Did Harleyget it right for once?

[BigIke]

On the Nova project that is exactly why they put the radiator under the seat.

Willie said that a Harley would never have a front mount radiator.

 

[Fire-medic]

On the Nova project that is exactly why they put the radiator under the seat.

Willie said that a Harley would never have a front mount radiator.

Willie G retired, time marches-on.

They will need to go water-cooled for emissions/sound.

 

[Biker Dash]

Right now they have a good place to hide the radiators in the leg shields on the dressers. It will be harder to hide them on the other bikes. It will take a major adjustment on the HD faithful to accept highly visible radiators...

Why bother hide the radiator? If done right, it can look like it belongs there. On the latest Honda Shadows, the radiator fits between the downtubes.

 

[Rusty McNeil]

Willie said that a Harley would never have a front mount radiator.

I've heard it more than once from lots of H-D guys that a visible radiator on a bike is like a wart on a pretty girls face.

In a way I can see their point if you look at M/C in their purest mist basic form.

But when that pretty girl with the wart can suck the chrome off a trailer hitch ball its not too hard to overlook the wart.

 

[invalidsession]

It's pretty hard to beat the benefits of a liquid cooled bike in a parade or slow moving traffic. Out here in the MO summer heat the Harleys can't take part due to overheating issues. I am at a complete loss as to why the HD technology is firmly wedged in the 1950's..:confused2: Triumph finally got it right with the modern Bonneville (just got one for my wife). It looks and sounds traditional but has all the benefits of modern design and build techniques. It truly astounds me what Harley fob off on the customer base and it's hard to believe that the same customers come back for more of the same repackaged crap every year. This type of attitude is what killed the British bike industry.


Chris.

 

[Fire-medic]

I've heard it more than once from lots of H-D guys that a visible radiator on a bike is like a wart on a pretty girls face.

In a way I can see their point if you look at M/C in their purest mist basic form.

But when that pretty girl with the wart can suck the chrome off a trailer hitch ball its not too hard to overlook the wart.

That's not a wart, it's a mole. Think, Cindy Crawford.

 

[rusty]

Right now they have a good place to hide the radiators in the leg shields on the dressers. It will be harder to hide them on the other bikes. It will take a major adjustment on the HD faithful to accept highly visible radiators...

The new Hydro Glides as in water, will not go over well with the Harley purest.But they will have to give in if they want a new Harley.:tantrum:

 

[Fire-medic]

The new Hydro Glides as in water, will not go over well with the Harley purest.But they will have to give in if they want a new Harley.:tantrum:

I went to the local H-D dealer to see the new H2O-cooled bikes, the whole thing isn't H2O-cooled, just 'spot-cooling' of the exhaust valve. And you can't really tell it's got a radiator. The bikes look nice and the finishes are very-high, to my eye.

Here are shots of the Porsche-designed "Nova" engine that was being developed in the late 1970's/early '80's, during the last part of AMF ownership. When the Vaughn Beals/Willie G. Davidson led-employee buyout happened, they were able to choose only one way to go, so they went-with the Evolution-designed motor instead of the more-modern H2O-cooled Porsche Engineering design. They went w/tradition, and the Evolution engine saved the company. The shot of the stand-alone engine is a mock-up 6-cylinder design. They made 2,4, and 6-cyl designs testing the packaging and aesthetics. Their running models went to 2 and 4 cyl designs, (I'm not sure they ever built and ran a 6-cyl) and the modular concept of adding cyl pairs to a V-twin design gave them 4 and 6 cyl possibilities. It worked for Triumph, for their 3 and 4 cyl designs, by varying cylinders, bore/stroke, they were able to offer a whole range of engines.

 

[jedi-]

My guess is HD have strategically planned this for some time before going full blown water cooling.
Step one was to discretely introduce the kettle head with stealth type hidden radiators and sit back and wait for the toothless crowd to vent until nobody cares to listen to them anymore.
Step two will go mainstream water cooling with inovative discrete radiators and sit back and ride it out whilst the crowd goes wild again. Eventually the crowd will just accept it just like everything else for example when the government introduces a new set of coins, people moan and complain but they soon get used to it.

 

[rusty]

:biglaugh:

My guess is HD have strategically planned this for some time before going full blown water cooling.
Step one was to discretely introduce the kettle head QUOTE]Kettle head, Hydro Glide. Everybody will come up with creative names for HD's new motor:biglaugh: