Posted by Ronald O. Christian on June 10, 2011, 5:17 pm
Drinks for everyone. Iced tea, please.
Yesterday I took the day off 'cuz o my birthday, and wife and I rode
Noisy Glide up to Mt St Helens. Or tried to. We took 5 north from
Portland, did a side trip to Battleground to visit a friend, then
continued to Woodland and cut east expecting to eventually end up on
the south rim. Except it was snowed in still. In June. Damned
global warming. Will have to try again later in, I dunno, August.
Anyway, the ride was real pretty, lots of trees and blue water and
brilliant blue sky and cottonball clouds, smells of pine and
occasional woodsmoke, and the air was just cool enough that we didn't
overheat in leathers. We saw several other riders out there,
apparently doing the same thing we were -- go as far as you can, turn
back at the barrier, stop at the little cafe in Cougar for a beer.
(Pretty waitress alert.)
We didn't time the return right and hit rush hour traffic. Heat on
legs and nether parts got downright painful and had both of us
squirming in seats. Geeze, don't Harley engineers ever ride the bikes
they design? In warm weather? When temperatures were in the high
thirties (Fahrenheit) I welcomed the heat but this is ridiculous. I
hear they redesigned the 2:1:2 in later models so that the junction is
under the frame instead of right under the frakking seat, but that the
new head pipes can't be retrofitted to older ('03) bikes. I've looked
at "true dual" headers like the Fullsac (cheap and simple) and
Supertrapp (pretty), but haven't come to any conclusions yet. Number
one consideration is not performance, but to keep the heat off my (and
passenger) legs and ass to the greatest extent possible.
I've had a set of "saddle shields" (unfortunate name) on order since I
got back from California, hope to put them on this weekend. I'm told
that's just a partial solution and the real solution is to re-route
the exhaust, but one step at a time.
Ron
-
2003 FLHTCUI "Noisy Glide"
http://www.christianfamilywebsite.com
http://www.ronaldchristian.com
Posted by TL Mitchell on June 11, 2011, 12:08 pm
> We didn't time the return right and hit rush hour traffic. Heat on
> legs and nether parts got downright painful and had both of us
> squirming in seats. Geeze, don't Harley engineers ever ride the bikes
> they design? In warm weather? When temperatures were in the high
> thirties (Fahrenheit) I welcomed the heat but this is ridiculous.
My 2000 & '05 Ultras were nothing compared to the discomfort on 96" the '07.
Tru Duals, fuel richener.... always sucked severally in traffic in the
summer.
> I hear they redesigned the 2:1:2 in later models so that the junction is
> under the frame instead of right under the frakking seat, but that the
> new head pipes can't be retrofitted to older ('03) bikes. I've looked
> at "true dual" headers like the Fullsac (cheap and simple) and
> Supertrapp (pretty), but haven't come to any conclusions yet. Number
> one consideration is not performance, but to keep the heat off my (and
> passenger) legs and ass to the greatest extent possible.
> I've had a set of "saddle shields" (unfortunate name) on order since I
> got back from California, hope to put them on this weekend. I'm told
> that's just a partial solution and the real solution is to re-route
> the exhaust, but one step at a time.
Never got around to installing the heat blockers on the '07, swapped it on a
'10. Still a bit warm in stop n go traffic but nothing *nearly* approaching
the pain of the '07. Getting rid of the heat was one of the motivating
factors but after riding the new frame with the reflogged ass end it was a
no-brainer. Kindof a pricey solution for the heat, but effective. And a
twofer with the sweet handling frame that made it handle like a motorcycle
is s'posed to.
112
Posted by big_piper on June 13, 2011, 12:41 pm
On 6/11/2011 9:08 AM, TL Mitchell wrote:
(snip)
> Never got around to installing the heat blockers on the '07, swapped it on a
> '10. Still a bit warm in stop n go traffic but nothing *nearly* approaching
> the pain of the '07. Getting rid of the heat was one of the motivating
> factors but after riding the new frame with the reflogged ass end it was a
> no-brainer. Kindof a pricey solution for the heat, but effective. And a
> twofer with the sweet handling frame that made it handle like a motorcycle
> is s'posed to.
> 112
So are you on sales commission with Harley yet?
--
BigPiper
AH#138
BS#246
Posted by TL Mitchell on June 14, 2011, 3:54 am
> So are you on sales commission with Harley yet?
They said the buyer's were s'posed to richly compensate me.
112
Posted by big_piper on June 14, 2011, 11:40 am
On 6/14/2011 12:54 AM, TL Mitchell wrote:
>> So are you on sales commission with Harley yet?
> They said the buyer's were s'posed to richly compensate me.
> 112
So we're back to Amish fertilizer again?
--
BigPiper
AH#138
BS#246
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> legs and nether parts got downright painful and had both of us
> squirming in seats. Geeze, don't Harley engineers ever ride the bikes
> they design? In warm weather? When temperatures were in the high
> thirties (Fahrenheit) I welcomed the heat but this is ridiculous.