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Vulcan 500 water cooled
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Has the Vulcan 500 always been water cooled or did it start out with
an air cooled engine?
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There's a place to look this up: bikez.com. They have listings of
all the models made since the 1970s, with stats, links, and photos.
I was curious about that myself so I looked it up. It's kind of
confusing. There is the EN 500 which goes back to 1990 but isn't
called the Vulcan (in this listing) until 2000 (but I seem to remember
them being called 'Vulcan' earlier than that). It is liquid-cooled.
Then there is the Vulcan 500 LTD, 2006 only, which is also
liquid-cooled.
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I was curious because I saw an ad for one and the ad said it was "air
cooled". I wasn't aware of any EN500's that weren't water cooled so I
thought I would ask figuring that maybe there was one year that it was
air cooled.
Seems they were all water cooled. The ad must have been wrong.
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A lot of water-cooled bikes these days are designed to look like
air-cooled, with fake cylinder fins and radiators that are hidden or
disguised in the frame. Especially cruisers. Some of them you really
have to look twice! I can see how someone who wasn't really into
bikes could make the mistake.
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Actually, fins may serve as part of the cooling equation, but
not all.
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You know, I've wondered about that. Some water-cooled bikes have
shallow fins, obviously fake. Others have deep fins, almost like an
air-cooled bike. They couldn't shed heat nearly as much as on an
air-cooled bike because they'd be much cooler, being on the outside of
the water-jacket. But they must do -some- cooling.
The first water-cooled bike that I remember being popular was the
Suzuki 750 'Water Buffalo'. It had smooth cylinders, and I thought
they looked very distinctive. I thought it might have been a way of
'advertising' that the bike water-cooled. Just as the first Honda 750
4-cylinder had 4 exhaust pipes and 4 mufflers, just so you wouldn't
miss noticing it was 4-cylinder.
But I had in mind those metric Harley clones that you really have to
look twice at to see they're not Harleys. The resemblance is not
coincidental! They'd look funny with smooth cylinders.
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I don't think so. They're plastic in most cases...
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Not on mine. They are purely decorative. And removable. Some jobs
require that you take them off. They are just bolted on.
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Just because they are separate doesn't mean they don't dissipate heat.
If there's an insulating gasket, though...
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In the case of the new generation Venture and Tour Deluxe, the fins
are purely cosmetic. They were added to make the engine look more like
the Ultra with an air cooled V-Twin.
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I think the tip-off is the size of the radiator. Bikes with a smallish
radiator, then fins provide some cooling. Water cooling helps to cut the
edge off overheating when stopped.
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Actually, I have liked the clean looks of the Kawasaki Vulcan 750 without
the fins showing. It looks like a direct competitor to the Suzuki Intruder
(now Boulevard S50).
BTW, what is your ride?
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