Are we beating the which oil should i use to death?

[alarmguy]

On a hot day in heavy stop/go traffic the rider is going to have heat stroke way before his air cooled motorcycle.
View attachment 59502

I have found this to be not true. I have found my Yamaha VStar 1300 Liquid cooled touring bike brutally just as hot and in most cases more hot to the rider and passenger then my Harley Road King air cooled and the Harley has a much larger engine.

If anything the liquid cooled engine is going to give the rider heat stroke before the air cooled motorcycle. Stuck in traffic the liquid cooled radiator fan turns on and blasts you with 200+ degree heat. It is brutal, let me restate that, it is REALLY brutal when that fan clicks on.

When stuck in traffic with the air cooled engine there is no radiator fan blasting you with 200+ degree heat, the heat just floats away, whatever way the wind is blowing.

I just wanted to clarify, many owners of liquid cooled bikes are not aware of this, its a wash, no bike with a large engine is cooler with or without liquid cooling. I much rather be in traffic on my larger engine Harley Road king then with my past Yamaha liquid cooled. If its a short period of time.
Here is the catch, after a period of time at a standstill, the huge benefit of liquid cooling is you will not have to start worrying if the engine will overheat, if its air cooled you do have that worry but this post is in regard to engine heat to the rider, the other subject is a whole other thread but curable for those rare occasions.

On either type of bike, I rather (and have MANY times) ride through monster storms, sometimes for hours without stopping, then be stuck in gridlocked traffic on either type of bike. )

 

[gman2304]

When stuck in traffic with the air cooled engine the heat just floats away, whatever way the wind is blowing.

OMG……LMAO…….!

 

[alarmguy]

OMG……LMAO…….!

Are you denying when your radiator fan kicks on with that large liquid cooled VTwin that you don’t get blasted with heat LOL? OMG!
(or did you never own one)

 

[philipp10]

Hahahaha.....do ya think? Now state something not so obvious....lol

 

[gman2304]

Are you denying when your radiator fan kicks on with that large liquid cooled VTwin that you don’t get blasted with heat LOL? OMG!

Oh no, I agree 100%! Most any liquid cooled bike with engine fans will absolutely cook the rider when the fans kick on, I’ve owned several with engine cooling fans. But to simplistically imply that that on an air cooled engine when stuck in traffic the heat just floats away or gets blown away by the wind is quite a stretch. The radiant heat from the front cylinder exhaust passes just a few inches from my right thigh when stopped in traffic and the rear cylinder exhaust is just a few inches below my roasting a$$, not to mention the sun beating down on you plus the radiant heat from the asphalt while dressed in armored clothing, boots, gloves and a full faced helmet. Sitting on an air cooled bike is no picnic in the summer heat but I do get the added heat from the fans. One thing I think we can agree on is either way we want to get rolling ASAP so we can get some of that cool 100 degree air circulating around our roasting appendages.

 

[alarmguy]

OK I’ll talk from my experience on the Road King versus the vstar 1300.
When the radiator fan kicks on the vstar 1300 it’s brutal when stuck in traffic because the heat is blowing like a hair dryer on steroids back to the rider there is never an escape from this.
On the Road King the heat is not directed solely at the rider.
The reason for my post is some people for some reason think a liquid cooled engine produces less heat, both engines burning gasoline at roughly the same temperature heat has to go someplace, A radiator fan makes sure it’s directed at you.
On a lucky day with beach traffic and the breeze blowing away from you is better than a radiator fan blowing the heat at you. This is not to say on any large displacement engine that you do not cook but I have had experiences where I was thankful the wind was blowing away from me
One big benefit of a radiator of course you don’t have to worry about overheating, I do have an engine fan for those rare occasions and thankfully I don’t turn it on a lot because it burns the crap out of my leg when the hot air passes across the fins and exits the right side of the engine.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Water cooled sportbikes with side fairings don't cook the rider when the radiator fan kicks on. The side fairings direct the hot air out the side of the fairings.