Senior Member
High-G FJR Junkie!
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Australia No fixed address
Posts: 2,272
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.
FJR Models owned from new, 2001, 2003, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2014.