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Posted by Robert Bolton on June 27, 2009, 1:54 am
The Mrs had a little trouble on our trip last summer in that her thigh
bone would bang against the pillion hand grips when we hit bumps, to
the point it began to be painful. It was only one thigh bone
(femur?), the one that is closer to the skin surface due to an auto
accident.
I bought a set of elevated passenger floorboard posts this spring from
the local HD dealer for $137. I discovered later in the summer that
Anchorage Harley charges above list ($124)while Fairbanks Harley
sticks to list. Anyway, I took the wife on her first ride of the
season after installation to check them out. The posts worked great,
so she is now pain free.
The ride was our usual 30 miles to Girdwood and 30 miles back. Traffic
was a little slow, but not too bad. Traffic came to a standstill on
the way home though, with maybe a half mile long line of cars winding
along the shore line till it disappeared around the mountain bend. We
sat there for awhile. I hadn't charged the battery in recently, which
is something I seem to have to do to ward off low voltage, so I was
hesitant to shut/start the engine down as traffic moved a few car
lengths every 10 minutes. I was also leery of sitting at a stop for
long periods on an air-cooled bike. After perhaps 20 minutes, I
pulled over to the shoulder, rode up the line about 50 yards, crossed
the street, parked in a pull-off, and shut the engine down.
Traffic hardly moved during the next 15 minutes we sat there, so I
decided to head back to Girdwood and try again later. We stopped at
The Chair 5, which was so packed the wife asked a guy if he'd share
his table, which he did. It turned out he was our ex-Senator Ted
Stevens' next door neighbor. We had an appetizer, chatted with the
fellow for about an hour, then tried the road for home once again.
Nothing had changed, so this time I just sat in line, wondering how
hot my engine was getting. There was a fair amount of wind, but as I
sat in line idling, the oil pressure gradually dropped. The wife
occasionally urged me to ride the shoulder to the head of the line,
but I was hesitant, in part because I figured there would be cops at
the head of the line who might not like it. I changed my mind when my
oil pressure was down to very nearly zero. Off I went riding the
shoulder. All went well till I came to a motorhome. As I approached,
a woman jumped out and began to walk/jog alongside the motorhome,
thereby partially blocking the shoulder. I don't know what she was up
to, but I slowed to a crawl, waiting for her to do whatever it was she
was going to do. I happened to glance down at my gauges though, saw
my red oil light was on, and so went ahead and proceeded to pass. She
gave me enough room to get by, so all went well.
Traffic was just starting to move then, so there were wide open spaces
in front of the motorhome, permitting me to get back onto the road,
some revs, get some oil pressure, and cool things off.
All parties were gone when I reached the crash sight, though I had a
chance to see some flashing red lights as I approached. I noticed a
motorcycle skid mark, with some auto skid marks very near it. The
story that emerged as few weeks later was that two motorcycles were
passing a string of cars when oncoming traffic forced them to get back
into their lane. The motorcycle in front braked hard, the one in the
rear over braked and went down, sliding into the front bike, which
caused the front bike's passenger (wife) to get tossed off, where she
was struck by a semi. She wasn't dead, but seriously injured.
Back home, I searched the net to learn about oil coolers and found the
usual assortment of conflicting opinions about whether or not the
basic oil coolers do any good. My air-cooled Honda Nighthawk 750 had
an oil cooler. It was a piece of tubing with relatively Spartan
cooling fins on it.
Any of the Harley crowd out there know anything about oil coolers, or
other ways to keep engine temp down during very long standstill times?
I've read about a radiator type that kind of sits at the bottom front
of the engine and a simple tube type that is similar to what was on my
Nighthawk. I use 20-50 oil. The owners manual speaks of using 50w
when ambient permit it, but recommends 20-50 when starting below 60 F
ambient. I start often in the 40s F.
Robert
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Posted by Snag on June 27, 2009, 7:59 am
Robert Bolton wrote:
show/hide quoted text
> Any of the Harley crowd out there know anything about oil coolers, or
> other ways to keep engine temp down during very long standstill times?
> I've read about a radiator type that kind of sits at the bottom front
> of the engine and a simple tube type that is similar to what was on my
> Nighthawk. I use 20-50 oil. The owners manual speaks of using 50w
> when ambient permit it, but recommends 20-50 when starting below 60 F
> ambient. I start often in the 40s F.
> Robert
I have the type that mounts low on the front frame tubes . It's about 4"
tall and 7" wide , heavily finned . But the best cooler in the world won't
help if there's no airflow over it .
There are aftermarket fans that mount on the engine to blow air over the
cylinders , but I have no experience with them . In my experience , LEO's
are usually pretty lenient about letting you ride down the
shoulder/emergency lane if you're nice about it . "Officer , I really need
to be moving , or I'm gonna fry the motor ."
--
Snag
'90 Ultra "Strider"
'39 WLDD "Popcycle"
Buncha cars and a truck
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Posted by Bob Mann on June 27, 2009, 9:02 am
show/hide quoted text
>
> I have the type that mounts low on the front frame tubes . It's about
> 4" tall and 7" wide , heavily finned . But the best cooler in the
> world won't help if there's no airflow over it .
> There are aftermarket fans that mount on the engine to blow air over
> the
> cylinders , but I have no experience with them . In my experience ,
> LEO's are usually pretty lenient about letting you ride down the
> shoulder/emergency lane if you're nice about it . "Officer , I really
> need to be moving , or I'm gonna fry the motor ."
Harley has a fan that mounts where the horn usually goes.
I have no experience with it.
One other thing that helps is to make sure the fuel is up at idle as well.
If the H-D overall fuel ratio is kept right down to idle it will run lean
and hot.
As you say, the oil cooler only works when you are moving and I can't see
it being necessary in Alaska.
--
Bob Mann
Cap'n, ah need moor pow'r.
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Posted by Robert Bolton on June 27, 2009, 2:23 pm
wrote:
show/hide quoted text
>Robert Bolton wrote:
>> Any of the Harley crowd out there know anything about oil coolers, or
>> other ways to keep engine temp down during very long standstill times?
>> I've read about a radiator type that kind of sits at the bottom front
>> of the engine and a simple tube type that is similar to what was on my
>> Nighthawk. I use 20-50 oil. The owners manual speaks of using 50w
>> when ambient permit it, but recommends 20-50 when starting below 60 F
>> ambient. I start often in the 40s F.
>> Robert
>I have the type that mounts low on the front frame tubes . It's about 4"
>tall and 7" wide , heavily finned . But the best cooler in the world won't
>help if there's no airflow over it .
> There are aftermarket fans that mount on the engine to blow air over the
>cylinders , but I have no experience with them . In my experience , LEO's
>are usually pretty lenient about letting you ride down the
>shoulder/emergency lane if you're nice about it . "Officer , I really need
>to be moving , or I'm gonna fry the motor ."
Thanks, Snag. Perhaps I'll look into a fan someday. My experience
was probably a once every 10 years kind of thing, but it sure did
worry me.
Robert
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Posted by Who Me? on June 27, 2009, 9:15 am
Robert Bolton wrote:
show/hide quoted text
> I use 20-50 oil. The owners manual
> speaks of using 50w when ambient permit it, but recommends 20-50
> when starting below 60 F ambient. I start often in the 40s F.
Two thoughts, only partially related:
1) Consider using synthetic oil. It is MUCH less likely to break down due
to high temps. than conventional oil
AND
2) Your battery situation might be improved somewhat by keeping the engine
revs. up a bit more (shifting later) and by tweaking the idle speed up a
bit...........but then it probably wouldn't "sound" like a Harley !!!
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> other ways to keep engine temp down during very long standstill times?
> I've read about a radiator type that kind of sits at the bottom front
> of the engine and a simple tube type that is similar to what was on my
> Nighthawk. I use 20-50 oil. The owners manual speaks of using 50w
> when ambient permit it, but recommends 20-50 when starting below 60 F
> ambient. I start often in the 40s F.
> Robert