Heat Issue: First Step Suggestions

[Pete1]

Hi All. I know this is old stuff for you guys,but I am still learning.
I took off the inner cowlings(real easy to do) and it made a difference in the heat issue. Not that the heat was ever a deal breaker,my old harley gets hot too.
I rode about 300 miles on sunday and never noticed any heat at all, after the first hour I would normaly have to stick my knees in the wind to cool off every 20 minutes or so.

We are riding to Deals Gap to slay the dragon,about 850 miles one way and that will be the test

Later
Pete

 

[hojo in sc]

I've tried the inner cowling removal, did not notice any improvement. When you stop and think about it, why would it; when your driving at 10 mph, the wind direction is towards YOU, so how is the heat gonna travel forward faster than you?

I tell ya what, now that summer is here I might be driving my ST even less and go on the GS.

 

[Talonboy]

I've tried the inner cowling removal, did not notice any improvement. When you stop and think about it, why would it; when your driving at 10 mph, the wind direction is towards YOU, so how is the heat gonna travel forward faster than you?

I tell ya what, now that summer is here I might be driving my ST even less and go on the GS.

My take on why removing the inner cowls seems to help the heat issue. With the cowls in place, all the air coming into the inner fairing goes thru the radiator, gets hot, then makes it's way throughout the bike, and onto your body.
With the cowls removed, some air goes around the radiator, gets mixed with the hot air that went thru the radiator, then makes it's way out to you. So the air hitting your body is not as hot.
Some have expressed concern that the radiator is loosing air flow and may cause overheating. I have not experienced this, nor have I read that anyone else has yet. The stock Honda temp gauge only shows bars, not numbers. So unless the gauge shows additional bars it's hard to say if the engine is getting hotter. My bike has never gotten hotter than 3 bars on the stock gauge, with cowls in or out.

 

[hojo in sc]

True, I don't think there is any concern of the bike overheating without the cowling, I too have taken them off to try. The first time I did it I did NOT notice any improvement. And as a matter of fact, the left inner cowling is off my bike right now, due to a part being missing (the female thread for a screw, I have the part now but haven't gotten around to putting it back on).

I think it is too subjective to be 100% certain that removing the cowling really does work. I would also venture to bet that I do more slow speed riding than 99.9% of the people here. As a matter of fact, this past Sat I spent 9 hours on the ST at speeds ranging from 10 mph-30 mph. I felt the extreme heat on BOTH legs (remember, the left inner cowling hasn't been put back on yet), and BOTH of my lower legs were red and dry skin was peeling.

I have ridden so many other bikes (as I'm sure most have here), that I am ready to ride anything OTHER than the ST, on the days I'm required to ride at slow speeds.

 

[hondast1300]

Another question is what kind of gear you're wearing. Jeans and sneakers vs. good pants and tall boots can make all the difference.

--Mark

+1. But I never ride without boots. I have an unfaired bike that's hot wearing gear also. There's a nice place in Death Valley called Furnace Creek to test any theories.
VegasRob

 

[Gene]

Get rid of the convertors they are nothing but huge heat sinks cooking everything near them including you and the bike frame !!!

 

[gregj]

I too have an 07. I tired wrapping the headers, big disappointment, I pulled the wrap off after a few days. I have the inner cowls ventilated, and this so far has made a noticeable improvement.

Getting rid of the stock mufflers with their cat converters could help quite a bit.

 

[johndinla]

Any body have an answer about after market wind deflectors instead of the Honda ones? Expensive!

 

[Pete1]

Hi All, I have been looking for aftermaket deflectors also, with no luck. The factory ones seen very prciey.

My take on the cowls out is that more air moves thru the bike and cools everything off.
Just my opinion.


See Ya
Pete

 

[johndinla]

Forgot to say...

Right now I have one inner cowl on and one off. I do feel heat from both at times, depending on wind, speed etc. But... it's cooler without the cowl.

 

[janfmiller]

My ST has the Honda fairing and mirror extensions. My friends does not, and I was surprised at how much more heat hits you without them....

 

[TRICKYRIC5474]

I have the fairing extensions, they did help push the hot air flow out away from my legs. By far the biggest improvement I have experienced is when I replaced the stock cans with Staintunes. The heat is much less, much like other water cooled faired bikes and much cooler than any of my Harleys were on a hot day.

 

[johndinla]

I did an experiment... removed right side inner cowl and left side still on... big difference!

 

[rider13]

+1 on the inner cowling removal

 

[TMUS]

I put about 175 miles today, temps in the high 80's and as always no issue with heat, are you wearing over pants or shorts :lol:

 

[OldWingit]

45,000 miles with inner cowls removed. Much cooler at highway speeds. I almost always wear my Stich outer pants. Windshield cut down 5"s also a big help.

Ed

 

[tog]

The easiest, cheapest, quickest, reversible fix is remove the inner fairing cowls. Ride the bike. See if it is enough cooler to satisfy you.

how????

 

[hojo in sc]

how????

Here is the proof that taking the inner cowls off will help;

https://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85456&highlight=st1300+heat+data

and if you want to take them off, and I'm going off the top of my head here, on the right side, look at the right fork, then over to the side of the glove box (the left side of the right hand glove box). There are a couple of plastic pop out plastic gizmo's. You need to take a small phillips screw driver and push gently in smack in the middle and then gently pull on the outer edges of the plastic gizmos.

Then from underneath the bike by looking up the edges of the fork, look up at the plastic area and you will see a few more of those plastic gizmos, and possibly one screw (phillips) that needs to come out. Gently pull the inner cowl downwards.

One word of caution on the right inner cowl, the ambient air temp. sensor is mounted on the inner cowl, you will need to take a screwdriver and remove it, then tie band it some where. Repeat on the left inner cowl.