2 wheeled Air Cooled Porsche???

[Leland Pate]

I'm digging this, although I woulda liked to have seen a flat-six stuffed in there.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Custom-Built-Motorcycles-DD-CUSTOM-DUPORSCHE-2006-DUPORSCHE-BY-DAVE-DUPOR-DDCC_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ10062QQihZ007QQite mZ170052446280QQrdZ1

[hatpix]

Link doesn't work, but it's no secret in the Harley world that when they can't figure out how to do something they contract Porsche for engineering help.

Three famous examples. In 1986 when their bikes were notorious for leaking oil, the Porsche designed "Evolution" engine put a stop to most oil leaks. 2004 and later Sportsters have the case drilled for Turbo oil squirters, courtesy of Porsche. And lastly the V-Rod engine, also a Porsche design, is a 1150cc watercooled powerplant that puts out 115 horsepower, something Harley couldn't do to save their own lives.

[Leland Pate]

I don't know why ebay links never seem to work when you copy and paste them.

[snowtire]

I seem to recall an article somewhere about someone installing a 4-cam Carrera motor in a motorcycle and racing it. Not cost-effective these days...

[randywebb]

not just H-D, many many companies have retained the consulting wing of P AG over the decades

[hatpix]

Originally posted by randywebb
not just H-D, many many companies have retained the consulting wing of P AG over the decades

Subaru for one. Hmmm, 4 cylinder pancake engine with turbocharger, I wonder who thought of that...

[mattdavis11]

Originally posted by hatpix
In 1986 when their bikes were notorious for leaking oil, the Porsche designed "Evolution" engine put a stop to most oil leaks.

This just doesn't sound right. Are you sure it was Porsche? I read a lot of folks here talking about cardboard on the garage floor and what not way too often.

[hatpix]

Originally posted by mattdavis11
This just doesn't sound right. Are you sure it was Porsche? I read a lot of folks here talking about cardboard on the garage floor and what not way too often.

Yes, it was Porsche. Before 86 you could expect a puddle of oil in minutes, after the EVO redesign, you could expect a few years before having drips. Keep in mind that these days most Harleys only get a couple thousand miles a year, if that. You have no idea how hard it was to sell a 2 year old bike with 17k miles on it. No one wanted to touch it, and it was still under factory warranty.

[Jeff Higgins]

Ken, you have a couple of your facts wrong. The first collaboration between Harley and Porsche during the early '80's was a water-cooled V4. Think Yamaha Venture Royale; H-D beat them to it by several years. Two prototypes survive under lock and key with H-D. In the end, they chose not to manufacture it and instead put all of their efforts into the Evo. There were a lot of reasons for that decision. Time and H-D's subsequent success have proven it was a good decision.

Porsche had absolutely nothing to do with the Evo. Ever. In any capacity. Nor with the Sportster, piston squirters notwithstanding. These were in use long before Porsche started using them, by the way. They were in somewhat common use by the time H-D adopted them. They did not seek Porsche's input on them.

The only other colaboration between H-D and Porsche has been the V-Rod. As others have pointed out, Porsche is still primarily an engineering firm. They do cars on the side. You would be amazed at the products they have had a hand in designing, from engines in several makes of Japanese cars to kitchen appliances. Any manufacturer contracting with Porsche and taking advantage of their engineering expertise is not necessarily innept because of that. Many companies will farm out engineering work on new products to avoid staffing up during the development phase, only to let all those engineers go once the product hits the market.

There are Harleys out there that get ridden, by the way. I have a couple of them. One is a '76 Sportster that I have owned since '79. I lost track of the miles on it over a decade ago, with several changes of speedos and what not. I lost track at somewhere over 150,000 miles. I'm on my fourth top end job, but the bottom end is original, never rebuilt. It leaks less oil than my 911, which is not a leaker by any stretch. My other bike is a 2000 Road King. I have just shy of 75,000 absolutely trouble-free miles on it. My riding buddy has an '03 anniversary edition Heritage Softail with over 40,000 miles on it already. Granted, none of this is the norm (for any make or motorcycle) but there are those of us that roll up some serious miles on these things.

[svandamme]

Originally posted by Jeff Higgins
Granted, none of this is the norm (for any make or motorcycle)

unless maybe for BMW commute bikes

http://zoek.autotrader.nl/www/bikes_search?modelexact=1&make=&model=&keywords=&min_pr=500&max_pr=&min_year=0&max_year=0&min_mileage=100000&max_mileage=0&distance=0&postcode=&sort=18&dealertype_trade=on&dealertype_private=on&source=0

[Mattcamp]

'97 Heritage= zero drips
'84 Carrera= one drip each park