Quote: With water cooling we can squeeze more hp out of the motor for a given size since we can remove the heat more quickly and efficiently using water as compared to air.
The types of motors we typically use don't fall in this category of needing HP "squeezed" out of them. In fact, you can really only do that in two ways: A) Increased displacement, which creates heavier motorcycles (and still doesn't require water cooling until more radical volumes are reached), and B) high performance tuning, which sacrifices broadband torque for a narrowband increase in volumetric efficiency. This is highly undesireable in a cruiser/touring bike.
Quote: It is also partially for this reason that we can run higher compression ratios and such (i.e. greater heat generation) to get a more complete combustion of the fuel used.
Higher compression ratios also require higher octane. This is neither a solution nor a requirement to meet government regulations. In fact, many combustion chamber designs intended to make better use of high compression ratios are inherently "dirtier" than otherwise, offsetting any potential gains in this area.
Quote: Maybe you can put your engineering head to the problem
It's not an engineering problem. Al Gore isn't bitching about motorcycles. One only needs to get the point established that these motors emit far fewer contaminants per mile travelled that autos and trucks. Hold our machines to the same standards per mile travelled and all this goes away. This problem exists in large part due to the negligence of the motorcycle industry in failing to address and present these issues appropriately to government rulemakers.
'08 America Blue/White; Custom Headlamps, Custom Lowers, Clearview 20", Bafflectomy
