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There’s something pure and raw about a motorbike, everything is in view and what you see is what you get, all the engineering is on display and much more so than when its in “cars” for example, where lots of it is hidden behind body panels, Burt Hopwood said something like this in a book he wrote about the British motorcycle industry, in the book he describes how the industry ultimately crumbled when faced with foreign competition, the book was called (What Ever Happened To The Great British Motorcycle Industry), in it he goes on about being a young engineer and walking along broad street in Birmingham in the 1920’s and looking through the plate glass at cars and motorcycles up for sale in the showrooms, he said he appreciated the engineering he could see in the bikes right from chromed domed nuts and coil spring supported saddle’s to cooling fins in the engines, he could actually see the engineering in the machines, he said this attracted him to join BSA or some such company, Bert ended up being a main player in the world of motorcycle design.
An air cooled engine has a kind of rawness about it I think, if you spit on it or **** on it, it sizzles when its hot, also it has a sort of purity as well, especially if you consider that just beneath the root of those cooling fins of the ally barrels there’s pistons running in very hot oil.
I remember reading that h2o is a quite incredible substance and that it is the best option for use in extreme heat exchange situations like nuclear reactors, its good in domestic heating applications too but I’m glad my bike uses mere air cooling, its got purity and simplicity and rawness.
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AIR cooled
Linear Mode
