Checked cylinder temps when I first got the Trike. Engine was still tight, cylinder heads were at about 250 deg and fans would cycle on and off while idling in about 80 deg. weather.
Had the stage 1 TTS tune and 4 " SE canons installed at about 50 miles. Still breaking in the engine and have about 300 plus miles. Checked engine temps today and weather was about 65 degs. very cool outside and wind blowing. Cylinder heads were only running at about 170 degs. Will check them again in hot weather. Seems like a hell of a temp drop, more then I thought it would be. Not sure if it was the stage 1 tune or the engine is breaking in. I imagine it will run about 225 in hot weather. Will check and let you guys know if it has been a great improvement or just the cooler weather..

 

My fans have never come on? Of Course it hasn't been above 65 degrees here yet! Keep us posted curious about heat.
Hap

 

After mounting my Marlin head temp sensor and gauge I have been able to monitor my head temps. Warmest temp so far was in 93 ambient air and engine head temps ran about 255 to 260. Cant tell if the radiator fans are coming on when I am riding the trike on the freeway.. They only seem to come on when I turn off the engine. At about 70 degs. the engine runs real cool at about 190 degs. 80 deg amient , on the freeway it runs about 225 to 235. When the ambient air is 93 degs or so, the temps on the head runs about 260. So that being said, I feel the temp gauge is giving me what I want, a way to monitor if the engines is operating close to 300 degs. So far so good. I am finding that there are other factors that dictate variable temps, my wife on the back, going on a up hill grade vs. downhill in 6th gear, and up wind vs down wind. I am sure there are other factors that I have not noticed that will effect the head temps. Such as a cloudy day vs a sunny day vs riding close to the beach and humid vs dry desert air, concrete roads also may have a factor.

 

I've said it here before, the WORST thing I did to our Tri-Glides was adding oil temp gages because there was SOOOooooo much talk on the boards about the burning, searing, scorching heat produced by these POS trikes. I've been on Harleys since 1970 and never had a problem. Now, I ride around with one eye on the beautiful scenery and the other on my Oil Temp gage for fear I will burn up my engine. I've never toasted a Harley V-twin in the near 50 years I've been riding them in the Southern California deserts, Las Vegas, and Laughlin Nevada. Temperatures routinely well over 100*. 40,000 miles on the '09 and she is still running great despite the fact there are no fans, oil coolers, tuners or anything other than stock on the trike. Wife's '11 is the same. My Springer was around 100,000 miles when I sold her. Dyna was near 60,000. Get out there and ride that puppy! Look at all the great stuff you can't see driving a car. Smell all the wonderful smells you get with no windows or air conditioning. Go explore those funny roads you pass a million times and wonder where they go. You will be under warranty for a year or two, put some miles on that scoot and quit worrying.

We are heading up the coast in July from Los Angeles to Vancouver BC., then not sure how we are getting home. Do want to pass through Bryce Canyon again. Sure not going to waste any of that beautiful scenery looking at an oil temp gage.

HAVE FUN!

 

Interesting. I thought all these heat discussions were about rider comfort. Has anyone ever toasted a Harley simply riding it stock and driving sanely? Is that a real concern?

 

Not all the discussions are on rider comfort, but that is a major area.
Many don't have oil temps over 300*, but some do. Is the engine going to fry at 300*? Most likely not, but the possibility of oil failure, or shortened life is a real possibility. I have never had a Harley that has run as hot on the oil as this Trike.
A good tune, intake & exhaust change to improve the performance so the engine doesn't work as hard all helps some.
The passenger comfort is also a problem on the Trike because partially because of so much body around to not let the air flow past enough to cool properly. Those that never have a passenger usually have much less heat (felt heat) problems.
Then a big contributor is the CAT in the header right below the feet of the passenger. Moving the boards out helps a lot, but so does removing the CAT. Not only is there the heat from the exhaust from the cylinder combustion, but the CAT also re-burns the exhaust gasses to rid them of excess pollutants. More heat generated.

 

Have any of the previous year's trikes had problems due to excessive heat except for what the rider and passenger feel? I asked the wife what she thought after her maybe 500 of the 1300 miles so far, did she feel excessively or unacceptably hot? She said that she only noticed it when we were stopped for more than 30 seconds or so, and it wasn't anything she couldn't live with. So unless it's a mechanical concern, it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal. Engines get hot.

Heat usually comes from running lean, and as I understand it, these things run that way for whatever reasons when stock. But that usually also means maximum fuel economy. With an upcoming 2500 mile trip in June/July, I don't mind a little heat if it means not having to gas up quite as often. Do these tuning mods (exhaust, cats, ignition modules, intake) impact mileage considerably? I assume that basically they end up making the mixture more rich, which usually requires more fuel, but there are circumstances where an engine may actually be more efficient when those things are varied. Do any of them actually improve it? I've got plenty of power and everything seems to work just fine stock, and I'm happy with the exhaust note.

I tend to agree with Screwball, even though I'm normally a control freak. And if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Thoughts?

Interesting comparison: I'm a homebrewer, and precise temperatures, particularly mash temperatures, are very important. When I started out, I had one thermometer, and no matter what I was doing, I always knew what my temperatures were. Then I got second one, and I've had no idea ever since what my temperatures really are! Damned things never read the same.

 

My wife got her head temp up to 425 one time in a parade.but never had any problems

 

My wife gets pretty hot sometimes too!

 

Yes, and yes.

See this thread-

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/tri-g...tri-glide.html