Water Cooled RT for 2013?

[rlaprise]

Why? I live in the desert and don't have a problem. My fear is BMW will fix something that has never needed fixing and ruin a great bike. Worries me as much as changing the 3series. Maybe I'm rambling....thoughts on this issue?

[gene36542]

In order to meet ECU emission standards...

[rlaprise]

Thanks. I did not know that.

[GRLambert]

I rather imagine that this all about emissions. BMW can either comply or stop building boxers. I vote we keep the boxer.

[rlaprise]

More reason to keep my baby...

[lkchris]

I rather imagine that this all about emissions. BMW can either comply or stop building boxers. I vote we keep the boxer.

Make that mostly noise emissions.

[PeterV]

Mostly it is the EPA. Yep big brother and green big brother. BMW, Bosch and others have done a pretty good job with the older designs keeping them up to spec.. The US big twin types need to update so we all have to conform. Don't you just love conforming..

[ragtoplvr]

I really think it is more about horsepower. with water in the heads temperatures can be dissipated better, higher horsepower, and better economy as you can use 10W40 or even 5W30 oils with the tighter tolerances.

Rod

[willhawks]

Think Goldwing in terms of reliability, think Porsche in terms of performance and think the water cooled Continental Aircraft engines in terms of lower cylinder head temps and high altitude performance.

[lkchris]

Mostly it is the EPA.

Bit provencial, aren't we?

EPA is easy compared to German requirements.

[ExGMan]

It's clearly not driven by the EPA. Seems the EU is heavily into a multi-year process in reducing motorcycle emissions. I found a description of the timetable for the increasingly-stringent program in an EU press release from last year:

"The Commission is therefore determined to address these air quality concerns by the introduction of three emission steps, which are proposed for the coming decade. The Commission proposes among others a Euro 3, a Euro 4 and a Euro 5 step (and a Euro 6 step for motorcycles) to be complied with in 2014, 2017 and 2020, respectively."

This would appear to be the timetable to which many manufacturers have agreed, including BMW. One would think the EPA regs. might be more of an afterthought or even an irritant.

In reading some of the literature, it looks like the big offenders (in terms of emissions) are the many small-displacement/non-EFI two-wheelers.

[43883]

Like I've said before... I'm keeping my 2010 (or newer air/oil cooled boxer) unless the new water cooled boxer knocks my socks off (in both weight and performance).

Btw, the V Rod is hardly a Harley. Yes, it's a V twin but the similarities end there. And even that V is very different in terms of angle.

I'm sure that BMW will make an awesome water jacketed boxer engine. It's probably even easier for them to do that than keep the old boxer alive and up to specs. Besides... we have so many options.

tsp
Blog: www.swriding.blogspot.com

[05Train]

Yep, cannot make the all important stupid noise with overhead cams. They would rather pay big bucks and ride underpowered slugs just for a sound, it just drives me nuts. I have suggested that they mount a small sub-woofer under the tour-pak in order to make the sound and get on with building a modern motor.

Modern motor? You mean like with speed-density fuel injection, throttle-by-wire, cylinder deactivation for cooling, CANBUS, a dry-sump oiling system, and getting 50mpg dragging around a 900-pound bike?

Yeah, shame they can't do that........

If what other people ride drives you nuts, you might want to consider switching to decaf.


Water cooling offers all sorts of benefits, not the least of which is the fact that you can make an engine with tighter tolerances when the heating cycle is managed. This translates into (generally) more power, more efficiency, less noise, fewer emissions, and increased reliability. What's lost is simplicity. That's great for the dealer's service department, not so good for people like me who do their own work. Truthfully, having a cooling system isn't the end of the world for DIY-ers, it's just one more thing to futz with.