Took an FJR1300 2005 ABS for a ride yesterday and experienced a very hot ride. A lot of heat at the gas tank and right under the seat. The weather was 85 degrees out...not too hot. After 30 minutes ride, the temperature, at the seat and gas tank was too uncomfortable and was roasting the peanuts. The bike is a beast that wants to roar, but, it's too hot for comfort! My friend owns this bike and would like to sell it to Me for a reasonable price. He offered another test ride for today, however, the sun is out and will be 95 degree today. Not sure I want to sit on top of the campfire heat coming off the tank/seat. Previous owner before him wrapped the exhaust pipes with fiber thermal wrap at the engine. There is a thermal blanket under the gas tank.


Is this challenge familiar to anyone? Any suggestions for a remedy or is this the heat that comes with the horse power? I live in the Pacific Northwest. Could imagine tolerating this in South. Something seems off by this much heat at the seat.


Thank you for your help...

When I do a maintenance that requires the fairing to come off I’m going to have my exhaust coated in swain technology white lightning. Will I see hp gain like coating hot side of a turbo and it’s exhaust manifold no but it will keep heat in the pipes and away from the family jewels and electric components. http://swaintech.com/race-coatings/r...aust-coatings/

I stay away from wraps since they can absorb oil and gas spills and that leads to possible fires. My 06 here in Florida heat isn’t hot in the chestnut area but rather my calf’s.

Maxcat34,

You are not the first to notice the problem. If you Search, you can find many posts on each approach: left side heat fix, heat blanket, right side heat fix. The present heat blanket there may have slipped from the correct position. The right and left "fixes" are not the same. Each one is an improvement, but there is no complete answer. From the archives:

Left Side Fix:http://www.fjrowners.ws/forum/messag...tml?1063970531

Right Side Fix:http://www.fjrowners.ws/forum/messages/6/10235.html?

I do not have a Gen 1, so, no direct experience here. Best . . .

Several people have had this problem and talk even about boiling fuel in the tank! I cannot understand it because I'm on my 3rd FJR (1 Gen I, 2x Gen II's) and I have never had the problem and live in the south where it is at least 95F everyday from May to September. I mean, heat comes off the engine and if I stop at a red light in hot weather and the fan comes on, it is...unpleasant, but riding around, I've never felt that the heat was excessive or anything. I guess bike-to-bike variation? Or owner-to-owner perception variation?? I don't know.

Good luck!

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

Some people are bothered by heat and some are not. About 1/2 the guys on the ST forum complain about the heat on the ST 1300, and of course have devised various "fixes" for it. The other half have no issue with the heat. If you wear motorcycle specific pants and boots you will be less likely to feel it I think, vs jeans and gymmers. At least that's my experience. It's been really hot here lately (heat warnings the last few days with heat indexes between 103-107) and I have been riding everyday and the FJR doesn't seem hot to me (3rd gen).

The other day I rode a 1700cc V Twin Yamaha cruiser for 2 hours for a buddy of mine, and that thing was really hot when I came to a stop. Big engine between the legs and no fairing to deflect any of that heat.

The first thing to understand, is that the heat that you are feeling does not come directly from the engine or exhaust pipes, it comes from the air passing through the radiator. Heat generated in the engine is passed to the coolant, the coolant is pumped to the radiator, and the heat is then transferred to the air passing through the radiator.

In Gen 1 bikes, the fairing was poorly designed, and the hot air exiting the radiator was allowed to blow back under the fuel tank, and onto the rider's legs, thus the fuel tank, rider's legs, and tackle, become severely overheated. This effect is exacerbated by high ambient temperatures, and by big windscreens on the fairing. A big windscreen causes a big low pressure area behind it when riding, and this sucks hot air from the radiator upwards towards the tank and rider. About the only thing that actually works to reduce the heat experienced by the rider, is to fit a smaller windscreen, and ride with it down. Wrapping exhaust pipes and fitting heat blankets will do bugger all.

On Gen 2 and later bikes, Yamaha completely redesigned the fairing by introducing big air scoops to direct cool air under the tank, fitting a curved radiator to direct hot air out to the sides of the bike, and blocking hot air from entering the space under the tank and around the rider's legs. This mostly cured the hot rider problem. NOTE, they did not wrap the exhaust pipes.

Like Bernie says, if you have a Gen. 1 a smaller windshield will help with the heat.

My Gen. 1 windshield would cause such a vacuum behind it that the wind hitting my back would push me forward and make me uncomfortable at higher speeds with the windshield up.

I fixed both problems, for myself, by removing the plastic wind deflector that is down in the "tunnel" created by the front forks. This allowed a LOT of fresh air to blow up that tunnel and keep the "vacuum effect" from happening behind the windshield and also keeps all that hot radiator air from being drawn up to the tank and rider.

One real problem of taking out that "shield" thing, is that with the air blowing up that "tunnel" at high speed you can get a face full of dirt if you ride without a full face helmet on a sandy road. LOL

Hello,

I owned the '05 FJR for 11 years and rode 88,000miles. Near flawless. Awesome. Great. Smile from sea to shining sea! Not a regret EVER! At the time we '04 and '05'ers lived with the hot engine because, well, that's all there was and that's that.

However, with all the newer models now available, esp. '07 and onward, I would pass because, for just a few hundred more you'll be able to purchase a model with a design that prevented the hot engine at the source, i.e. adequate air flow to dissipate the engine heat.

We'll all support you in whatever you decide. I tried it all though, the engine blanket, heat wrapped mufflers etc etc. Save yourself the hassle and just buy '07 and onward.

I purchased a '15 A model in 2016 (2017?) and am thrilled with it. The improvements are nothing short of incredible (yet it is still basically the same m/c, go figure!)! I sold my '05 for $3,300 in that same time frame. I hope your friend is not asking more than $2,500 for his '05.

Respectfully,
Patrick

Howdy. Welcome to the forum.


I have no experience with the heat issues of a Gen I, so I really cannot help with the problem. Unless you can get a fantastic deal though, my recommendation if your budget will stretch, look at 2010 onward. By 2010, MamaYama fixed the EFI/throttle problem and the Gen IIs had improved, second generation ABS.

It's hot, I live with it.

I have the heat-fixes in place and they don't fix the heat.

At normal ambient temperatures, it's okay, but once the heat gets much above 90F the heat is hard to escape. I haven't yet been for a long ride on the '06, but I expect it to be better.