I came over from the touring forum to ask you guys who have experience with radiators the following question:
Are you ever aware of all the heat which is being discharged from your radiator? In other words, do your feet or any other body parts ever get roasted?
As you know, there is lots of speculation that over the course of the next 12 months the MOCO will start to put radiators and water jacketed heads on all or some of the next generation of touring bikes. Many people who worry about such things before they actually happen are of the opinion that radiators will only create more problems with the heat being discharged.
So I though it would be a fair question to pose on this forum. Any comments?

 

I too often wondered about the heat displacement from a V-Rod. Good question!!

Mike

 

The only time I get a lot of heat is when I am stuck in traffic on a really hot day and the cooling fans kick on. Which on a air cooled I use to get cooked in traffic from the rear cylinder

 

Fair and Good question. Not one I ever considered but makes sense.

I did my Vrod bagger because I was tired of all the times I got stuck With my Ultra in construction zone,rush hour traffic, on numerous bridges that had uphill approaches Etc Etc. Cant count the times I had to pull over shut the engine down due to low or no oil pressure and wait until the engine cooled and or traffic stated moving so I could get thru traffic or to the down hill side of the bridge where I could coast without the engine running.

I have only put 800 miles on my Ultra since the vrod conversion in 06 and the Ultra now pretty much sits in the corner of the garage. I have sat in 100 deg heat at Sturgis for the last 6 years as well as other rallies where traffic is stop and go and as Hal said you get some radiant heat obviously off the engine put you don't cook your inner thighs or legs.

Have never contributed the radiant heat to the radiator because never noticed an increase in heat when the fans came on. On the Vrod the fans come on around 220 off at 210 plus or minus a couple deg.'

If or when Harley does go with water cooling on the tour or other models I am sure they will have millions of miles of research and heat from radiators wont be a concern.

Just like the vrod I m sure HD has been working out the bugs and design for the other models using a water cooled engine since or before the vrod was released.

MY 2cents

Dennis

 

As you know, there is heaps of hypothesis that throughout the span of the following 12 months the MOCO will begin to put radiators and water jacketed heads on all or a percentage of the following era of touring two wheeler.

 

Ditto! I've had mine 4 years now - 18,500 miles 09AW 260tire -

No cat's + liquid cooling = no heat - the only time you get heat is when you are stopped and the fans come on momentarily.

Had a 2010 FLHR - got rid of it because of the awful heat problems and went back to VRod.

 

I been riding a Vrod muscle for almost 4 years It is a little noticeable but it makes a big difference when you don't have to worry about the weather.

 

Never a problem. A lot cooler than my Streetbob was.

 

No! Two seasons and 5K on my 12 NRS. But, I have never had a heat issue with any HD. Every thing from Sportster, Softail, Dyna, Ultra, Road Glide and a CVO 110. (ck my garage).

Took the 10 Ultra through Death Valley in a summer afternoon of 120 degrees.

The bike and I did fine.

I have never understood all the whining that some have about heat. I have done many of the desert states repeated over the years on various HD's without ever a single issue.

 

I notice a lot more heat off my evo softail sitting in traffic.