Bluebowtie, This started about ten years ago, Harley was given a timetable to adapt their products to meet EPA guidelines. The water cooled bikes are just the beginning, water cooled exhaust valves etc. Do a search EPA vs. Harley-Davidson. I vaguely remember the court rulings , Harley gave the EPA a time frame in exchange for making their products(motorcycles) environmentally friendly or be fined a large amount at that time. The government will be sodomizing your bike just like they do the cars, shove some pipe up the rear and check the emissions! Just the ramblings of an ole Geezer.