Heat from the ST engine

secondroy

Joined
Aug 5, 2008
Messages
3
Location
Flower Mound
I'm new to the ST and to this forum though not to riding. This may have been gone over before and if so, sorry but when out on the road I'm getting a lot of heat from the engine on my legs. It gets so hot that the bottom of the tank area will actually burn my leg. I have learned to ride with my leg out and away from the tank but the heat is still awesome and very uncomfortable.

What can I do. When I came in from a ride the other day I looked at the leg area that had felt so uncomfortable and it was red as if I have just gotten a sun burn.
 
+1 on the pants, my new Darian's solved the problem for me. Can't believe I went so long without the proper leg and knee protection...ATGATT
 
secondroy said:
I'm new to the ST and to this forum though not to riding. This may have been gone over before and if so, sorry but when out on the road I'm getting a lot of heat from the engine on my legs. It gets so hot that the bottom of the tank area will actually burn my leg. I have learned to ride with my leg out and away from the tank but the heat is still awesome and very uncomfortable.

What can I do. When I came in from a ride the other day I looked at the leg area that had felt so uncomfortable and it was red as if I have just gotten a sun burn.
Click to expand...

Keep your gas tank filled. The problem is much more pronounced when the tank is near empty. Putting the seat in the low position also seems to help.
 
Pants? You mean you guys wear pants? No wonder I've been getting strange looks lately, and women either laugh or get violently ill. I thought it was just my hi-viz Darien jacket.
 
In addition to the things already mentioned I added the fairing extenders from Honda and that has helped a lot. Good luck!
 
I also found the heat from the engine pretty HOT! So, I took off the plastics and the side cowls (with the pockets) and put reflective foil tape on the inside towards the engine. The idea was to reflect the heat back to the engine. I also plan on wrapping the exhaust headers the next time I take off the plastics to try and minimize the heat. Hope this helps...
 
secondroy said:
I'm new to the ST and to this forum though not to riding. This may have been gone over before and if so, sorry but when out on the road I'm getting a lot of heat from the engine on my legs. It gets so hot that the bottom of the tank area will actually burn my leg. I have learned to ride with my leg out and away from the tank but the heat is still awesome and very uncomfortable.

What can I do. When I came in from a ride the other day I looked at the leg area that had felt so uncomfortable and it was red as if I have just gotten a sun burn.
Click to expand...

Search in the Known Issues, you'll find lots of reading. The simplest thing to do that will help is to either pull the upper inner cowels, or ventilate them with lots of big holes. This will help mix cool fresh air with the hot air from the radiator. There are a lot of other things that may help, but so far so single fix. Good luck. :D
 
The air deflectors look like they might help a lot. I'm going to put them on and see. Thanks. Oh...that knee protector I saw on the site--I wonder if it would help keep my leg off that hot tank.
 
secondroy said:
What can I do. When I came in from a ride the other day I looked at the leg area that had felt so uncomfortable and it was red as if I have just gotten a sun burn.
Click to expand...

I have the same problem with mine.
I am certain some bikes are hotter than others...although I don't know why.

I have started a thread here...https://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47372

Some potential solutions are mentioned there.

So far I have:
  • cut / ventilated the inner cowls,
  • wrapped the headers...didn't work on my bike...made it worse to me,
  • insulated the fairing pockets as peeace mentioned above,
  • added the '08 plastic side covers,
  • fairing and mirror extensions,
For now I am waiting for the headers to come back from Jet-Hot. They are coating them with ceramic...supposed to help. They should be back by the end of the up-coming week.

On that install I'll be adding some Staintunes exhaust to them. Some say aftermarket exhausts run cooler as they allow the hot gases to escape faster and they do not have Catalytic Converters in them to hold heat.

(Right next to your feet BTW!)

With the exhausts I will be adding a FPR @ 60 psi to richen up the mixture as this is also reported to help. Thats about all I think you can do.

So... I don't lnow if the cut cowls or any of the above mentioned things will make a big difference until I install it all with the coated headers, Staintunes, and FPR.

I'll be posting with the results.

Good luck!
 
secondroy said:
The air deflectors look like they might help a lot. I'm going to put them on and see. Thanks. Oh...that knee protector I saw on the site--I wonder if it would help keep my leg off that hot tank.
Click to expand...

Are you riding an ST1100 or 1300? Are the 1100s hotter than the 1300s? I just got home from a 1200 mile ride, on one of the days we spent 200+ miles in 105 degrees. I was dressed like you see below, those are mesh pants and I was wearing nothing under tham so any heat would have been hitting right on my skin and I didnt feel a thing?? I looked at my legs and they are not red either.

https://www.st-owners.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=35264&d=1220233661
 
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