Well we had a cold snap this morning. It was right around ~19 degrees out and since the wife was planning to work from home (we usually carpool in) I thought an adventure was in order so I donned my regular gear plus touring pants over my clothes and a balaclava and rolled the VFR out to warm up. I left the driveway when the engine temp hit 135, and two lights later the readout showed 125! Hmmmm.... This repeated at each light, the temp bouncing between 121 and 130. Heated Handgrips on high did nothing. Thankfully my ride in is only a few miles. I could not have gone much further as my hands were starting to hurt. Pretty sure that is the coldest I've ever ridden. It is supposed to hit about 35 degrees today so the ride home will be better. Yee ha!
It did occur to me that if it snows today I may be screwed for the trip home. At least its forecasted to bounce back to 60-70 later in the week.
Now on a recent overnight ride to Asheville and back we left Asheville Sunday morn and it was around 33F. I was a bit more appropriately dressed because of the distance of the trip, and was able to sustain speed on backroads. That morning I did ok, only my feet were cold - since cold-weather boots are the only piece of gear I lack.
That's dang cold for the Carolina's, isn't it? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)
It was 6F here this morning. Even if the roads had been free of snow and ice (which they weren't) I would have taken the car to work. I'm OK riding in freezing temps, but 6F is pushing it.
heatmizr, Dec 22 2008, 03:12 PMIt was right around ~19 degrees out I left the driveway when the engine temp hit 135, and two lights later the readout showed 125! Hmmmm.... This repeated at each light, the temp bouncing between 121 and 130. Heated Handgrips on high did nothing.
Sounds like the T-stat is stuck open, otherwise your bike should still heat up to 165 at least.
Check the fuses on the heated grips.
We had a record high of 73 Friday and it was 9 degrees today. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)
I think he meant the grips didn't do anything to assuage the situation of the frozen extremities.
21 F on the way to work today, with windchill listed at 16, so at 70 who knows. Temp didn't rise much, so I am off to freeze on the way home as well. I will have to look at Engine Temp...I usually ignore it so I don't stress about something that isn't an issue.
Checked on my way home from work. 10 mile commute, 9 stops for traffic lights, about evenly spaced. Started at 110 degrees, stayed low for the first 2-3 miles, never over 140, then started rising more than it dropped. Speeds < 30 MPH it rose, less than that it fell, until it got to ~170, then it stayed high from there, never below 165 even at 55 mph. At one point it went from 155 to 144 when I was going 60.
Outside temp was registering at 26 degrees.
*I used this exact same text in the 5th gen thread...
[quote name='heatmizr' date='Dec 22 2008, 04:12 PM' post='576251'] Well we had a cold snap this morning. It was right around ~19 degrees out and since the wife was planning to work from home (we usually carpool in) I thought an adventure was in order so I donned my regular gear plus touring pants over my clothes and a balaclava and rolled the VFR out to warm up. I left the driveway when the engine temp hit 135, and two lights later the readout showed 125! Hmmmm.... This repeated at each light, the temp bouncing between 121 and 130. Heated Handgrips on high did nothing. Thankfully my ride in is only a few miles. I could not have gone much further as my hands were starting to hurt. Pretty sure that is the coldest I've ever ridden. It is supposed to hit about 35 degrees today so the ride home will be better. Yee ha!
Mine did the same thing Sunday. The air temp was 34. The coolant temp didn't get over 150. I thought "somethin ain't right". Plan on idling it in my semi-heated garage tonight. (I was gonna do it when I got home but a 12 pak of Yeungling waylaid me.) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer.gif)
Baileyrock, Dec 22 2008, 05:18 PMSounds like the T-stat is stuck open, otherwise your bike should still heat up to 165 at least.
Check the fuses on the heated grips.
Huh, I guess it never crossed my mind about the t-stat, as I didn't really know what to expect at that temp. I only have ~16k on the bike and haven't had any t-stat issues yet so I don't know if what I saw was normal or not. Now my commute really is only about 3 miles and the engine appeared to start warming up toward the end of the ride so maybe it was just taking a little longer due to the cold.
The ride home was ~35F and I saw what I expected - that the bike ran somewhat warmer than above but still not "operating temp". I may have to wait for a more normal riding day to observe it some more to determine if I have an issue with the t-stat.
That oscillating temp so low would seem to indicate a t-stat issue. Thanks for the head's up!
Yes, the grips were working I just meant that under 40-50 F there is only so much they are gonna help! At 19F it was a losing battle - the wind chill was winning!