Engine heat

During a 2300 mile ride on my ‘17 RT last week I noticed significant engine heat on my legs mainly when I had my feet up on the highway pegs, but also when my legs were splayed out from the tank, while traveling at highway speeds. When my legs were tucked up against the tank, heat management was fine. But the heat when using my highway pegs would funnel into my torso, and riding in mid-90 degree temps made it impossible to use the highway pegs comfortably. I’m not totally sure if this heat flow is coming from the heads or the radiators. I tried positioning my feet in different ways on the highway pegs, but no improvement. I have Illium Works pegs mounted on the bottom bars of my engine guards. Anyone else have this engine heat management issue, and if so, is there a fix?

Your bike wasn't designed to manage heat when riding with "highway pegs". They have done a masterful job with heat management, but they can only work with the OEM fitments for the bike. Personally, I don't use "highway pegs" and I just stop and stretch if my legs get tired.

Heat management can't be changed as the radiators are where they are and it is normal to feel the warmer air when you stick your legs out.

I am reminded of the old Henny Youngman joke: Doctor it hurts when I do this. Doctor says, “Then don’t do that.”

azgman said:

Your bike wasn't designed to manage heat when riding with "highway pegs". They have done a masterful job with heat management, but they can only work with the OEM fitments for the bike. Personally, I don't use "highway pegs" and I just stop and stretch if my legs get tired.

Click to expand...

I agree 100% with this comment. I had highway pegs on my 2017 RT, but removed them after using them just once. The heat management on a stock R1200RT is the best I have ever experienced in riding 530,000 miles (or 853,000 km) on many different motorcycles. You want heat? Ride any V-twin. An opposed twin runs 100° cooler.

It indeed may be that highway pegs are incompatible with the RT (except in the winter, when the engine heat doesn’t matter), but they vastly increase my comfort level during long distance touring. I don’t want to just accept that the RT heat management/ radiator heat airflow requires a static position for my legs, all the time, without at least exploring if there is a fix, or alternative highway peg placement that alleviates this issue for summer riding. So if anyone has figured out a highway peg, or peg placement, or wind deflector, that works in connection with this issue I’d appreciate hearing from you.

One thought I have is: are you wearing motorcycle specific overpants when you ride? I use a pair of Klim motocross pants which have heat protection in the lower calf area which might help you. The other thought would be to try mick-o-pegs which extend down from underneath the engine cylinders.

You could always wrap your legs in tin foil.....

Seriously thou, insulation in your pants appears to be the only practical solution.
A.

Thanks for the responses. I’ll take a look at Mick -O-Pegs — my recollection is I was concerned about them dragging at high lean angles in the twisties, but I’ll take another look. And yes, I wear Aerostitch AD 1 pants.