HarleyTechTalk

Do they have the same heat issues that HD has? And if not, why?

No. Nikasil cylinders and more efficient engine. Flame on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikasil
Hmmm, Learned something. Thanks bbrowncods! Care to elaborate on Victory's motor?

IMO, some of the models look like they may dissipate heat better than HD, given the body work.  Not meaning that in a negative way.  Just looks like they may channel the hot air a little better that way.

menace

Where is this better-dissipated heat going?  It's just getting to the air surrounding the engine sooner from the time of the heat's creation.  Produce 20 HP for 20 minutes and you're going to have so many BTUs generated, and these things probably aren't even hitting 40% thermal efficiency.  It doesn't matter if there's an iron liner or if the bore's Nikasil.  All those wasted BTUs are going to go somewhere.  There may very well be ramifications to the way the engine runs over time under the same circumstances between the two, but the heat's getting made the same either way.  The difference is in how long the heat is retained in the cylinders/heads.

Got a water jacket?  Same thing.  The heat's going to the water to the radiator to the air.  A tremendous amount of it.  It's a gasoline engine and it's making power, thus it's generating heat and putting it into the air in the immediate vicinity.

I think they all come stock with oil coolers...

I have a Victory cruiser from 2000 to 2004. They did not run hot at all. They had a rather large oil cooler. Bike also held 6 qts of oil. The engine and tranny shared the same fluid.
Ken