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Mechanical questions ect

676 views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  bradblack 
#1 ·
I live in California and as you can imagine it's pretty hot here and traffic is the worst than anywhere but NY. I have noticed that in early mornings or in rare overcast days, the bike runs super smooth and in heat not so well. It's a 750 carbie and I'm wondering if anyone's ever installed bigger radiator and would that help to keep the heat down?

What chain lube do you guys use? Mine dries out in couple of days and obviously it's not too good for the chain.

Best,
Edge
 
#2 ·
First, your engine is air-cooled. That isn't a radiator; it's an oil cooler. I have not heard of anyone uprating that.

Second, your solution is lanesplitting. Indeed, that's one of the main justifications for lanesplitting being legal in CA -- to help keep air-cooled bikes from overheating in traffic.

Third, normal chain lube works fine. Just apply it more often.

PhilB
 
#3 ·
That radiator-looking thing on the front is an oil cooler. Your bike is air-cooled, no radiator, no antifreeze. Later-model ducatis are water-cooled, which makes it a lot easier to regulate engine temp.

Are you experiencing issues while moving or are you talking about stop 'n go "gridlock" traffic? If you're stuck in traffic there's not much you can do to keep an air-cooled bike cool... it depends on a constant flow of air through the fins on the cylinders to remove excess heat. Not at all uncommon for air-cooled bikes to overheat in summer gridlock. Water cooled bikes can handle slightly longer periods of idling but once their coolant heats up they overheat too. Water-cooled bikes with electric fans cooling the radiator do the best.

Any bike is designed and tuned to run at a particular (range of) operating temp, whether or not it is air or water-cooled. Running consistently outside of this optimum range will give decreased performance, increased wear, and ultimately premature engine failure.

It'd be nice to know if the bike is actually running hot, but I believe only later 900's came stock with an oil temp guage (mine has one). I've seen guages for sale periodically in the classified section which replace the screw-in oil level dipstick. Make sure you do regular oil changes with a GOOD oil (with proper temp rating for your climate) as hot running will tend to demand a lot of your oil and it should be changed more frequently... I use Motul 300V which is probably overkill (it's expensive) but it's frequently around 100F in the summer where I live and I like to ride it hard from time to time. Also, make sure your chain is properly adjusted and lubed... a dry or unlubed chain can make the bike feel like you have engine issues.
 
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