It BETTER have a heated cupholder !!!

 

That's what I thought as well.

 

+1..........

 

Looks like a solo seat on the Softail and maybe a switchback frontend on it too.

 

Dunno what it'll be, but I bet it'll be something "trendy" & I won't like it. Any takers?

I don't have a problem with water cooling the HD engine, 'cause

1. I live in Florida,and it's murder in the summer &
2. Think of how our bikes will go up in value!

 

Hey dont knock water cooling until you try it. If HD can do as good a job with a cooling system as they did with tha ABS that has reciently become standard it may be a winner. What ever anyone say's you cant stop progress and in this case Law on emissions, its going to happen no matter how much we bitch.

 

Probably why the pics were taken in the dark so you can't see the rads.

 

Can you say EPA, it's coming, you can bank on it.

 

I agree that the Harley and air-cooled are deeply intertwined. To answer your question, the reason that H-D will eventually go to water-cooled is because of emissions. The rules that regulate how much pollutants gets tighter and tighter every year and it is difficult to make an air-cooled motor meet those standards and have some level of dependability/performance.

As sad as it is, I think it is an inevitability that H-D will eventually only have water-cooled motors. If the H-D marketing department is as good as they have been at brand management, folks will still buy them. Let's hope for a continued strong aftermarket to support our motors. Those same regulations can (and often do) push the aftermarket to stop supporting "older" technology.

 

It BETTER have a heated cupholder !!!

Like this? Not heated though...

As far as the EPA and regulations are concerned: how would watercooled engines effect aftermarket pipes, etc?