Air-cooled vs liquid-cooled.

[Big Dave]

Water cooled V air cooled on a road bike - I have one of each - doesn't make any difference.

Less maintenance with Air cooled. One less thing to check.

[Ixion]

Hm. Lez see.

Air cooled :

Fins. Hard to go wrong
Air. Free and universally available

Done

Liquid Cooled

Water jackets. Get blocked up. Corrode
Coolant- expensive glycol mix.
Water pump. Lot and lots of parts. Including bearings and seals
Drive for water pump.
Radiator. Expensive. Fragile. Easy damaged in a crash. Gets blocked
Hoses and clips. Numerous They leak.
Thermostat. Mechanical. Enough said
Temperature sensors. Electronic. Enough said
Temperature gauge.
Overflow tank.
Fan.
Fan controller
Fuses. Anything that uses fuses will go wrong sooner or later.

Other bits I've forgotten .

Which one do you reckon will be the more reliable ?

[rwh]

It's directed at the entire line of GSX600/750F's.

Ah, who cares. They're all still better looking than any of the 'real' katanas

The katana reminds me of the Subaru Vortex. I thought it was cool - briefly - in the 80's, but that didn't last ...

Richard

[FilthyLuka]

Hm. Lez see.

Air cooled :

Fins. Hard to go wrong
Air. Free and universally available

Done

Liquid Cooled

Water jackets. Get blocked up. Corrode
Coolant- expensive glycol mix.
Water pump. Lot and lots of parts. Including bearings and seals
Drive for water pump.
Radiator. Expensive. Fragile. Easy damaged in a crash. Gets blocked
Hoses and clips. Numerous They leak.
Thermostat. Mechanical. Enough said
Temperature sensors. Electronic. Enough said
Temperature gauge.
Overflow tank.

Other bits I've forgotten .

Which one do you reckon will be the more reliable ?

HAHA! bling on its way my friend. Probably the best description i've heard yet

[Edbear]

Hm. Lez see.

Air cooled :

Fins. Hard to go wrong
Air. Free and universally available

Done

Liquid Cooled

Water jackets. Get blocked up. Corrode
Coolant- expensive glycol mix.
Water pump. Lot and lots of parts. Including bearings and seals
Drive for water pump.
Radiator. Expensive. Fragile. Easy damaged in a crash. Gets blocked
Hoses and clips. Numerous They leak.
Thermostat. Mechanical. Enough said
Temperature sensors. Electronic. Enough said
Temperature gauge.
Overflow tank.
Fan.
Fan controller
Fuses. Anything that uses fuses will go wrong sooner or later.

Other bits I've forgotten .

Which one do you reckon will be the more reliable ?

Oh, well! I guess I'll just have to put up with it...

[limbimtimwim]

When people talk about reliability and toughness, I always think about the consumer dirt bikes (i.e. not strung-out MXers). Single cylinder, drum brakes, spokes, carburettored, and air-cooled.

They arn't anymore. Honda CRF250X/450X*, Yamaha WR450, Suzuki DR-Z450. And no drums to be seen either. Ick! Begone.

The DR-Z is pretty durable, I gave mine a good solid chuck at the ground and then into some tyres and it was fine. On the same day I watched a WR400 hit the tarmac at least half a dozen times and it was fine too. I'm not saying they are more durable, but they are not fragile babies either.

And why am I on KB on this nice day? I got sunburnt yesterday and should give my face a chance to recover. Damnit.

* Apparently these two are pretty highly strung.

[Oakie]

Hm. Lez see.

Air cooled :

Fins. Hard to go wrong
Air. Free and universally available

Done

Liquid Cooled

Water jackets. Get blocked up. Corrode
Coolant- expensive glycol mix.
Water pump. Lot and lots of parts. Including bearings and seals
Drive for water pump.
Radiator. Expensive. Fragile. Easy damaged in a crash. Gets blocked
Hoses and clips. Numerous They leak.
Thermostat. Mechanical. Enough said
Temperature sensors. Electronic. Enough said
Temperature gauge.
Overflow tank.
Fan.
Fan controller
Fuses. Anything that uses fuses will go wrong sooner or later.

Other bits I've forgotten .

Which one do you reckon will be the more reliable ?

Well if you put it that way! Cheers for that.

[SPman]

At a WIMA rally, some years ago, a KZ440 motor was tortured to attempted death! Similar to a GS400/450/500 motor and aircooled. Said motor was run til it seized! Cooled down and - hey presto, fired up and ran again, glowing redder and redder, for tens of minutes, until it seized again. This happened several times until people got tired of the "sport" and wandered off.I think the motor was eventually killed, but it took some effort to do so.
I just don't think a water cooled motor would last as long......

[Bonez]

Water cooled bikes can't be too bad. My CX is still going strong, albeit with "quirks", after 29 years of abuse and neglet. Prefer air cooled m/c myself though for the reasons Ixion has pointed out. I do note he didn't include fuses in the air cooled list though or stators, windings, ignition units, wiring etc etc etc.

[Motu]

Amen to what Ixion says....and as Speedo-cop pointed out they are all air cooled anyway,the correct term for a liquid cooled engine is indirect air cooled.So all that crap to get the heat to the air,and if any one of the components in the chain doesn't do it's job then the plan doesn't work and it over heats.Direct air cooled is as simple as it gets.

[Big Dave]

Fins. Hard to go wrong

Ariel Square 4.

And any 'non-transverse' multi cylinder engine.

[Big Dave]

At a WIMA rally,

What.....the.......fuck.......?

[Motu]

And any 'non-transverse' multi cylinder engine.

Like a V twin? The rear cyls run hotter than the front,but not enough to really worry about.Get a non contact thermometer and check temps on some of the bikes you get to ride.....nothing like finding out what is really happening.And yes,that's what I do,the Raytec fits nicely in my jacket pocket.

[Big Dave]

Like a V twin?

I meant like douglas, Indians and multis warping the heads.

V-twins is vtwinsah

[avgas]

tomato, tomaeto
i like both,
oil/air seems to be the best combo to me - if you get a decent oil cooler system it essentially is the same as water cooled.
Good thoery i use is this:
1-100k's air is superior, 100-1000k water is superior. If you do any more than 1000k's in a day it doesnt matter what you ride. You are the weakest link.