Air Cooled Bike (HD) + Traffic?

hardk0re

hardk0re

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Recently I went on a HD demo day, really like the ride and strongly considering picking one up next year. Now I do commute allot around the city, sometimes I get stuck in that awesome traffic where you go 60km in 4hours. For those that own a HD and ride in traffic how do they handle the heat? Is overheating in stop and go traffic even a problem I should be worrying about?
 
hardk0re said:
Recently I went on a HD demo day, really like the ride and strongly considering picking one up next year. Now I do commute allot around the city, sometimes I get stuck in that awesome traffic where you go 60km in 4hours. For those that own a HD and ride in traffic how do they handle the heat? Is overheating in stop and go traffic even a problem I should be worrying about?
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Thats all i have to say:
Q: What does HOG stand for?
A: Heavyset Old Geezers

Q: Why did they decide to call it the “Harley Owners Group?”
A: Because the term “Special Ed” was already taken.
 
hardk0re said:
How did I know this thread would go this direction. :rolleyes:
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Nah, I'm just kidding. They are pretty basic to work on, but they do not deal well in heat and traffic at all.
Last year I was going back from US to CA through Niagara, had a Harley next to me, we were on the bridge for about 30 min, its been around 32C, his bike overheated and wouldn't start for a while, before that you could hear the bike chocking.

Not to mention, pretty useless in city, gas vise.
 
The big twins have cylinder deactivation. The rear cylinder turns into an air pump at a certain temp to keep the heat down. The touring bikes are now quasi- liquid cooled to keep temps down as well. There will be rider discomfort on any bike stuck in traffic, and while I'm sure carbed Harley's might have some vapour lock issues I can't say I recall any stories with heat breakdown with the Harley group I ride with (fuel-injected).

I was stuck on QEW for a couple of hours of crawling along last summer, bike never missed a beat and I don't have cylinder deactivation.
 
I haven't had a problem. I've been in the bumper to bumper crawl in 40+. I can sure feel the heat off my bike and sometimes worry but it's never chugged or crapped out on me. Mine is fuel injected, not sure if that matters.
 
You can buy a aftermarket fan for them, I forget what company makes them off hand.
 
Plus I saw hundreds in Las Vegas and Phoenix. If they can survive there...
 
No it is not something you should worry about. I've put thousands of miles on modern Harleys in those conditions and never had a problem.
 
They do get quite hot but mine have never stopped running as a result. They make much less power when they get hot, and I haven't found that the cylinder deactivation does a whole lot. I did have one that fried it's electrics as a result of overheating.
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