2015 Versys 1000LT engine heat.

[noside]

Question to any owners of the 2015+ Versys 1000LT: Is anyone else experiencing extreme engine heat issues? When the air temperature stays in the 70's or lower, it's noticeable but somewhat tolerable. When the temps drift into the 80's or higher, the engine heat becomes extremely unbearable. It's like the radiator fans are pointed directly at the rider and everything from the shins up feels like it's in a sauna or in front of an industrial grade space heater. I'll qualify this by saying I live in the city and have a lot of stop & go/traffic lights to deal with in getting out to where the real riding is. But I've had several rides before buying this bike last year and I've never experienced anything like this. It really effects the quality of the ride. Just wondering if this is common to the model or if it's specific to my bike and is something I need to have looked at. Any info is greatly appreciated.

[Sport-Touring]

[noside]

Well, if anyone is interested, I started the bike up this AM on the center stand and brought it up to temp. IMHO, it's a HUGE design flaw. The heat is noticeable from the pipes/engine as it works it's way up towards 200*F and once the radiator fan kicks in it just blasts super-hot air out of both sides of the engine through spaces in the body work. I took it on a ride to the ocean today, 85*+- and even when moving it was extremely uncomfortable. I'm sure I'll get the "Well, it'll be nice when it's cold out" responses but this is New England. In the spring it goes from 35* to 90* overnight and stays that way until autumn, after which point the bike is on the center stand and the battery is on a tender. I love 93% of this ride but the heat is becoming a deal breaker. F**k.

[Cricket1]

Noside-

You might ping Lobo10s, as he has a Versys 1000 and I think lives in Texas ?

[noside]

Thanks. I just sent him a PM, although I'm not sure if it went through 'cuz it's not showing up in my outbox. Guess I'll wait and see if I get a response.

[Blue is Best]

Take this for what it's worth. Based on what I read, you do a lot of city riding. Too bad. And the fan comes on a lot. Too bad. City riding is the worst a bike can be submitted to and when the fan comes on that means it's getting hot!! Fan is not supposed to be on frequently as that is a design feature to prevent overheating.

My past and present FJR hardly ever had/has the fan kick on. My ZX14 had the fan kick on when I was in city traffic which I tried to stay away from.

[bucktownbilly]

Interesting new development.  Was in the back of my mind to swap out my FJR for one.  Perhaps not  And I heard so many good things about.

[noside]

From here it isn't worth much except from a "Sucks to be you" perspective. But I appreciate the snark.

[Volfy]

93F and you're complaining?!  On some of the elevated freeways around here, it could be 115F in the dead of Summer.  

J/K.  In all honesty, I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a huge design flaw.  Engine heat is a fact of life with riding motorcycles.  The bigger the engine, the more waste heat.  Some bikes do engine heat management better than others.  I'd be lying if I say it doesn't influence my choice of bike in a significant way.  However, I've learned to look at heat management from an overall perspective - not just what I'm feeling from the bike.  My current rides are excellent in that regard, but even with them, when the wind blows in the right (or wrong?) way, I still can get blasted with hot air coming out of the engine/radiator.

The most important thing for Summer riding is to make sure you - the rider - do everything you can to take on as little additional heat load, and you are set up for as much cooling as possible to balance that heat load.  That means the gear you wear, the way you set up your windscreen, and how and where you choose to ride.  See here for tips on Warm weather riding:

http://www.ironbutt.com/ibmagazine/ironbutt_1002_62-66_Hot.pdf

If you are experiencing localized heat, consider modifying your gear to help block out the heat.  I find that between my boots and knee/shin guards, they block out a good portion of the heat signature coming out of the engine sides.  I wear the knee guards mainly for crash protection, but the added heat shielding effect is a nice side bennie.  I also notice some of my motorcycle riding pants are much more comfortable to ride in hot weather than the typical cotton jeans.

When the ambient temp gets above 90F, I start wearing my Tech Kewl phase change vest.  Its active cooling keeps my core temp nice and controlled, which mean I can comfortably take on more heat load on my extremities (hot wind blast, sun radiant heat, etc.) without overtaxing my cooling load, via blood circulation as a heat transfer medium.

The right bike helps, but I would not count on it alone to deal with hot weather riding.

Hope that helps.

[noside]

I appreciate the thoughtful response.

I guess it's just very noticeable because my previous 3 bikes (K1200GT, VFR800 & SV650) were all pretty much cool as a cucumber, even in the city. I realize I'm sitting on a big in-line 4 with lots of exhaust pipes right next to the radiator fan, but 2/3 of the bikes previously mentioned were 4 cylinders and it really wasn't an issue.

Oh well. Hey, the upside is, maybe I'll lose some weight with all that sweating.  

[Volfy]

The 781cc V4 and 645cc twin are both smallish engines, so their heat signatures are less.  actually, I have heard of complaints on some VFR800.  If your K1200GT is the flying brick, it's not a high strung performance engine, so again heat signature is less.  I've ridden the later slant 4 and the fully enclosed fairing pretty much directs the hot engine heat under the motorcycle, so the rider doesn't feel much of it.

Regardless, I wouldn't let the engine heat sour your experience with an otherwise excellent bike.  As I said, there are ways to mitigate the heat issue.

[Silverbird]

 ^ Heat production and heat management are two different things.  It just depends on how much effort the designer wants to put into keeping it off the rider.