Frustrating ride today.

[Hellgate]

So I had an open day today so I decided to go for a spin. First stop was Cycle Gear to pick up some header wrap and 5 1/4 gram wheel weights. The header wrap is an attempt to control the heat entering the fuel tank on the 1125R, and the wheel weights are to replace the ones that are stuck in the ceiling of the dyno room!

I rode my usual favorite route and I was stuck behind a truck pulling a trailer with lawn equipment. I get an opening, wick it on, and just as I pass the truck I see two big orange signs, "LOOSE GRAVEL". Great...they decided to chip seal the road. Jam on the brakes before I get to the chip seal, and poke the rest of the way for another 8 miles, grumbling and bitching the whole way...Get past that and to the next fun section. But NO! Two lanes go to one, and there is a line of cars about a mile long. Great....putt, putt, putt...about 6 miles later we are back to normal roads but no more twisties...oh well.

The ride was good stopped in Marble Falls for lunch of shrimp and oysters and then slabbed it home. This was my first ride since the big adventure in May to CA and it was nice to be back on the bike.

Oh, and the Jardine sounds killer, HOLY CRAP that thing is loud even with ear plugs. At 7,500 to 10,500 rpm it is amazing, sounds like a Duc WSBK. A silencer is on order...

The header wrap seems to help, added insulation to the frame/tank tonight too. I'll test that change tomorrow.

 

[OZXJR]

Sounds like a fun ride ,lol

Where you getting vapour locks from the heat ?

 

[lytehouse]

How can any day you get to be on a bike be "bad"?????? :don'tknow:

Could've been worse...you could have been in a car!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Hellgate]

Sounds like a fun ride ,lol

Where you getting vapour locks from the heat ?

It was a good ride, just me, the bike and the road. I rode a mellow pace too.

The rear exhaust manifold is about one inch or less from the frame/tank. At one area it is one millimeter. On a cool day, 80 degrees or less, it is fine. Above that and the heat will boil the fuel, literally. Open gas cap, see fuel boiling. We have had the worst heat and drought since recorded weather in the area, 1880's. This summer over 40 days above 100 so far, 102, 104, 106 has been the norm. Typically it is 95 this time of year.

In the dyno room we stopped testing because the bike was severely missing due to vapor locking. We added cool gas and the problem went away. So I wrapped the exhaust manifolds with header wrap and I'm going to try to line the frame/tank with a heat/sound insulation.

When the bike going down the road no problem because the air is moving over the bike. In the dyno room there are plenty of fans but not enough to pull the air from the frame. This may or may not work, we'll see.

 

[OZXJR]

My cbr600 was bad for vapour lock ,the fuel pump used to get too hot to touch and I either had to let the bike cool for 10 mins or find some water to pour over it .
SA has extreme summer temps too and plays havoc with liquid cooled bikes but my old air cooled rides never had a prob and they were gravity feed fuel tanks.

 

[pooty]

and i thought my fz1 ran hot-----boiling gas.

 

[FZ1inNH]

Now I am really glad I went with the FZ1. Sounds like the Buell is more suited to fair weather? Pete, you can move to NH and be just fine!

I really hate rides like that as well. I took my wife out on a tour to a place I *thought* was going to be a great trip. I had come though the weekend prior with no sign of anything changing. We went back there and the ENTIRE TOWN was devoid of asphalt! They tore up every street. It really looked like it should have been a horse and buggy town. We turned around, found a nice place to eat and headed back home afterward.

 

[Have2BeFree]

At least you got to ride today....or yesterday....or.....well you get it.

I had one of those rides a few weeks ago, was out alone for a couple of hours and on the way home, in the dark around 11pm on a back road, the pavement ended. The road was completely torn up, add some sand and gravel and you get the idea. Just as I was thinking the only way it could be worse is if they had decided to oil it...........yep, found the oil and more gravel. It went on for about 2-3 miles, I didn't think it would ever end.