Hot Lateral Body Parts

[STLUX]

Hello everyone, I just started my adventure with an almost new ST 1300 (2500 km elapsed) and found a high temperature of lateral body parts which in some specific case caused the melting of the rubber surface of my motorcycle pants. I am thinking to insulate those specific point from the interior by laying a classic high temperature insulating layer as used inside the engine hood of the cars. Do you have any experience about that? Thanks in advance.
Alex

 

[Obo]

Hi @STLUX and welcome to the forum.

Yes, the frame on the bike can get very warm where your boots & pants are.

I've never heard of them getting hot enough to melt the rubber surface though.

Insulating the interior of the frame isn't a great idea. There's a lot of heat that's transferred to the frame (as you know). Because it travels in the frame, insulating behind the parts that touch your pants would likely have little effect. You'd be better off to find a way to insulate that part of the frame from the outside.

 

[Igofar]

If you start trying to insulate stuff, your going to be trapping the heat inside the bike, and toast the wire harness, and the knock sensor switches, as well as melting the inside of the plastic stuff.
(not my picture)

 

[Sadlsor]

What year is yours, @STLUX ?
I keep hearing of heat issues with some STs, but I guess I am fortunate.with my 2008.
I live in the Sun Belt (USA), and even now in almost July, I have no issues whatsoever with unwanted motor-caused temps.
I only found a warming spot the other night, by accident, while hanging a free hand down aft of the exposed cylinder heads, in the slipstream. It wasn't "HOT" really (I was at speed), but I could tell that was air coming off / over the motor.

 

[ibike2havefun]

I found that without my gear I was much more aware of engine heat than when I was geared up. And yes, on a few occasions I rode the 0.75 miles to the gas station on hot summer nights, on residential streets, at 25 mph or less, without fully gearing up. For shame, tsk tsk, I'm going to burn in all eternity, I know.

 

[CYYJ]

Hi Alex:

Welcome to the forum community.

My first suggestion would normally be "check the radiator to ensure it is not obstructed by dirt or mud", but this is unlikely if your moto only has 2,500 kms on it. But check it anyway... spray some detergent directly into the radiator, then hose it out.

Next, check to ensure that the cooling fans operate by putting the bike on the center stand, starting the engine, and letting the motorcycle idle until the fans kick on. You should see the temperature gauge rise above the usual "3 bars", then the fans will start.

There is a rubber heat mat under the air cleaner - it is possible that it is misplaced, but again that is unlikely due to the low mileage.

What you should do is investigate inside the engine area to see if mice nests are creating blockages to air flow. A 10 year old motorcycle with only 2,500 kms has been sitting unused for many years... this makes the possibility of mice nesting in the engine area quite possible.

It is not difficult to disassemble all of the plastic body panels (we call them "Tupperware"), but it sure helps if you have an experienced person show you how to do it the first time. In the section of our forum titled ST1300 Articles, you will find an article called ST1300 - TupperWare Worksheet. Although this article does not contain disassembly instructions, it does show you what fastener goes where, which makes re-assembly quite easy.

Be aware that all of the fasteners on the motorcycle that appear to be Phillips head (cross-head) fasteners are not Phillips. They are a special type of fastener called a JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) screw. You need a JIS screwdriver to operate these fasteners, if you use a regular Phillips screwdriver on them you will chew the heads up. You can get a set of 3 of these for about €25, but you really only need the medium size. The most trusted manufacturer of JIS screwdrivers is Vessel - here is a link to their European website: Vessel Europe.

A last possibility is that your moto is low on coolant. When you have the body panels off and when the engine is stone-cold, remove the radiator cap. The radiator should be full to the very top, and the coolant reservoir on the left side (just above the front of your left foot, behind the body panel) should be half-full.

Good luck.

Michael

 

[Andrew Shadow]

You should see the temperature gauge rise above the usual "3 bars", then the fans will start.

Hi Michael;
By rise above three bars, do you mean that your gauge displays four bars before the fans kick in? If so, I am surprised by that, I have never heard that before.
I have never seen four bars on mine. The fans kick in while three bars are displayed. I would not consider four bars on the gauge before the fans kick in to be a normal condition.

 

[STRider]

If you start trying to insulate stuff, your going to be trapping the heat inside the bike, and toast the wire harness, and the knock sensor switches, as well as melting the inside of the plastic stuff.
(not my picture)

I was about to write, "Wow, that looks a lot like my bike's upper right cowl" and was moving to find the photo I took of the same part, at which point I said, "Wait, that looks like my ST1100's backrest pad" and well, then, you know where this goes from there.

2012 ST1300, second owner with about 4,000mi at the time, less than 500mi after taking ownership in July 2020.

 

[Whisker Bill]

Welcome to the best forum!
Enjoy!
Whisker Bill

 

[Igofar]

I was about to write, "Wow, that looks a lot like my bike's upper right cowl" and was moving to find the photo I took of the same part, at which point I said, "Wait, that looks like my ST1100's backrest pad" and well, then, you know where this goes from there.

2012 ST1300, second owner with about 4,000mi at the time, less than 500mi after taking ownership in July 2020.

Sorry about that, I have several pictures of heat damage due to the car salesman's foil hack, and somehow your picture was in that group and my thumb grabbed yours etc.
But he will get the idea.