis, only to be shutdown a year later by HD. Imagine what the Buell platform would look like today if the 1130 Revolution motor went to Buell instead of being wasted on the V-Rod in 2003. I have a 2007 Street-Rod, the 1130 REVO motor is amazingly smooth, it spins up to the rev limiter like butter! I'm sure if Eric got his hands on the REVO, he would have sacrificed much of it's smoothness for raw torque. The rotax motor snapped me back and caused me to trickle a little pee down my leg.
this conjecture has been discussed to death thru the years on a mulitude of motorcycle forums including this one. facts always trump conjecture and "what ifs" so here's a few:
the revolution lump first appeared in the Vrod in 2002....not 2003.
having some top-echelon inside sources at H-D corporate i can tell you for a matter of fact that H-D was never ever going to source the revolution driveline out to erik buell or anyone else. never!
the rotax built helicon 1125 V-twin weighs 152.5 US pounds full of fluids
the revolution/V-Rod V-twin weighs 216 US pounds full of fluids. WAY too beefy for a potential sportbike application.
buell 1125 series eventual downfall? you don't have to look very far. those God-awful air intake scoops. one of the single ugliest abortions i've ever seen leave an OEM factory.