air cooled or water cooled?

I agree with everything Pilgrim said, except all tallied up, I like liquid cooled. If I lived in a post apocalyptic world and

had to do all my own work, than air-cooled.

Water Cooled Motorcycles

Air Cooled Motorcycles

Liquid (some water) cooled: When your engine gets hot, what ever the manufacturer set the temperature guage to to trigger the fan, the bike will get cooling. This occurs while stopped, low speeds, and high speeds. Some liquid cooled engines have fins (not as pronounced as air cooled) so they actually get some air cooling. Some draw backs include extra weight, more maintanence, and the looks are not as nice sometimes.

Air cooled: designed to dissipate heat quickly in the air around it. Cooling does increasing the faster you go, but at slow speeds and idling (sitting in traffic, warming up the engine, etc) the engine runs the risk of over heating. Engines on aircooled bikes often have heatsinks and or intergrated fin designs to help dissipate heat. Similar to what is used on computer processors and electronic components that generate a lot of heat.

If you will be riding in an urban environment a lot and you are looking at an air cooled bike, read up on it carefully. You don't want anything that gets too hot too quickly.

Aircooled is a bit old school, as more bikes are water cooled.

Benefits of air cooled: simple design, no water to deal with, no pumps or rads. Classic bike engine look

disadvantages, no cooling when waiting in traffic- which means the engine gets hotter n hotter, causing ware, shorter life span and in extreme conditions seizing. Also the fins can collect crap , and if left to build up can block air passages causing 'hot spots' fins can look scruffy with age and can quite easily be bent or snapped off. Engineering flaws in clyinder design and fin layout can also create hot-spots.

Air cooled bikes with oil coolers fitted are an improovement- so is adding a thermostatically controlled fan to the oil cooler.

Water cooled benefits: engine is kept and an even temperature, engine is muffled by the 'water jacket' created around the cylinder. No problems waiting in traffic jams/ hot summers etc as temperature is kept at a good rate, especially with the aid of a thermatically controlled fan.

Disadvantages: a bit of extra wieght, a non classic bike engine look, need to replace the water for winter, problems can occur, like water pump failing, crap building up in water system from errosion or casings. a radiator on the front-that can look quite dominating.

If i was going to choose, i would go or a water cooled engine , as overheating wouldnt be an issue. Afterall car engines have been using water cooling since the year dot!.

Well, it is assumed that the faster you go the cooler your motorcycle would run. But certainly the whole concept of motorcycle engineering goes deeper then trying to keep it cool.

The ideal temperature for a motorcycle to run at is not "cold". Certainly, you dont want your bike to run hot but what is hot and what is too cool?

You see, buying a aircooled motorcycle doesn't necessarily mean it will run more efficient. One of the reasons why motorcycles are more likely to be water cooled. Because water cooled bikes tend to last longer. There are many reasons for this too. A water cooled bike tends to maintain heat distribution better then aircooled. Hence the VW aircooled motors that had overheating issue on on of the cylinders because of insufficient airflow.

On an MC you will not have perfect airflow either. But with a water cooled motor you will always have water flowing through the important areas and internals to keep the temperatures at a safe level.

Yes, water cooled bikes weight more. But they produce more power due to better cooling and they motors last longer. I can understand why some folks prefer aircooled dirtbikes but that trend is changing.

As for your comment about being able to keep the bike cooler the faster you go. You can use that same arguement for water cooled bikes. They have radiators!

Miguel

You heard partially wrong friend, water cooled engines run much cooler.

Air cooled- Heat is transferred to the air that crosses the fins on the jug. when going slow or stopped there is almost no cooling.

Water Cooled- Heat is transferred to the water and then tranferred to the air via the radiator. Most importantly, when the engine reaches a certain temperature, the fan kicks on to keep your bike nice and cool even when sitting still.

This has been debated for decades.

Water cooled can burn more efficiently and extract more power than an air cooled, but 67% of all engine breakdowns occurs as the result of a liquid cooling system failure.

My prejudice is for air cooled. I know they need to burn rich to keep the exhaust valve cool. I know they can't extract as much power from an equal displacement. I know mechanical parts fail from heat more readily than a water-pumper . . . yeah, yeah yeah.

For me, motorcycling is simplicity of movement and economy of machine. The simpler, the better. Form follows function. Elegance is defined in terms of economy of engineering, not in the gaudy designs of some staff designer in Tokyo.

It's all those cleverly formed chunks of metal interacting in perfect harmony to produce a cadence of rythm and graceful acceleration.

I appreciate what can only be described as art. Starting a motorcycle shouldn't be done with the finger on a button, but with the foot on a pedal. I don't want a water pump, just two cylinders beating back and forth (I ride a BMW). Don't give me warning buzzers and idiot lights, give me gauges and a reserve tank.

Of airplanes it has ever been an axiom that if it looks right, it will fly right. The same goes for a motorcycle. If it's necessary to form plastic nodes to paste on it to make it look better, it's not going to be right no matter what you do.

But if it looks right because it's designed right, it will be right no matter what.

I guess I'm just old school.

Some great LONG answers. Short story... 180 HP factory Vrod is pretty fast, water cooled and looks pretty good. Fuel injection on most bikes monitors heat and adjusts performance. Real answer is longevity... air cooled can't touch water cooled. 2010 EPA emission regs may have ALL bikes water cooled. I ride an air cooled custom (w/ an oil cooler).

First of all going fast is great ..but stopping without crashing into something is priceless. Dont listen to the dingbat trying to make a ricky racer out of ya! Take a class and learn the right way, it would help to keep my insurance down. Now both designs have advantages over the other. Air cooled means no radiator to check and fill or get punctured. Water cooled moters last longer and are great for long rides. Find something you like and ride!