Hello,

I am 5'2" and have the new Harley Freewheeler. When riding, my right leg gets extremely hot. Do you know if this is from the cat or something else and what can be done about it? It can get extremely painful and warm weather does not help.

 

First of all Welcome. Enjoy the new ride.
Now topic heat:
There are a number of threads on this subject over the years.
If you look at the line just above your post, you will find (Search this thread) after backing out of your own thread. You can put in "Heat" for instance and search. You will find a day's worth of reading.
Bottom line, yes the CAT is a hot topic. Then there are a number of things that you will find discussions of headers, stage 1, to fans ext. Bottom line is these are fan cooled motors, at slow speed your sitting on the engine and they tend to be hot. I personally did not notice the heat for my self, rather wanted to cool the engine for longevity. Best of luck.

 

plenty hot for sure, and the cat don't help, there are a number of things people will chime in to help you out, now i got some heat shields/ crotch coolers from capt itch and they do help with the heat on the right leg, beings the rear pipe is right next to your leg also, you might want to check them out. http://www.capt-itch.com/

 

de-cat and some fl- xieds-10 or better yet a good tuner.

 

The cat is just under Your right foot, this will produce a lot of heat. The rear cylinder produces more heat than the front cylinder due to less air on it.
Mid fairings will help a lot. I am using crotch coolers from captain itch. Larger than most but works very well keeping the heat off your leg.
I dd a catless header mid fairings-captain itch- floorbard extenders to get my legs away from the engine. You being 5'2" I suggest considering the kuryakyn floorboard relocation kit. You can install them backwards, left on right, right on left. This will move the floorboards out one inch and back one inch. Aids in less heat. Simple install. Catless header if you want to spend that kind of money and a tune. No need in a performance ac.
My heat was reduced so Much it is a different trike. No problem with heat now.

 

Ahhhhhh, I know this would come


You need to spend thousands and thousands of dollars for add-on stuff. OR you could move your right leg. Head temps range from 200 to 300* Exhaust gas in 1200* Even a 20% reduction in radiated heat will still burn you if your legs are close to the engine. Removing the Cat only removed some restriction, but doesn't lower the temps of the exhaust gas. You will then have to compensate for the lower back pressure by adding yet another add-on. Electric fans will just blow that hot air on your leg, kind of like a convection oven. Remember, it is an air cooled Harley, they are all hot. The slower you drive, the longer you sit idling the hotter it gets. I installed floor board extenders on my Freewheeler and wife's Tri Glide. I ride in shorts, so does she sometimes. Stock exhaust, cat still in, no tuners, no burns. We live in Southern California on the desert. We get weeks of 100 degree plus weather out here. A friend whose wife is very sensitive to heat made "leg sleeves" out of quilted material, kind of like a pot holder. She wears them like chaps. When it is particularly hot and we are going for a long ride we have denim chaps. Looks like a pair of baggy jeans with zippers up the legs. I use them more for sunburn than radiated heat.


Good Luck

 

Don't like the heat? Buy a Honda.its a Harley!what do you expect??no trying to be rude.but it's an air cooled engine.its going to be hot..

 

I would have to agree. You have a very large two cylinder air cooled engine between your legs.I have a 32 inch inseam. I put floorboard extenders from DK on mine and the heat issue practically went away. It also seemed to diminish more when I put slip on mufflers that have less restriction. I had a 2010 RK before my FW and went the route of free flowing mufflers, head pipe, air cleaner and tuner all from Fuel Moto. It really made a difference in how the motor ran and it did run a bit cooler because it was running a richer fuel ratio. I have been very impressed with how well my FW runs as stock. I put the slip ons on because I like the sound. There are posts on here about using a power vision tuner and that it can make a stock bike run better. What ever you do use these forums and research what you want to do. Email the manufactures, they have been great to me by giving all the info I want. Some people get caught up in the "keep up with Jones" syndrome. I live in Michigan so the really hot weather I don't have to worry about and I do half my driving at night when it is cooler because I work second shift.

 

I hear these outrageous cost for a stage one, but why?
I did a full stage one, catless header and performance and dyno tuned cost was less than $500. It runs cooler than my Goldwing with baker wings does.
Some folks can handle the heat more than others. I did mine early from what I usually do so I could get the heat off my passenger. Solo not to bad.
For a couple of grand I can do cams and head work with a stage one and tuned with some change left over.
I don't get the high price for a stage one.

 

After your stage one did your fuel mileage change much?