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Mr. Luddite

On 4/22/2014 3:41 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 22 Apr 2014 12:23:18 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

The big Harleys are a pain in stop and go traffic in hot weather ... at
least the two I had were. The exhaust system design where the
crossover pipe connects causes heat to burn your right inner thigh in
hot, stop and go traffic. Had a few experiences with mine with that.
It's fine if you're moving but extremely uncomfortable in hot weather in
traffic.

The sportster design pipes are not that bad in that regard. That is
what I had on my super glide.

Harley offered a radiation shield in their overpriced accessories shop
that clamped onto the exhaust pipe, holding it an inch or so above it.
Problem is, it was black to match and blend with the leather seat. A
black color is bad for this purpose, having a high emissivity so instead
of reflecting the heat, it absorbed it and eventually the shield became
almost as hot as the exhaust pipe. It helped, but not much.

Harley then came out with a running mode whereby the rear cylinder would
not fire when the bike was stopped, throttle at idle and clutch
disengaged. The rear cylinder would just pump air, helping cool the
engine down a bit. Once you blipped the throttle and started moving
again, it would start firing again.

Fortunately the number of times I was caught in stop and go traffic in
the summer were limited. Didn't happen that often.