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When I bought my first Harley, it was 2006. Liquid cooling was INEVITABLE that year. (cause of the EPA)
Been hearing it every year since.
Harley will liquid cool what it wants. It just dropped an all new air cooled motor. That would not have happened if they HAD to go liquid cooled.
Yep. Spot on. They are apparently meeting current EPA with the Electra Glide Classic, Road King, and other non Twin Cooled bikes with the 107.
Harley has stated numerous times that the reason they went with the twin cooling for the Rushmore bikes was for rider comfort, not to comply with EPA. The whole point of Rushmore was customer facing.
Nice to have a choice. The water cooled have side radiators that fan vent the hot air to the sides of the bike, and away from the rider. You have the look and protection of lower fairings.
New oil cooled have a larger chin mounted radiator, also with fan cooling controlled by a thermostat. Gets rid of the engine heat with oil lines down to the radiator, and vents out the bottom of the bike. Have the cleaner look of no lowers.
Im really quite surprised to see that the liquid cooling didn't get expanded to all the touring bikes. Kinda figured that was inevitable. Guess we know now that air cooling is gonna be around for a while still.
They did. All 2017 touring bikes are now liquid cooled or oil cooled. The oil cooled bikes have a large oil cooler on the front. Twice the size of the old oil cooler. The oil circulates around the head and valves for cooling. So in essence all 2017 touring bikes are now liquid cooled either by oil or antifreeze.
The 2017 Ultra that I looked at today had both the wet heads and the oil cooler. Maybe that would act like air conditioning in the Texas summer heat.
From my understanding based on a couple tech papers I've seen, the heads are the same between oil and water cooled, oil is run through the water jackets at the same pressure as water.
The way I understand the tech documents I've seen, the models that aren't water cooled, ARE oil cooled, right down to using the same coolant passages as the water cooled heads, fed by a higher capacity engine oil pump on the oil cooled models, and fed to an oil cooler and an extra capacity oil system.
So technically, they are liquid cooled.
I say whatever works. If they can get similar cooling, water or oil, to what my twin cooled 110" CVO has, it's a win for everyone.
I wasn't thrilled with the water cooling when it first came out, but now that I own one I wouldn't be without. My 110 runs cooler than even my old 88" Wide Glide did.
The new engine does have a new oil pump Georotor or whatever they call it and it also holds about 5 quarts of oil in the crankcase plus I counted 10 rows on the new oil coolers. So ya, that is quite a bit of extra capacity when it comes to oil and cooling.
7 Surprising Harley-Davidson Products that Are Not Motorcycles
Slideshow: The bar-and-shield logo shows up on far more than motorcycles, some of the company's most unexpected products have nothing to do with riding.
Slideshow: From the troubled AMF years to modern misfires, these bikes earned reputations for reliability issues, questionable engineering, or disappointing performance.
Crazy Bunderbike Build Looks Amazing, But Is It Impossible to Ride?
Slideshow: The Swiss custom shop has taken a Harley Softail and stretched it into something so long and low that it looks closer to a rolling sculpture than a conventional motorcycle.
Engraved Rebellion: Inside Bundnerbike's Glam Rock II
Slideshow: A standard cruiser becomes an intricate metal canvas in the hands of a Swiss custom house known for pushing Harley-Davidson platforms far beyond their factory brief.
Slideshow: Harley-Davidson's challenges aren't abstract; they show up in dropping shipments, shrinking dealer traffic, and strategic decisions that aren't yet translating into growth.
