Engine temperature

[dominicfr]

Hi everyone,
I have a CR since january but didn't have a chance to ride it much due to snow here in the center of France. All in all now i have done 700 km with it. I've noticed that as soon as i'm in city where there is a bit of traffic and must go slowly, the engine temperature is quickly rising up to 100°C even 104°C. It seems to be a lot as external temperature now is not over 9°C. Is that normal ? I worry a bit about summer when oustide temperature will be 25 or 30. Any idea ?

[Mitch]

my engine hits 100C in around 10 minutes in traffic, ive ridden in the city in 45C, and the engine temp e=was still only at 100c, but out on the open road it sits around 80C. I think your bike is running perfectly fine and normal

[dominicfr]

thanks Mitch for your answer.

[nxontos]

the same thing happens to my CR here in Greece.....
as long as the cooling system starts at 100 oC, u'll be fine

[kiko]

Dominic, the same temperature in the CxR in Spain.

Probably the hotest bike in the world.

In summer?. I do not drive the bike in summer for this reason.

Kiko

[dominicfr]

cheers guys for your answers, let's wait summer and see where the 1st fire will start !

[leathers999]

Would not know what it is like to ride in the heat of the sun as only had mine 9 months!!   

[Spenze]

I've been wanting to post about this very topic lately. Being in Melbourne, (Australia) we've just set the new record (for Victoria) for the greatest number of consecutive days over 30C for that last 2 months. Summer is good!

On a 40C day I understand that it gets hot, quickly and you need to be moving at more than 70/80kph to get it to cool down.

However on days that are only in the mid 20s I was rather disappointed to see the CR still hitting 100C in short time.

Sure the fan kicks in at 100C and cools it back down to 95/96 where the fan stops again. But this is where I have my issue.

When riding the air moves from the front of the bike, through the radiators and out past your legs. But the fans spin so they try to draw air in from your legs through the radiator towards the engine. Sounds good I theory as the air next to the engine would be hotter. But this is the problem, because its drawing air in the opposite direction to how it would normally flow.

So I've found that on an average hot day (mid to high 20's) once the fan kicks in (because I got stuck in traffic) it can take ages to cool the bike down if you manage to get moving again. I have to go over 70/80kph to get the normal flow of air to be strong enough to counter the fan. Between 40 and 70 they seem to oppose each other quite well and do nothing but keep it in the range that the fan wants to stay on.

It got the point where I was considering changing the wires around on the fan to make it spin the other way.

On my 5,000k trip around Victoria in the peak of summer there was no problem. Riding around at 110-160kph manages to keep it cool even on a 42C day.

To answer your question, yes it is normal. Especially in the first 1,000k!

[kiko]

Very good analysis.

Originally Posted by Spenze

...It got the point where I was considering changing the wires around on the fan to make it spin the other way.

Interesting job!

[dominicfr]

Originally Posted by Spenze

To answer your question, yes it is normal. Especially in the first 1,000k!

Well, thanks, at least I'll not worry much for now, we won't get over 10-15 C for a while in my freezing country ! Concerning the speed needed to cool down, hmm, not sure it will be easy to reach that speed in Paris ! I'd rather get used to ride a hot bike !