Im new to this board, looks good. I have always liked harleys till I took a Fatboy for a ride and was very uncomfortable on it. The brakes were not that great, and it didnt shift very smooth. After that i bought a honda, then upgraded this year to another Honda, a VTX 1300C. Was out the other day and stopped in the Harley shop and was looking through the bike catalog and spotted the Fatbob. Very cool looking bike. I have a question though about Harleys in general (except the V-rod) do any of you guys have trouble with overheating, being air cooled? What about life span of the motor compared to the liquid cooled bikes? Just curious. I`m prepared for the comments about the Honda! LOL. Thanks,
Craig

 

Not me...I try to avoid traffic jams and stick to backroads most of the time. I live in NC, 100 degree heat and 90+% humidity is common in the summer. I think I would overheat before my bike would!

 

My aircooled bikes used to get a bit sluggish in Phoenix in the summer time. You are correct about the V-rod, I haven't over-heated it.

 

100 degree summer temps and traffic suck, but I've never seen oil temps over 250. No problems here...

 

Silly rabbit...water cooled is for cages

 

The VTX 1300 will run a LOT cooler than many other, larger bikes. Try riding a Honda Goldwing on a 95 degree day. It's water cooled, but those dang cylinder heads sticking out in front of your feet will fry your little toes! I've ridden a Goldwing across country a couple times and always feel that it's just too dang hot. My old VTX ('03) was an 1800 but didn't seem to get anywhere as close to the heat as either the Goldwing or my Harley.

As for the Big Twin HDs ... yep ... they run hotter than your VTX ... so don't bother to buy a Harley if you expect it to run like your Honda. Frankly, the only complaint I have about my HD is that it can get toasty, but then again my Goldwing and Star Roadliner got just as hot. And I recently rode a Victory that got just as hot. So it's not just Harley, it's lots of air cooled (and some water cooled) engines that are big.

One thing your VTX will never have, though, is the sound and feel of a Harley. The Honda engineers just haven't been able to mimic that sound or feel. They do okay, and they build a good bike, but it still ain't a Harley. And like it or not ... people are attracted to a Harley just because of what it is.

As my old pappy said, 3 things in life are highly over-rated: (1) College Co-eds, (2) Corvettes, and (3) Harleys. But give a young man a shot at riding any of the three and he'll probably take it.

 

Overheated my Honda once, puked fluid out till I could get it up to speed. Don't you know you can overheat anything? Will a Harley overheat? Silly question from a Honda owner. Go park your Honda, turn up the idle to about 1800 rpm and let it sit in the driveway. It will overheat even with the fans on the radiator. How long does a Harley motor last? Longer than most guys will ride them, the same as a water pumper.

 

Been riding Harleys for many years and never had one overheat. I, myself, have been somewhat overheated while riding one in the southwest, on the other hand.

 

its designed NOT to overheat. does that answer your question?

 

a oil cooler works just fine.