Fine - that's a fair reason not to like them - but at least admit thats the reason. It has nothing to do with the reliability. To me, it sounds much like the psuedo-science of claiming the FLTR is unsafe since the headlamps don't turn with the bike. It has no bearing on real life, the person just doesn't want to say "I just don't like the look".

BTW - that "Harley sound" hasn't been there since the advent of the TC motor, and the "Harley feel" is simply a matter of motor mounts. You want the vibration? They can give you that. VRSC's do vibrate at idle - just not as much.

 

With every new "system" that's added, there's another opportunity for something to go wrong, regardless of the reasons. In other words, you can't have radiator problems if you don't have a radiator.

 

Hey - if you have a better idea, lets hear it.

You can only run the engine so lean before it simply is too hot for it to be air cooled. To meet EPA requirements, HD is going to have to further lean out the mixture, use catalytic converters, and eventually, enable the engine to run on 15% or higher blends of ethanol. At some point, the heat will be far too much for simple air cooling to manage.

 

Current bikes meet the 2113 standards. The difference will be that the bike will have an O2 behind the cat and the cat cannot be removed without throwing a code and violating the law.

I think the future of water cooling for HD will be to get more power out of the motor. Could be as much as 30%.

I would accept water cooling for that. 100 HP for a TC96 motor would be nice.

 

I think I will keep my current ride and when it gets over 100k on the motor, do the HD rebuild for 3k.

 

This EPA stuff is pure hypocrisy. Our officials know that 90% of the bikes are modified as soon as they leave the dealerships but they don't care. There's lots of money made by Harley and aftermarket vendors selling and installing air kits, tuners, exhausts, etc... ..... and nobody is going to stop it.

As for power, I don't need 100HP to cruise with my SO at 70mph on country roads on a sunny weekend. 70-80HP is more than enough as far as I'm concerned.

They can take their radiators, pumps, fans and hoses and shove them where the sun doesn't shine..

 

Isnt a case of need - its a case of want - and a case of keeping up with both EPA regs and the competition.

HD is losing market share - that's a fact. They're losing it to bikes which cost about as much, but produce more power and/or weigh substantially less

 

Oil cooler is angled so that even sitting still as hot oil is pumped though it the heat rises up from the cooler pulling cooler air up thru the cooler from below, Not as much reduction of heat as from moving down the road granted...but it still cools the oil though.

I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night though!

 

V-Rods weren't designed to sound like the big V-twin's they were made to simply HAUL *** and that they do that very well for a 1130cc and 1250cc 2 cly. engine!
Gotta admit mine sounds DAMN SWEET at 9000 rpms banging thru the gears cracking a 100mph in 3rd gear!

 

Is the 103" camless? Hadn't heard that?