hopefully the new one will have overhead cams

 

I hear they're going to be making a hybrid bike just like the Prius cars electric/gas going to get 100mpg, and still going to be very fast!






that should get the rumor mill going!!!!

 

I like my air cooled, OHV, pushrod v-twin and am hoping Harley finds a way to stick with that formula for awhile. I wonder if they are talking about water cooling on the Victory, Yamaha v-twin, etc. forums?

 

Mine is water cooled when I ride in the rain

 

jo_mama i'm thinking the electraglide will make a return. the tank will be the battery and the bike will have a 100 mile range before it needs to be plugged in. glad i'll be dead in 30 or 40 years.

you trying to steal my idea?

 

BMW boxer twins met Euro 2012 limits with an air-oil cooled engine. Harley can do the same. I believe the latest CVO's have an oil cooler as standard equipment. BMW boxers went to cam-in-heads for all boxers in 2011, and recently a liquid cooled boxer has been spotted in Europe to get ready for the 2016 emission laws. Harley could probably get passed with liquid cooled heads and go to an overhead cam and meet US emissions in 2016. In any regard, if BMW can serve as an example, the 45 degree vertical twin will continue to look pretty much the same. The new boxer twins sound less like a sewing machine and more muscular. They all are learning to generate a pleasing sound to the rider without annoying the general populace. Noise laws will get tougher regardless of how we feel about them. Unfortunately, we will see more bodywork to hide the ugly technology required to meet more stringent standards. We are a minority, after all, but as someone recently said, we'll all be dead in forty years.

 

In my opinion, probably not before 2015. Just depends on how the EPA standards change in the next year or so.

 

That's the answer to when Harley will go liquid cooled beyond the VRod. VW didn't stop importing the original bug to the US because they wanted to. It wouldn't meet EPA smog regulations with it's air cooled design so they had to pull it. That car was built for decades afterwards in other countries.

Harley has a good thing going with air cooled v-twins and the only force that will change that tradition will be EPA laws, not Harley's corporate board.

That said, it makes me wonder if Harley is developing another generation of air cooled V-twins. After all, the current line works well and the writing is on the wall that stricter and stricter smog and environmental laws will be in the future making a legal air cooled v-twin harder and harder to pass smog. It makes me wonder if Harley won't just continue to refine the current motor line with subtle tweaks until it's forced to go water cooled.

 

Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy the politicians (EPA) than redesign a new engine?

 

When I read up on it last. The reason I seen for vw not importing aircooled bugs to the USA was that smog restrictions would require added expense. That added expense made the vw bug with its aircooled engine less profitable. It was a matter of dollars and not the fact that they could meet restrictions.