How to know if you are overheating an air-cooled bike

[coduc]

How do you know if you are going to overheat your bike if you are sitting in traffic on a hot day if you don't have an oil temp light?  I have a 2000 750 and I think there is only an oil level light on the dash...

[ducpainter]

It's actually an oil pressure light.

You don't 'know'. If it starts running differently it would be a good indication that it's too hot.

[coduc]

OK, thanks.

How would it run different?  I've blown head gaskets in a car before and that creates quite a different "running" experience, obviously by then it's too late though.  On air-cooled, would the bike start to stall or something?   

[ducpainter]

From experience, it would want to idle low and try to stall.

The best protection is full synthetic oil as it doesn't suffer loss of lubrication like a dino based oil will if it gets too hot.

If you have to sit in traffic for extended periods you could always shut it down.

[NAKID]

Throw an oil cooler on too...

[monsta]

you can also buy a temp gauge that fits where your oil filler is...

http://www.getgeared.co.uk/MOTO-DETAIL_Motorcycle_Oil_Temperature_Gauge?utm_medium=shopping_feed_au&utm_source=google

[memper]

This.
But I got mine from an asian dealer on ebay. They made it in F for me too. Works well.

[coduc]

Those are cool, never knew they made them!   

[superkain]

My S2R has a temp gauge. how hot is too hot?  250 F?

[suzyj]

Your heads start looking like this:



And when you pull the valves, you see this:



Not to mention stuffed guides and general bendage of valves.

This is from my 695 with stock cans and airbox, after 20,000km of spirited riding and Sydney city traffic. 695s are notorious for running lean.

Since then I've fitted new heads with unstuffed valves, reprogrammed the ECU to fix the lean running condition that caused the mess, and am awaiting parts to fit an oil cooler.

[Düb Lüv]

Here's a eBay link for a seller in england.

http://bit.ly/18JkWlV

[Buckethead]

My S2R has a temp gauge. how hot is too hot?  250 F?

250 ^o is fine. Maybe uncomfortably warm for your leg, but fine for your motor.

According to the owner's manual, the oil temp indicator will say "HI" if the oil temp gets above 328^o F. At that point, I'd shut it down for a while and let it cool off.

I believe the ECU will shut the bike off if the oil temp gets above 350^o F in an attempt to protect itself.

[OT]

My S2R has a temp gauge. how hot is too hot?  250 F?

It'll stop displaying the numerical temp and start displaying HOT.....check your owners manual.

Had a clutch problem once, couldn't shift out of first, and had to ride the M1000 home in first - about 15 miles at 25-30 MPH to keep the RPM down.  Temp gauge was in the 280s-290s (F) but the bike ran well the whole way....Like Ducpainter says - use synthetic oil - Mobil1 full synthetic 15W50 is all I've ever used.

[Ledz558]

Yeah I was wondering about oil temp and would get a lil uneasy when it read around 257. I live in a desert so my bike can't breathe here and has been acting up running low idle now for awhile. After looking suzyj's pics, I noticed there was the same amount of oil showing on my engine. I would assume my valves are as pitted as well. Got to admit that I swear it's my old Honda reincarnated because my monster acts and has the same symptoms that bike has, or maybe just my bike karma I dragged into this lifetime. What ever the case, I eventually need to take a look inside my engine and see what's happening because its really been acting sic in the last few months.  I've been only using Mobile 1 since I owned it which helps.

[jerryz]

When air cooled bikes get too hot they start dieseling , you turn the ignition off and the bike keeps running really badly ,, have seen this a few times , usually on old Brit bikes and HDs .