Is Harley Davidson’s Next Big Change Liquid-Cooled Softails?
Due to the needs of a new generation, Harley Davidson is adding new technology to its motorcycles. Check it out!
The Harley Davidson Motor Company has never had a reputation for radical, new innovations, or big dramatic changes to its motorcycles.
It’s pretty much always gone down the tried and true, don’t rock the boat, don’t mess with success formulas. Until now.
That wild, Street Fighter in the video could very well be in HD’s future 10 years down the line. But what about its immediate future? What about next year, two years from now, five years from now?
This Year…or Next?
We can be pretty sure liquid cooling will be in the not-too-distant future and it may very well be in a new softail or touring model next year or in 2024.
The Motor Company has been fooling around with liquid-cooled engines for years, probably knowing it was in its future, but not wanting to alienate its loyal customers who could still buy and ride motorcycles.
So they started slow by introducing liquid cooling in some select touring models in 2014. Before that, of course, there was the V-Rod that came out in 1999, a motorcycle many long-time HD loyalists didn’t even consider a Harley Davidson.
Head-Spinning Changes
But, in the last few years, the company has made so many changes it made people’s heads spin. There was the finale of the Twin Cam engine when the company introduced the Milwaukee 8 in 2018.
But, the really big jolt for long-time purists was the move that practically guarantees the end of the Evolution engine, which came out in 1984 and which many people claim was the reason the company did not go bankrupt in the 1980s.
The liquid-cooled Revolution Max engine, which now powers the all-new Sportster S and Nightster models, looks like the engine of the future, for now. The Sportster S has the bigger Revolution Max 1250 while the smaller and more affordable Nightster gets the 975T version.
End of the Evo?
The two bikes are so different from the only two Evo-powered sportsters left, the Motor Company put them in a different category, now called “Sport. The two former sportsters are now cruisers, the Iron 883 and the Forty Eight. So technically, there are no more Evo-powered sportsters
So, the last few years have seen big changes. Aside from the two new engines replacing the iconic old motors, there is now a Harley Davidson electric motorcycle for crying out loud, the Live Wire.
There is an adventure touring bike, the Pan America, as good or better than bikes from European makers, who have been building them for years. There are HD trikes now for the first time, unless you count the Servi-Car which bit the dust in 1973.
And there is no reason to believe the Motor Company and its new CEO, Jochen Zeitz, will stop making big changes, since the ones they have made the last few years have been generally well-received, by customers and investors alike.
More Performance, More Gadgets
They’re also facing stiff competition from other brands, especially Indian.
The V-Rod has never been a big seller, but times are changing and a new generation has different needs and wants. They want more performance out of their bikes and let’s face it, liquid-cooled bikes perform better than air-cooled motorcycles for the most part.
Just read the specs on the Sportster S: 121 horsepower and 94 foot/pounds of torque. Even the smaller Nightster has 90 HP out of the gate. The Evo sportsters can’t touch that unless they’re heavily modified.
New Rider Cravings
The two new sport bikes also have the kind of gadgetry upcoming riders crave: different ride modes, bluetooth, LCD lighting, digital gauges, turn-by-turn navigation, just to name a few.
The Motor Company won’t turn the brand on its head, and will surely keep the air-cooled machines around for a while for the old guard, but I predict liquid-cooled softails within a year, two at the most.
Photos: Harley Davidson
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