It is only a matter of time before they will all be liquid cooled, I don't think it s that bad really. A lot of bikes are liquid cooled now and they still get sold, and just to chuck the cat in with the pigeons, I think the V-Rod goes really well considering it will leave my old girl for dead in standard form, not to mention I think liquid cooled engines seem to run quite a bit better than the air cooled ones. Bear in mind that Harley also has to meet the requirements laid down by the Yankee pollution mob. So it don't matter if you like it or not, they will be liquid cooled sooner or later.

I cant see how the water cooling on the engine will change the sound, if crank off sets, bore and ports stay the same, exhaust pipes make the loudness and depth.

someone please explain

The V angle and the crank angle have a big say in what 'note' a motor has paulybronci, that's why a BMW twin (180 degree flat twin) has a flat dead sort of sound and a Ducati (90 deg L twin) has a more interesting sound.

The revolution twin is 60 degrees where as most Harleys are 55 degrees which means they'll never really sound the same (like how the BMW twin and the Ducati twin don't sound the same).

There are ways to use the crank angle to partially compensate for the effect (Yamaha did this with their TRX850 using a 270 degree crank angle to try and make a 360 degree vertical twin sound like a 90 degree L twin but it's only a half way band aid effect because it only compensates for primary vibrations in the motor and secondary vibrations are still different to the genuine article).

I guess what I'm getting at is that the new partially water cooled motor will sound and feel pretty much like a big twin harley does now and the revolution motor never will.

 

*edit*  The correct angle for a HD big twin is of course 45 degrees (which I knew but for some reason kept typing 55 - blame too much beer )