I wonder if they ever considered putting an additional air passage and door on the Limited lowers that would act as a heater on cold days?

The hot ram air is right there. I bet it would work!

 

interesting thought. maybe just some kind of "winterfront" you could cover the opening between the lowers to control the airflow over the motor, might let some of the heat come up and around the rider.

 

I've thought of that myself. I will say that when it's cold, I turn on my Ward's fan and it warms up my right leg at least.

And on my Ultra I removed the mid frame deflectors after August.

 

That might work too. I'm thinking that there has to be a low pressure area, at least around the driver, that would suck up warm air from either source.

Would probably only warm the lower legs from a hot air vent in the lowers, but that would be better than nothing.

I rode a Goldwing a while back and those little foot-warmer vents actually do a pretty good job.

 

No matter how much heat seems to be coming off that engine in the summer, it seems it does little good when the temps get down below 40°F.

Keep in mind that those radiator fans very rarely run, so there are very few times any warm air would be blown out on the colder days.

 

It would ram-air driven whenever the bike's in motion and wouldn't rely on the fans for air flow. Or there could be a fan switch that turns the fans on all the time whenever the heater was in use, like whenever the heater doors were opened. Probably not super-efficient, but I still think it would work OK.

Doubt if it'll ever happen, but it's an amusing thought-experiment.

Personally, I haven't noticed any actual engine heat at all, even on the hottest days (100*+). I DO notice the blistering, relentless heat from the sun hammering down on me, though!!

 

The old VWs used engine heat from their air cooled engines for the heater, i have often thought there should be a way to use and regulate the heat coming off the exhaust but there would have to be a regulator or t-stat to keep you from over doing it

 

Yep. I stupidly drove my '68 VW van to Alaska in mid-November of '89 and found out all about that system.

One night up in the Yukon Territories it was minus 65 degrees F (measured) both inside and outside the van.

By far the most miserable and idiotically-conceived and executed trip of my life!!