Need advice about riding slow in high heat

Stormrider51

Here's the situation. Brand new 09 RK. Still completely stock. Just had the 1000 mile service done and synthetics in all three holes. I ride it back and forth to work every day. The mornings are good but on the first day of Summer somebody turned on the heat and we began to have afternoon temps of 100+ F (supposed to hit 107 today). I'm riding home in stop and go traffic and then about 4 miles on a freeway at about 5 mph or less. I've ridden most of my life but this is the first time I've done it on a daily basis in this kind of heat. I'm worried about the motor. Will the 09's handle this kind of heat or am I cooking the motor? I know that if I ask at the dealership the answer will be that they need to install an oil cooler and who knows what else. Do I need to do something or am I worrying about nothing?

Thanks,
John

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Hagatha

I'd take back roads and enjoy yourself

Stormrider51

I would if there were any backroads between downtown and home. The choice is between streets with stoplights every couple of blocks or the freeway. Backroads are for weekends.

John

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Darmon

My first service was just done as well and I was told that riding slow in the hot weather will not hurt the motor however, your leg may get pretty warm! That happened to me on the way home one day - I was doing about 50km/h in 32degC weather - boy did my chaps feel like they would melt into my leg! I invested in some mid air deflectors - I thought they were a bit gimicky but so far so good - they seem to be doing their job! Now I prefer to ride the highway on warm days and leave the backroads for the cooler days just for personal comfort preference.

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glider

An air cooled motor relies on the air flowing over it to cool it. If it's stop and go,you'll know th motor is overheating if it is sluggish an/or pinging. Time to get it moving to cool it off or shut it off.

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smitty901

For the most part ride it, Heat is important to be aware of but not the end of the world.
I have and always will ride mine slow at events like the 105th in high heat and have never had an issue.
Glide covered it well, not likly you will run into that but if you do follow his advise.
I do however just to be safe after an even like that I do an oil chnage thats just so I sleep better.
Oil cooler is not a cure or magic bullet but it can't hurt. IMO worth it to insatll one

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Jim B.

My 09 Road Glide is my first air-cooled motorcycle and I'm a little paranoid about heat. I understand that changing to synthetics helps because of their higher tolerance to heat, and you've done that. An air cooler is often recommended but they are only effective if you have some airflow across the radiator fins. I plan on getting an air cooler but in the meantime I installed a Lenale air fan (H-D also makes one) for those times when I am stuck in traffic jams where there is little or no movement. If all else fails then you will just have to rely on pulling over and turning the motor off or getting off the freeway for a while to let the engine cool down.

The Tank

The recent improvements in engineering that HD has made with "Engine Idle Temperature Management System" (ETIMS it is also called) should help on your 2009 but some might debate how good it might be. In theory it should help. In reality who knows. As far as more info on ETIMS, you can do a forum search as a good deal of information has been written about it here on HD Talking.

I live in the Phoenix, AZ area so we can get pretty hot as well. I ride to work as well, all year round. I don't have a car that I can call my own. I could own a car but I choose not to waste my money on a vechicle that would sit around not being used.

My bikes over the years have never had oil coolers on them. I am faced with a bit of slow moving traffic but not to the extent that I read you have everyday. You mention "then about 4 miles on a freeway at about 5 mph or less". If that were me, I might do a bit of revving the engine when sitting in that slow of traffic so that the oil pressure were maintained (higher than idle pressure) to allow the oil to cool the engine. Revving would help but moving faster than 5 mph would also and that is your problem. Problem with revving is the cagers think you are trying to be cool by making noise and that is not the case in prolonged stop and go traffic.

The other problem with revving is it will cancel the ETIMS.

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dolt

An oil cooler will help. True that oil coolers work better when air is moving over them as the rate of heat transfer is faster. However, 260* oil flowing through a heat exchanger that is exposed to 100* air still has a cooling effect even in slow moving traffic; the rate of heat transfer is just slower. An oil cooler with a fan is even better in the situation you describe and synthetic engine oil is an absolute.

B-1B_Guy

You mentioned running synthetics, was it Syn III? If so, next oil change I'd switch to Mobil 1 V-twin or Golden Spectro. Syn III cooled down my old Heritage by probably 20 degrees (over the regular HD 20W-50)and my Pa (new owner) just switched to Mobil 1 and he said the oil temp dropped even more.

I'm not trying to change this thread's subject.....just thought good oil might help keep'er cool.