TedG
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posted July 12, 2008 08:28 PM
I don't get it. Where is the heat coming from that is getting you? I ride in 100 degree weater all the time and the heat is no worse than any other bike I have ridden. I admit that before I fixed the foam it was pretty bad. But it is fine now.
I can't believe the difference in the vibration when I tightened up the exhaust. Loose it was sooooo smooth, tight it went back to vibrating.
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fASTESTbUSAaROUND
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posted July 12, 2008 09:06 PM
After a lot of experimenting in the past few days -- I can see it's coming from the side vents right at the end closest to the legs...the vibes don't much bother me; it's the damned heat. The cool air comes from the front of the vents, but it's not nearly enough to offset the HOT air escaping from the rear of the vents Ted...and if I sit to close to the tank...my balls take a beating as well, since the hot air seems to redirect there when I'm hugging the tank. Moving back in the seat provides more airflow to the top of the seat and keeps more of the got air off my legs. There's a vacuum effect in the area right behind the vents. Sometimes it will be hot on the right side and cool on the left, then the reverse, but usually on the right. All this at higher speeds as well. I've checked and rechecked the foam inserts...they're fine. This is just shitty design. Oh and btw...I run at only 1 bar on the heat gauge most of the time on the highway...
My ZX runs hotter at the engine, but the heat doesn't hit me at all -- go figger.
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TedG
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posted July 12, 2008 09:25 PM
I read somewhere that there was heat coming through the cracks between the tank and the covers. The guy put some foam in there to seal them up. I am wondering if that is the hot air you are getting vacuumed in.
The hot are goes around my legs pretty well.
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dw4402
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posted July 13, 2008 08:58 AM
FBA, in comparison to the 07 FJR, how bad was the heat on your C14? Worse than the 07 FJR, same or not as bad? I don't feel the heat on my C14 is all that bad, but I haven't ridden an FJR or ST to campare it to. My only bike to compare to is the BMW R1200GT and that bike doesn't get hot at all, but a totally different engine set up (boxer twin).
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fASTESTbUSAaROUND
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posted July 13, 2008 06:49 PM
Ted, there's a bit of heat leaking from there...but I doubt that's the source. Body shape height and inseam are all things that will dramatically affect heat to the rider. The taller you are, the more heat you will feel...because longer legs tend to block more area in the crease between the tank and the fairing, which moves less heat away from the ride ...this is after days of fucking around while riding it and trying to find the solution...
I'm 6'2" @220 with a 35" inseam, which may be why you see less heat than I do. I'll try blocking the seams at the tank and see if the problem lessens, but doubt much wil change. There's also a lot of heat coming from the inside of the fairing on the lower right side, despite the Kawasaki afterthought (Ooops we forgot about the heat problem, so let's put in these useless 10 cent ...) POS foam inserts. 
DW -- it's way worse than the 07 FJR, which is NOT affected by rider size and height, IMO. The new BMW 1200's have as close to perfect heat management as one can hope for. I spent a lot of time on an S and a GT, neither of which have any heat issues whatsoever. Busa's are heat managed as well, and have no heat issues. This C sucks in that respect. For one thing, the side vents create more heat than they remove and have to go. If they weren't there, I'd have zero issues.
If I move way back on the seat, which I hate doing, leg heat is marginal, but I like to be right up against the tank...easier on the arms and lower back, especially on long rides. I can do this on my ZX and was able to do it on every bike I've ever owned with no consequence, except on this one.
Rain makes everything OK though...virtually no heat when the rad is getting wet...LOL
What a PITA....the only thing I can figure is that if you're under 5'10" and a much shorter inseam with thinner legs, you'd have no heat issues.
I have to figure out how to resolve this, or get a new C14 once they get this resolved. Honestly, I wish I had taken the ZX14 for this trip instead of the C...much cooler, even with the engne temp issues I'm having on that bike.
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TedG
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posted July 13, 2008 08:02 PM
Steve, I took a 400 mile ride today in 100 degree smoke filled heat. I ran the shit out of it down the truck route coming down from Virginia City (great road, no cops, fuckin hairy). So now the bike is relatively hot and my legs were getting some pretty good heat. I have a set of mesh gloves (awesome) and started running the back of my hand around to find where the heat was coming from, because like you said moving back the air was cooler. But it didn't seem to be coming from the side vents, that air was going around my legs. There was quite a bit of heat coming from the crack between that removable air defelector and the faring dumping directly onto my legs. I am going to seal that up this week before I ride to Laguna. It will be dead easy.
Also there was alot of heat under the plastic where I rest my knees. I ride all the way forward most of the time and my legs are fairly long. I know what that problem is because I fixed it before and it has re appeared. That is the foam has leaks and I am going to seal them up big time. And there was heat coming through the crack between the faring and the tank. I am thinking if I seal the foam that may stop. I gotta look.
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TedG
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posted July 13, 2008 08:09 PM
Also the thing vibrated like a bitch today, last night I tightened the bolt on the bottom of the engine that the exhaust bolts to. The vibration went up dramatically, I did this once before but I wasn't sure if it was that or something else. This time it was the only thing I did. Loosening it kills some or the vibration. That coupling is making things vibrate.
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fASTESTbUSAaROUND
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posted July 15, 2008 08:09 PM
As far as the vibes go, my 04 FJR and my buddy's 07 are/were no better...someone on the "other" site suggested richening the fuel mixture at higher RPM's, which I know will have ZERO effect. 
I checked the heat again today...it is coming directly from the vents and hard...like a fucking 500 degree oven when you open the door and stick your head near it. It's not leaking through the cracks to the extent that it would phase me...it's simply bad design. The ST1300 has the same issues and there are kits that you can buy that actually block the heat from hitting the rider...same as on the Wing. I know that if I ever rode in shorts (which I'd never do), I'd scald my legs badly...and the thing is, the engine temp gauge runs at 1 bar under half for the most part...and the fans rarely kick in, except when idling for a period of time in hot weather...so it's not like the engine is running abnormally hot...
The heat under the plastic is bad too...as is the heat at the sides of the tank plastics...and I doubt there's a whole lot that can be done. Thing is, I get irritating heat in 70 temps, albeit not like 90's. Maybe I should have bought a 1200GT....no heat issues at all...
I will try sealing up a few things here and there to see what results....
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TedG
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posted July 17, 2008 02:08 PM
Do you think adding deflectors to the existing deflectors will help in your situation? It would seem to be fairly easy to build something (for summer use only) that would deflect more air. The main flow definitely goes around my legs. Once the bike cools the heat then becomes quite tolerabe. I am getting heat from the cracks and quite a bit, sealing that up should help my situation.
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Ted
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fASTESTbUSAaROUND
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posted July 17, 2008 03:07 PM
Yup, I bumped in to a guy on an '02 ST1300 the other day on the Blueridge who had the deflectors for that bike. He did say that it solved the heat issues completely, so...that might be a thought. I'll seal all the cracks around the tank and the vents when I get back and I'm sure that will help somewhat. Today, I rode 100 miles in 94 degrees...heat was fine, until I moved up towards the tank...and that's when it became intolerable.
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TedG
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posted July 21, 2008 12:02 PM
Well knock me over with a feather. This weekend I rode to Laguna Seca and noticed the bike seemed to vibrate quite a bit and seemed worse the lower in altitude we would go. Hmmm. So we got into Salinas and I figured better switch to Premium (I usually run mid) because it was sea level and what the hell, and in a few miles the vibrations had decreased very noticeably. So coming home I used premium and as much as I hate to say this because I know good and well that lower octane usually will give better performance, premium seems to help the vibes. I think this bike may be very sensitive to octane.
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Ted
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FastestBusaAround
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posted July 21, 2008 02:11 PM
Fuck me with a crowbar Ted....this I gotta try... Can you say 94?
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oncourse
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posted July 21, 2008 03:22 PM
I have always run premium, especially due to flies out.. The load down low is way higher than it was designed for, considering the V V T. I have no complaints of any vibration at any rpm up to 6k (That's as far as I have had it so far under my progressive break in). It is the most vibe free bike I ever owned, ever!
As far as the heat, in my other post I decribed my ride with shorts, no meshed anything, and it roasted my right leg, right where the heat dumps from the r/s vent. The header heat is extreme, it is no rad issue as the left side was no where near as hot, but sometimes after getting stuck in traffic, you could feel some from the l/s untill the temp guage dropped. I do not know how much the cat's are playing into this either..
Seriously, someone should heat wrap the whole header pipe all the way to the cat's and see what difference it makes, and I think it would be big. Another thing I want to mention is that fba and I are running a flies out map, and could contribute to more heat than you are getting Ted. I am 5'8" 32" inseam and it just fried me.
I like riding close to the tank as well, and the tank gets warm too. I think if you put a plain cheese sandwich in the glove box for one hour on a hot day it would be melted. If I'm riding with jeans or anything else I really do not feel it much at all...
My 2 cents,
Rob
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SpeedCostsMoney
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posted July 22, 2008 08:37 AM
Weird, I ride my everyday to work and I live in Charleston. It’s muggy and hot almost year round. I’ve got no issues with the heat. Different strokes for different folks.
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FastestBusaAround
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posted July 22, 2008 03:22 PM
Do you sit close to the tank? How tall are you? What do you wear for pants/shoes? Maybe there's a clue in there somewhere...because if I wear my SIDI boots, I'm good.
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oncourse
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posted July 22, 2008 04:28 PM
If I wear jeans I'm good.. Maybe it's radiant (infared heat), but I do not see how the header can do it from where your legs are...
Rob
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08 Connie 2 bros. Carbon. Helibars. Flies out, PC3!!!
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FastestBusaAround
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posted July 22, 2008 06:15 PM
Not header IMO, rad airflow combined with the heat coming off the headers..but more from the rad.
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TedG
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posted July 22, 2008 07:10 PM
Steve, when I would keep my legs close to the tank and forward I was out of the heat blast, back some and it warmed up, knees out was warm also. I still really think that all the small details will help a lot.
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Ted
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oncourse
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posted July 23, 2008 03:38 PM
Ok, I have to comment again.
On my shorts ride as we will call it, the heat was right at my inner calf, not outer. I mean reallt hot heat. I was not the only one, and in my c-14 heat post there was another, that on the same day rode with shorts and got the same thing. It really is unbearable..
I had my legs wrapped around the tank and on the plastic as well, as close to the tank as my nuts could handle.
Now yesterday, I did my oil change and let it run untill the fans kicked in, when they did 95%+ of the rad heat was dumped out the side vents. Only a small portion of the heat made it passed the engne to where my leg got fried. Of course this does not account for the real ram air of driving it down the road.
Yes I do know that heat from the rad. is dumped on both sides, and that does happen after a red light soak, but this other heat is real bad, reallly baddddd. There is no other way to put it, it sucks! But my left leg never felt like it was getting fried, not at all. Yes it got hotter, but nothing like the r/s, not even close. Just take a trip with shorts on and you should see what I am talking about.
Reguards,
Rob
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04 klr 250 Lots of mods and 70 MPG!!
08 Connie 2 bros. Carbon. Helibars. Flies out, PC3!!!
2003 kx 500 SOLD
2004 KX 500 In service now, whata BEAST!
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FastestBusaAround
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posted July 23, 2008 04:52 PM
Ya, in shorts it's a thousand times worse....scorching on this bike...
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oncourse
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posted July 23, 2008 04:56 PM
If you try it you will for sure find out where it is coming from..
Rob
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True intellegence is not measured by your degrees.
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08 Connie 2 bros. Carbon. Helibars. Flies out, PC3!!!
2003 kx 500 SOLD
2004 KX 500 In service now, whata BEAST!
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FastestBusaAround
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posted July 23, 2008 05:39 PM
Did for a very very short run last week....
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stevewfl
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posted July 24, 2008 10:31 PM
 Edited By: stevewfl on 24 Jul 2008 23:33
could the vibe issues be due to shaft drive train? a guy here told me he suspects that is making his buzzy
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FastestBusaAround
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posted July 25, 2008 01:58 AM
I thought it might be that, but It does the same thing in neutral too...
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Charles Young
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posted July 27, 2008 01:25 AM
My Connie seems smooth as silk , bought in Nov. 07 . Nice ride .
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