Roehr V-ROEHR 1250 SC 2010 — Specifications

Imagine a workshop somewhere in Wisconsin, a handful of obsessive engineers, and the ambition to prove that America can build more than just large-displacement customs. That's roughly how the V-Roehr 1250 SC came to be in 2010, with almost total indifference from the major Japanese and Italian manufacturers who, for their part, dominate the podiums of the Superbike World Championship without a tremor. A few dozen units per year, a semi-artisanal production evoking Bimota more than Suzuki, and yet a technical specification that deserves serious attention.

Visually, the machine embraces its status as a patchwork of references. The fork head with its stacked lights and forced air intakes recalls the Yamaha R1, the monobras and carbon rear fairing strongly evoke an MV Agusta F4, and the perimeter double-beam chrome-molybdenum frame bolted to aluminum side plates echoes the longeron of the Bimota SB8K. The result is well-executed, undeniably, but it lacks that certain soul that makes a GSX-R or a Ducati 1098 stop you in the street. The Marchesini wheels are there, beautiful and lightweight, but they serve a silhouette that has not yet found its own identity.

The heart of the beast, on the other hand, is a political statement as much as a mechanical one. Roehr went to retrieve its 60° V-twin directly from Harley-Davidson, from the bowels of the V-Rod. An engine we know well, with its 1250 cc, its 4 valves per cylinder and its overhead camshaft distribution, but which in its original configuration was nothing to frighten the Japanese. Bore of 105 mm for a stroke of 72 mm, compression ratio of 11.3:1, and in its stock version, an honorable but insufficient power for playing with the big boys. Roehr therefore decided to screw on a supercharger. Immediate result: 180 horsepower at 9100 rpm and 155.9 Nm of torque at 7600 rpm. The supercharger does not only increase the raw figures, it widens the engine's availability range, that thick and constant muscle that makes the difference on exit from slow corners. If the desire to push further is felt, a reprogramming of the mapping allows to reach 200 horsepower. For a 1250 cc twin born in the land of country and straight highways, it is a tour de force.

The chassis holds its promises on paper. 43 mm Öhlins inverted fork at the front, Öhlins mono-shock at the rear, radial Brembo calipers, 120/70-17 and 190/55-17 tires. Enough to absorb the 180 horsepower without the geometry going into a wobble. Where the bât blesse, it is on the scale: 196 kg dry, or about 20 kg more than a R1 or a ZX-10R of the same era. On the track, this surplus is paid in cash in the changes of direction, and no suspension as well set up as an Öhlins can compensate for a ton of unsprung mass. The supercharged V-Roehr will be faster in a straight line than many of its competitors, but in a series of tight corners, the gap inevitably closes.

In everyday use, this machine raises other questions. Twelve liters of tank for 180 horsepower supercharged, it is an autonomy that is counted in dozens of kilometers on the open road. And then the price: approximately 34,211 euros in Europe after import duties, homologation and various taxes, or more than double that of a Japanese superbike equipped as standard. The V-Roehr 1250 SC is aimed at a very particular audience, that of collector-racers who seek rarity as much as performance, and who know that they are buying a piece of American mechanical curiosity as much as a track tool. For others, the CBR1000RR, R1 and 1098 remain much more reasonable, lighter, and largely as effective choices.