According to Motorcyclist Magazine, one of their readers stumbled onto a new Harley Davidson Sportster being tested in the Arizona desert. When he got up close, what he saw was a water cooled pushrod V-Twin with the word "Sportster" embossed into the engine cases. He was quickly hustled away before he could see much more but after calling the boys at the magazine, their calls to HD resulted in a lot of "no comment" and "we don't comment on future products" statements. Of course, if you say you don't comment on future products, what you've just said is that what he saw might actually be a future product.
With the ever tightening noose of emissions regulations putting the squeeze on air cooled V-Twins, this development, if true, seems like a logical move. With water cooling, you control engine operation to a much narrower range of temperatures, so you can build to tighter tolerances allowing the sort of design that yields power and low emissions. Plus, adding to Harley's fast growing experience with the water cooled V-Rod and seeing as the Sportster is turning 50 years old, it seems like a nice time to begin a new platform for their entry level ride.
Of course, there's one other really neat feature that many of us around The Kneeslider would welcome and that's the possibility of placing this water cooler into Erik Buell's sport bikes. You have to figure, this engine would have considerably more power than current Sportsters from the start and would probably have a lot of potential for tuning, giving us a high power and torque V-Twin sport bike, something we've mentioned so many times you're probably tired of hearing it. Just think, too, of a Street Tracker with the new engine or maybe a Storz conversion, putting performance in there to match the looks. ... Nice.
Is this engine going to happen soon? I hope so and I bet Erik Buell hopes so, too.
Mayakovski says
Just picked up the October issue of Motorcyclist and there on Page 16 is the liquid cooled sportster. Haven’t read the article yet, but it looks like a cross between a sportster and a Vrod.
kneeslider says
That’s the article I’m referring to above, but I believe the image is a Photoshop.
Schneegz says
What about counter-balancing the engine? I realize rubber mounts reduce perceived vibration, but counter-balancing allows the engine to rev more freely without shaking itself to death, resulting in more power. And it would allow the engine to be used as a stressed member of the frame, which would result in a stiffer chassis, which allows more freedom in suspension tuning, which results in better handling.
But then, maybe Harley Davidson doesn’t care about such things.
aaron says
the twin cam b is balanced. almost 100% likely the v-rod too, but I’m too lazy to check the web to confirm this.
Gordy says
Water cooled Sportster to come?
Only the naïve or the ignorant thought that there would never be such a thing…
Prester John says
The AC, FI Sportster is good under the relatively lax EPA regulations for the foreseeable future. However, before too much longer it will not be able to be sold in the EU or basically in any other country where there are people with the money to buy it. Global market these days, you know.
Tom
hoyt says
I like high tech liquid cooling as much as most readers here, but I would like to see someone figure out a way to keep air-cooled engines running strong & EPA legit.
Not only do you have less parts but the music air-cooled engines make seem to be different than water-cooled engines…
How about a very prestigious design award for the best looking & functional radiator?
Willie G. said it best…something to the affect, “We’re not just gonna stick a black box on the end of…”
Prester John says
1a. It’s a global market
1b. Baring WWIII or the second coming, the USA will be a small part of the future global market (~6% of the world population)
2a. Much of the rest of the world has or will have much stricter emission standards than the USA
2b. Manufacturers typically do not engineer and build special “dirty” models just for the American market
3. Harley sells in the EU and has made no secret of their plans to sell in China and India.
Tom
Fun fact: Some of Harley present model air cooled engines – with fuel injection and three way catalysts – run so clean they meet the US EPA AUTOMOTIVE standard.