Harley Rushmore

They are interesting, only the heads are liquid cooled, cylinders are still air cooled. I haven't played with one to see if it makes a big difference, but man are they holding hard onto the past, we'll see if that works out well for them in the long term.
 
I think EPA regs are eventually going to force their hands. Seems to be getting harder to make an air cooled engine meet tighter and tighter emission reguirements.
 
GreyGhost said:
They are interesting, only the heads are liquid cooled, cylinders are still air cooled. I haven't played with one to see if it makes a big difference, but man are they holding hard onto the past, we'll see if that works out well for them in the long term.
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hey hey slow your roll man:p
the have figured out half of the solution, give them another 25 years to get the other half.
 
BMW did the same thing to their oilhead.Now what do the airheads call them?
 
It's laughable. They are so ingrained at pushing an image instead of a product that they are terrified of using the term "liquid cooled" and instead call it "twin cooled". This fascination with purchasing an image is so childish to me. If the bike works well or not should be all that matters. Sadly that is not the case but at least they have almost caught up to late 70's technology.
 
RedDogDarren said:
It's laughable. They are so ingrained at pushing an image instead of a product that they are terrified of using the term "liquid cooled" and instead call it "twin cooled". This fascination with purchasing an image is so childish to me. If the bike works well or not should be all that matters. Sadly that is not the case but at least they have almost caught up to late 70's technology.
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70's style maybe, but the technology is up there with the rest of the cruiser market.
 
DJM said:
70's style maybe, but the technology is up there with the rest of the cruiser market.
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Are most metric cruisers still running on 1920's pushrod technology?
 
RedDogDarren said:
It's laughable. They are so ingrained at pushing an image instead of a product that they are terrified of using the term "liquid cooled" and instead call it "twin cooled". This fascination with purchasing an image is so childish to me. If the bike works well or not should be all that matters. Sadly that is not the case but at least they have almost caught up to late 70's technology.
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VW had a similar problem. They could only squeeze so much power out of a flat four air cooled engine. They grew up.

It would be a shame if an iconic brand like HD became like Indian, a T shirt company that occasionally resurrects itself by assembling a few bikes.

Change is inevitable. Adapt or die.
 
Harley is moving forward in some interesting ways. They do have EFI, ABS now as an option, proximity key as an option.
 
The Porsche developed V-Rod motor is all they need....they just need to embrace it. What's not to like? Good sound, 100+ reliable stock hp, torque.....oh yah, the radiator.
 
omnivore said:
The Porsche developed V-Rod motor is all they need....they just need to embrace it. What's not to like? Good sound, 100+ reliable stock hp, torque.....oh yah, the radiator.
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I love the V-Rod and it's engine but the Boomers do not, and that's a large part of the HD demographic. Plus it's not really a 2-up bike either. Maybe in another decade you'll see that engine in more frames.
 
Don't blame Harley blame their followers. Until the buyers stop wanting the nostalga Harley will continue to sell what the buyers want. They know they have outdated technology and could easily put out amazing high powered liquid cooled twins (Ducati can do it) but as long as people are buying what they have why put money into R&D to change what is selling.

Simple marketing as long as the masses will continue to buy your product why change it? Look at New Coke, coke changed it and sales plumeted, then they brought the old formula back Coke Classic and sales went back.

Just putting liquid cooled heads (and by the way only on the touring models this year the rest of them are still air cooled) they are going to hear all kinds of negativity from the die hards. I have owned 2 harleys in the last 10 years and yes not the latest and greatest technology but bulletproof design, amazing build quality and very easy to do your own maintenance and parts available form 100's of aftermarket suppliers. Sometimes simple is good too. How many BMW motorcycles can the owner service on their own these days, some of the highest technological advancements but with that comes a price.
 
I do prefer the older BMWs for the owner-mechanic friendliness. I don't think I could buy a new one. But that's true of most new cars too - not just high-end models either. User serviceablity is going out the window as engineering standards rise and complexity skyrockets. Hell, it's reached the point where a lot of car manufacturers are actually thinking of taking spare tires out of cars.
 
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Mongrel said:
Hell, it's reached the point where a lot of car manufacturers are actually have taken the spare tires out of cars.
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Fixed. Many cars are back to the bottle of goo/air in the trunk like they had in the 70's. Dropping the spare saves weight, cost and space while also helping to improve fuel efficiency slightly.

VW still includes a full-size spare (195/65R15) however it is only rated for temporary use and low speeds, bastards, that's just cheap BS.
 
I understand the motivation, but man, goo cans have never worked well for me. Plus they don't do a damn thing if your tire actually rips right open.
 
taximan62 said:
Don't blame Harley blame their followers. Until the buyers stop wanting the nostalga Harley will continue to sell what the buyers want. They know they have outdated technology and could easily put out amazing high powered liquid cooled twins (Ducati can do it) but as long as people are buying what they have why put money into R&D to change what is selling.
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That would be true if Harley didn't manufacture the nostalgia desire through their (extremely good and intelligent) marketing when they were clawing back from teetering on chapter 11 and had no money. It made sense to convince the market that stagnation was great since they couldn't afford to update their designs to compete with the market that crushed them, the Japanese. Absolutely freaking brilliant marketing helped along by the patriotic slant in the US (although I cannot understand what that has to do with Canadians, but then again people are mostly soft headed).

Saying they can do what Ducati does on the same level is not quite accurate, they gave up the attempt after failing miserably for years. Look up the VR1000 race program. At least that gave us the V-rod engine.

I have ridden, rented, and like some Harley models. I would own one if they build what I want when I am in the market for a new bike. I simply do not like the manufactured image with no substance. A product does not change who you are and that thought process offends my intelligence (or lack of it as the case may be) as well as the masses who have no idea about anything bike related and yet parrot the marketing taglines.

9 out of 10 people may tell you that Harleys are great, right or wrong. Sadly 9 out of 10 people also know nothing about motorcycles.
 
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