Big Dog has a potent bite but it’s also part pussycat
WITH its nose sniffing around out front and a fat rear tire that could flatten a cat, the 2007 K-9 is the biggest and baddest V-Twin in the Big Dog kennel. Nine feet long, 117 cubic inches and heavier than a pallet of Iams, -- this snarling bike is entering its second model year as the bestselling production chopper on the market.
It’s not hard to see why.
Of the million or so bikes that will be sold in the U.S. this year, a certain percentage will go to bikers who’ll buy only American -- and plenty of them are sick of the Rich Urban Bikers co-opting their culture and buying in with a Harley. These grizzled souls have three choices. They can stick with the American classic and swap out enough key parts to be seen as a “real,†pick-the-bugs-from-your-teeth type. They can rebel against the status quo, as bikers have been known to do, with pricey, individualized customs. Or they can go with less expensive but highly engineered custom production motorcycles, like Big Dog.
If the Wichita, Kan., manufacturer’s growth is any indication, the rebel spirit is alive and well. This year, the company’s on track to build 5,000 motorcycles -- far more than any one builder could make in a lifetime. Jesse James may have brought the chopper back in vogue, but it’s companies like Big Dog that are bringing it into the mainstream. For about $30,000, you can have your kibble and eat it too. You can enjoy all the reverent devil horns pickup truck drivers throw your way without actually suffering the bone-clattering torture of a traditional chopper. I hate busting the myth, but the fact is: The K-9 looks harder to ride than it is.
The first time I took it around the block, I’ll admit, I was happy to get home. The K-9 is an intimidating bike that takes some getting used to, but the learning curve is quite fast. Yes, the frame is stretched and the fork tubes are 12 inches over stock, but the rake is a moderate and still maneuverable 39 degrees. That’s more extreme than Big Dog’s Chopper model but significantly less than the wheel-floppy 54 degrees offered from outfits like Hellbound Steel. That didn’t mean I could just speed around tight corners. On the K-9, I found myself choosing routes more carefully than normal, avoiding turns onto narrow streets and the 90-degree offramps at the northern end of Highway 110 near my house.
The rake angle and 82-inch wheel base already make the K-9 more of a straight-line bike, but there are two other factors that seal the deal -- ground clearance and the rear tire. There are only 4 inches separating frame from pavement. Want to see a grown man cry? Have him corner off the lip of a driveway and scrape the underbelly of a bike he bought with a home-equity line of credit.
Then there’s the trendy 300-mm beach ball out back. It takes a lot more than positive thinking and centripetal force to pull down in the turns. I had to give it some muscle if I wanted to have a good time. But pulling out of them, that was fun. The tire is so big it just buoyed me right back up.
After I was back up, it was a walk in the park, thanks to the telescopic fork and a pair of shocks hidden behind the A-frame swingarm. Even so, my tush could have been even cushier. The K-9 is one of four Big Dog models that are pre-wired for air ride. Pay an extra $1,500, and the dealer will swap out the shocks for a unit that can lower the suspension for Easy Riding or raise it to more modern standards -- all with the push of a button instead of the pull of a wrench.
Choppers have come a long way since Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper used their spines as shock absorbers, jackhammering down the road without a front brake or fender. Like many modern-day chopper manufacturers, Big Dog has engineered the rough-and-tumble out of the K-9, though one old-school touch remains -- the throbbing S&S; motor.
The rest is mostly proprietary, such as the growling two-into-one dual exhaust that sounds like Old Yeller in his last, rabid moments before the rifle went off. Big Dog also worked with six-speed transmission guru Burt Baker to trim the width and weight of the chain-driven primary drive. The belt-driven secondary drive was moved to the right to help even out the weight as part of the bike’s Balance Drive System.
The rubbery buttons controlling the run and kill switches and self-canceling turn signals came courtesy of an engineer from Cessna. In theory, squishy, push-button electronics are more comfortable and easy to use than the hard plastic buttons found on, oh, every other bike on the market, but I found the turn signals particularly difficult. The vibration of the grips was minimal, but I couldn’t feel when the button turned on or off through my gloves.
Otherwise, the K-9 -- a bike that’s built to turn heads -- turned out to be surprisingly functional. And that included the skimpy-looking brake, which was surprisingly good at stopping before my front tire kissed anyone’s bumper. Good thing, too. Mounting a single, four-piston-caliper brake on the left rather than using a dual disc means there are no rotors covering the artistic “fangs†that serve as spokes on the wheel.
And what’s a snarl without fangs?
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2007 Big Dog K-9
Base price: $29,900
Price, as tested: $32,000
Powertrain: OHV 45-degree V-Twin, air-cooled, four-stroke, 6 speed
Displacement: 117 cubic inches
Frame stretch: 8 inches downtube, 4 inches backbone
Frame rake: 39 degrees
Seat height: 24 inches
Dry weight: 710 pounds
