Tell me about overheating on air cooled bikes

[NeverSayDie]

Am I the only person who has run an air cooled bike at idle just to keep warm? That bike burned through oil but never stranded me. 1100 Yamaha Virago with no oil cooler.

 

[moto-rama]

That was in a semiconductor design group back in the '90s - no unions. My solution was to transfer into another department.

My takeaway from the experience: never be the token white boy in an Asian group - they live to work while we tend to work to live.

Old labor codgers never stop organizing. If they did, there'd be No Days Off.

 

[WWWobble]

After installing oil temperature gauges in two of my air cooled bikes, a GS750 Suzuki and a CBX, I found heat isn't the only consideration of air coolers.

Riding the CBX to LA one cold, drizzly day, I noticed the oil was running too cool, never exceeding 140F. That ain't good either... I had to block off the oil cooler on return to get it to run anywhere near the preferred 180 to 200 range.

In summer, that same CBX could get hot. Red lights in Phoenix? Right turn on Red is your friend when the oil temp is 240F at the sump, and rising.

 

[Junkie]

I need to get around to installing a thermostat on my new WR for the same reason. I'm seeing coolant temps as low as 120F.

 

[somesuch]

The many 1982 CB900f Hondas that I had, all overheated in heavy traffic in hot weather (new and rejetted)
They would start pinging and loosing power after a few minutes of stop and go if the weather was warm/hot. Just a little bit of a breeze or moving at 10-15 mph was enough to keep them cool enough.
The head temp gauge (not the oil temp gauge) would peg above 325F
They never "blew up" but they did overheat.
"Real" overheating would happen very infrequently as the weather/traffic/length of time idling/no wind/etc all had to line up perfectly.

 

[aminalmutha]

No, it doesn't have to be. But using conventional oil is penny wise and pound foolish. Why not use synthetic? It will handle heat far, far better than conventional, protect the engine from wear far better, and it will last much, much longer which offsets the added expense and reduces the occrances of oil changes. Win, win, and win.

Not necessarily true.

I've run conventional in bikes that I got rid of with nearly 100k miles. Some of them flogged hard... HARD and put away wet. And they still ran fine. The rest of the bike may have been falling apart, but the motors were ok.

Would synthetic made a difference? I'm not running brand-X crap.

Same with my four wheeled vehicles. I have a quarter million miles on a truck. I use OE oil and filter, that's it. Nothing fancy. Runs perfectly fine.

I know guys who will put nothing but $15/qt stuff in their engines and putter around on the street. No racing, no track days, but the parts counter guy has them totally convinced their shit will splode in a million pieces if they don't get the super-duper racing oil and change it at half the specified intervals.

No thanks. Use what the factory says, change it when the factory says and you will be fine.

 

[Entoptic]

OP are you going to fight the ticket and cite your overheating bike as the cause for riding in the bike lane?

 

[Bay Arean]

OP are you going to fight the ticket and cite your overheating bike as the cause for riding in the bike lane?

I don't know. I am bewildered and inexperienced with this. Too many decades of being law-abiding. Never been to traffic court and have gotten only two moving tickets decades ago.

As I haven't even gotten a courtesy notice, I am still trying to understand how I would fight it. It seems like I am supposed to send a registered letter to get a court date. There is a date on the ticket but its the "do something by XXX date," not a trial date. it' in early November.

And I really don't know what chances I would have and whether its worth it. For principle, sure, but if it's a DOA attempt, I would likely pay ticket and do online traffic school. I have read over the years the whole deal where the cop doesn't show up and its a happy ending but it might be expending a lot of energy just to end up paying anyway. Who is going to believe me anyway??

I tried leaving at 6:55 this morning. Backed up pretty much the whole way with a bit of movement here and there. I was in my car cuz I got a migraine and it might rain supposedly. I saw two bikes go by very fast in bike lane and keep wondering....If I only knew when those master enforcers were on the road I could go back to good times.

 

[Z3n]

I don't know. I am bewildered and inexperienced with this. Too many decades of being law-abiding. Never been to traffic court and have gotten only two moving tickets decades ago.

As I haven't even gotten a courtesy notice, I am still trying to understand how I would fight it. It seems like I am supposed to send a registered letter to get a court date. There is a date on the ticket but its the "do something by XXX date," not a trial date. it' in early November.

And I really don't know what chances I would have and whether its worth it. For principle, sure, but if it's a DOA attempt, I would likely pay ticket and do online traffic school. I have read over the years the whole deal where the cop doesn't show up and its a happy ending but it might be expending a lot of energy just to end up paying anyway. Who is going to believe me anyway??

I tried leaving at 6:55 this morning. Backed up pretty much the whole way with a bit of movement here and there. I was in my car cuz I got a migraine and it might rain supposedly. I saw two bikes go by very fast in bike lane and keep wondering....If I only knew when those master enforcers were on the road I could go back to good times.

Hand the ticket off to a lawyer - these guys are super well regarded:
https://www.californiatrafficdefenders.com/

You don't wanna mess around with ticket stuff, just hand it off to a professional and keep your record clear.

 

[Climber]

No you guys are both right and I appreciate it. If I feel like I really have no choice, I make a U and just end up hecka late to work. But I am trying to see what is ballpark and starting with true oil temp would help.

I really have very limited options to make it work on this particular commute. I live above SP Dam Rd in El Sobrante. I either take that Road to Orinda and 24 to work (Walnut Creek, specifically Rossmoor). Or i do Castro Ranch Road to Bear Creek, to Happy Valley Rd into Lafayette (a 10 mph road in the curvy spots) or return to Dam Rd via Bear Creek. Or Castro Ranch Road to Alhambra Vly Rd, to Reliez t to Pleasant Hill Road. Or Lane Share down I-80 to Caldecott with the best of you. Or Hwy 4 to Mtz. Only the first option makes any real sense. I just don't seem to be able to push the clock far back enough to have no backup. It may ease up a bit because fall is always the worst (I been doin this 15 years). The "best" thing, if you will, is that its only a problem in the morning so I may end up travelling farther and burning more gas which sucks.. It used to be that when school was out for the summer, the commute was better because of the Wagner Ranch school traffic. But now, it's the economy stupid and the dang road is backed up all the time. The worst part about most of the other options are danger. This week, I tried Castro and discovered a fog pocket I never knew about as you head toward the Pinole intersection (they had the big sinkhole). That was weird. And the pavement has a lot of dips and such. It's about 8 miles longer too. Doing that in the winter and dark will suck if that's what I end up doing.

Or just give up and roll the cage, which I did for first five years of job as I watched the motos go by on the illegal right. The people still doin it haven't gotten their tickets yet.

Thanks again. Feedback and info helps.

I feel your pain, I have to get my son to Orinda, from El Sobrante, for school. Fortunately, we have car pool. The Fucking GPS Crowd heading for SF from 80 block up San Pable Dam road every day now, Monday was especially bad. Fortunately, I'm in a carpool and only have to do it once a week. They also changed the light timing for getting back onto SPDR from bear creek, I got stuck there 20 minutes last time around, I'm going to take the goat trail (Happy Valley rd) from now on.

Bear creek road sucks now, why not stay on Alhambra Valley Rd, then take it into Pleasant Hill rd, Stay on Relies Valley rd until T's into Pleasant Hill rd? It should be traffic free the whole way and a pretty fun road on a bike.

Just a thought.

 

[Bay Arean]

I feel your pain, I have to get my son to Orinda, from El Sobrante, for school. Fortunately, we have car pool. The Fucking GPS Crowd heading for SF from 80 block up San Pable Dam road every day now, Monday was especially bad. Fortunately, I'm in a carpool and only have to do it once a week. They also changed the light timing for getting back onto SPDR from bear creek, I got stuck there 20 minutes last time around, I'm going to take the goat trail (Happy Valley rd) from now on.

Bear creek road sucks now, why not stay on Alhambra Valley Rd, then take it into Pleasant Hill rd, Stay on Relies Valley rd until T's into Pleasant Hill rd? It should be traffic free the whole way and a pretty fun road on a bike.

Just a thought.

Yeah. It's one of my few options. Peeps at work come south on PH Rd and say its congested but I guess I could at least legally lane share. Thx!

Today was a real hoot. Left at 6:50 thinkin' "I got this!!!" Used the car (cuza rain), still backed up but somewhat moving. Made it to Orinda by about 720, planning on getting to work early! But there was some kinda backup EASTBOUND on 24 so I ended up driving through Lafayette. Finally got back on PH at Mt. Diablo got to traffic circle, and it was gridlocked at the traffic circle of PH and Olympic because of another accident westbound that had people looking for alternatives. Made it to work at 7:59. An hour and nine minutes to get 21 miles. On what's considered a counter-commute. I mean, it's always the worst in the fall but this new normal is abnormal after 14 years of this commute.

 

[Climber]

Yeah. It's one of my few options. Peeps at work come south on PH Rd and say its congested but I guess I could at least legally lane share. Thx!

There's only a few 10 mph corners on Happy Valley rd, you could turn off on Upper Happy Valley rd to get to 24 quicker, that's the way I go.

Granted, you do have those drivers on Happy Valley rd who don't understand that they're supposed to stay on their own side in the slow turns, I'm in a mini van with 5 kids when I go through there.

 

[Bay Arean]

Yeah, I tried Happy Valley last week. I didn't take the Upper cutoff, gonna try that next. It seems to head down to freeway faster.

I know some people think its weird to complain about over an hour for 21 miles, but I repeat, this is technically the counter-commute I'm doin. I guess I have to rethink that!

 

[Climber]

Yeah, I tried Happy Valley last week. I didn't take the Upper cutoff, gonna try that next. It seems to head down to freeway faster.

I know some people think its weird to complain about over an hour for 21 miles, but I repeat, this is technically the counter-commute I'm doin. I guess I have to rethink that!

Yeah, it sucks that all of those assholes get routed over SPDR from 80 over to 24.

But, it gets much better after the start of the new year, I'm not sure why but it's been better for 2 seasons so far.