My answer is going to stir up a hornet's nest I'm sure, but here goes. I think the bigger bikes are going after people who would normally want an HD, which is air cooled. I can't see any good reason to build an air cooled engine other than that's what sells. Liquid cooled runs more consistent over changing temperatures, and that back jug doesn't cook your leg so much. It's easier to meet emissions standards and the engine is quieter.

Even though I have an air cooled HD, I won't be one bemoaning the move to a radiator when it comes, and the EPA will force it pretty soon. They already have pictures of a liquid cooled Sportster desert testing. If I didn't have the FXR, I would be on a V-Rod, so it's not a big deal to me.

 

I definitely agree with Uesque on this one. The only thing I would argue with though that while the V-Rod might be a nice bike to initially purchase, I'd hate to later have to find myself needing to drop the engine just to get at the lousy Valve Shims - or even worse have to pay the dealer a reported $700 to do it for me! Outrageous! I'd like to take the yahoos in upper management at H-D and make them have to work on these things like the rest of us, and see how THEY like it?!

In any case, if I had my choice of custom specs on any given LARGE displacement motorcycle, Water Cooling would most definitely be among them. It works so great on a bike, and is so much easier to service then a car's system, how can you lose?!

LRG

 

My VTX is a liquid cooled "Big Jugged" engine. Works Great.
I don't know if the sales guy at the Harley place, that I visited reciently, was full or it or not, but he seemed reasonably sure that in a "very few" years all Harleys from big to small, would be fuel injected and liquid cooled, because of federal emission issues. The V-rod was just the first.
Supposedly, it's gonna get to where ya can't even build yer own custom bike unless it meets "ALL" federal specs. Well, I guess you could build 'em, but you won't be able to ride 'em on public streets. I guess then, "Old" carborated cars will be restricted to showrooms too. Already, the high octain fuel needed for those big muscle cars is faded away for some.

 

Leaking radiators, leaking hoses, stuck thermostats, electric fans going out. A whole additional system added with it's own set of problems. I prefer it simple .

 

Sounds like you're talking about just about every dog gone Car I've ever owned (and the some)! While I haven't owned a Water-Cooled (or for that matter Shaft-Driven) bike for decades now, the past ones I did were stone axe reliable - at least as far as the cooling systems. Wish I coulda' had at least one old car 1/2 as good! I dunno, maybe I just got lucky (175,000+ miles worth between 2 GoldWings and 1 Suzuki GT750)?!

LRG

 

So that's how you guys can ride in winter because the air-cooled engine gets so hot it warms up a large area around it?

YF

 

So that's how you guys can ride in winter because the air-cooled engine gets so hot it warms up a large area around it?

Damn Skippy! More than once!

 

Water cooling was introduced in motorcycles to allow more horsepower out of a same sized air cooled engine. When Suzuki brought out their big 750 water cooled engine (big at that time), there was a huge article concerning the advantage of a water cooled engine. The big concern was heat, and water cooling was their way to beat the problem.

I've never heard of anyone having problems with leaks, etc., lately. I'm sure that with the advent of better materials and manufacturing techniques, they're much better than when they first came out. But, mine is air cooled.....

 

The dealer that I bought my bike from insinuated liquid cooled bikes overall would have longer engine life. Note, he sells Suzuki's and they have models that are air cooled and some that are liquid cooled, so I don't think it was just a sales pitch. Although I don't know how valid his statement was. I guess I could possibly see it if you lived in a warmer climate and rode a lot of stop and go and/or let your bike idle a lot - stuck in traffic, etc.

 

C50, he's right, because high heat fatiques metal. Water cooled engines operate at much lower temperatures and keep the fatigue down.

By the way, that's www.jcwhitney.com.

 

I currently ride an air cooled bike (and love the simplicity), but I wouldn't be worried about breaking anything on a liquid cooled bike. Just look at dirtbikes. Every modern dirtbike is liquid cooled, and on average they take much more abuse compared to a street bike. I have raced enduros and hare scrambles and I know that a day of racing through creek beds, over logs, and crashing on rocks is more abuse than some bikes ever see. Through all of that hard use I have never had an issue. The only thing that comes to mind is a time my cousin had a radiator hose get ripped off by a stump. All he had to do was pop the hoise back on and fill the radiator back up.

 

My VTX is water cooled but the jugs still have the fins on them. As far as problems with the cooling system on the Honda boards I've only seen a couple of posts about having water pump problems and the such. They seem to be few and far between. But with anything it will wear out with time. Just my.02cents. Ride safe.