[littleowl]

This is the first air cooled bike I've ever had and it sure lets me know when it's hot. I was doing Bike4Life in quite hot weather and at the start when everyone started their engines I had to turn mine off repeatedly in the wait to depart, my leg started to burn after a very a short while!

Are all air cooled bikes like this .. off to the Lakes soon and want to do some twisty passes so hoping it will cope :concern:

 

[Mr Munck]

I have only ever owned air cooled bikes and this one gives off the most heat of any of them.

 

[triple2]

By design air cooled engines need air passing over them to keep temperatures down. Riding in stop/go situations on a hot day most motorcycles will radiate significant heat. At speed that heat shouldn't be too noticeable though.
The Scrambler seems no worse than the Hypermotard 1100 I had before it, and the heat that comes off my liquid cooled Hayabusa is probably more noticeable than both of them.
I could care less about gear position indicators or fuel gauges or what the air temperature is. I just wish Ducati had put an engine temperature gauge on these bikes.

 

[ichitz]

In stop and go traffic the other day, my leg was burning. Finally couldn't take it anymore and decided to white line it until I could get off the highway. Finally got home, took off my pants and there's a patch of red irritated skin.

 

[Xtyling]

I had the same experience. Got caught in Manila's Armageddon traffic jam for 1 hour. Couldn't filter through cars because 6 cars squeezed into a 4 lane road. My legs got toasted despite wearing Dainese Riding Pants.

 

[linux]

It's been high 80s here the last few days, stuck in traffic most of my rides home I felt same!
As I sat there, wishing for any sort of breeze, I wondered if it would be possible to install some small electric fans? The type you use in PC's to keep CPU and case internals cool...might not be really effective but might blow some of the heat away from legs or to the back of the bike. But where to mount and will those fans live long in the elements? Must have been the heat affecting me...ever hope for rain during a ride? Haha.

 

[mtb2104]

I was thinking about the exact same thing!
I noticed that the stock side panel sort of "concentrate" the heat wave as the only way out when bike sitting still was towards your thighs...
I open them up a bit, and I think it helps a little, unless there is zero air current flowing around me... heat waves get more places to escape now..
I might just try to find a CPU fan and put it somewhere...
Something like this...

It's been high 80s here the last few days, stuck in traffic most of my rides home I felt same!
As I sat there, wishing for any sort of breeze, I wondered if it would be possible to install some small electric fans? The type you use in PC's to keep CPU and case internals cool...might not be really effective but might blow some of the heat away from legs or to the back of the bike. But where to mount and will those fans live long in the elements? Must have been the heat affecting me...ever hope for rain during a ride? Haha.

 

[Xtyling]

Got trapped in traffic again. But fortunately it was on my way home from a pleasant ride.. So the burn didn't ruin my whole day.

I wouldn't bother trying to install PC fans or any such device because the true cure is to just keep moving. The Scrambler wasn't made to ride slowly or in traffic. Being a hooligan is what it does best.

 

[nuttynick]

I had the same in Morocco. I thought about removing the rear exhaust heat shield and wrapping it. It should stop most of the heat from the header, which seems to be the issue.

 

[Custard Tart]

Had my FT 3 weeks now. Had only tried the Demo Icon before buying the FT.

Picked it up with 3kms on the clock.On the ride home there was incredibly heat from the exhaust, to the point where I had to get off it whilst having to queue for fuel. Once rolling it wasn't a problem but the minute I stopped...It was seriously burning my leg!!

We decided to try the cheapest fix first and have double wrapped the exhaust...
This has helped enormously so even when sitting & trickling in traffic on a hot day its not unbearable now.

Needless to say we didn't buy the Ducati wrap...bought a roll of Black, which just blends in with the engine, for about half price...

 

[pastorwug]

The Wrap - a good idea but how is that done? Anyone have a video?

 

[motomeek]

I feel the pain. Nothing like feeling like you're going to get a first degree burn at a stop light.

I've lifted my leg up and out to the side or I prop my foot up on my frame sliders. I'm sure people in cars think I don't know how to motorcycle.

I just got the exhaust ceramic coated and copper coated on the inside. I hope it helps. The weather has cooled down this week, so I have yet to find out how significant the change will be until it heats up again.

 

[isidorosm]

Had my FT 3 weeks now. Had only tried the Demo Icon before buying the FT.

Picked it up with 3kms on the clock.On the ride home there was incredibly heat from the exhaust, to the point where I had to get off it whilst having to queue for fuel. Once rolling it wasn't a problem but the minute I stopped...It was seriously burning my leg!!

We decided to try the cheapest fix first and have double wrapped the exhaust...
This has helped enormously so even when sitting & trickling in traffic on a hot day its not unbearable now.

Needless to say we didn't buy the Ducati wrap...bought a roll of Black, which just blends in with the engine, for about half price...

Hiw much length is it required for the Scrambler's exhaust.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

 

[Custard Tart]

We ordered mine from Amazon France...this is the description which includes sizes.
We actually used about half the roll & we double wrapped the section under the detachable heatsheild....which we just screwed back on through the wrap.....being black you can hardly see it...and the little metal ties are easy to use...
It was only €24 compared to Ducati's €48

I'm sure theres lots of companies selling similar on the net.
(I can't seem to lift a photo of Amazon but you can search with this description & have a look)

AUDEW 10m x 5cm x 2mm Bande Tête Echappement Isolant Tuyau Collecteur Turbo High Heat Wrap Noir + 5 Colliers

 

[littleowl]

We ordered mine from Amazon France...this is the description which includes sizes.
We actually used about half the roll & we double wrapped the section under the detachable heatsheild....which we just screwed back on through the wrap.....being black you can hardly see it...and the little metal ties are easy to use...
It was only €24 compared to Ducati's €48

I'm sure theres lots of companies selling similar on the net.
(I can't seem to lift a photo of Amazon but you can search with this description & have a look)

AUDEW 10m x 5cm x 2mm Bande Tête Echappement Isolant Tuyau Collecteur Turbo High Heat Wrap Noir + 5 Colliers

Can you take a pic? Sounds useful. Although I reckon you folks who live in hotter parts will have more of a problem - here in the UK we are lucky to get a week of sun in summer ....

 

[Custard Tart]

Our weathers not that different from yours "littleowl"....almost 18c today!!

My FT was too hot whatever the weather, as soon as you slowed to a crawl....beats me why Ducati sell a bike that is marketed heavily towards an "Urban" lifestyle, thats literally to hot to sit on in traffic. Maybe the testers are all tall so legs stick out more & don't fill the burn!! :dontknow: LOL :wink-new:

I will try & take a photo & post it up later

 

[Joooooooosh]

I don't think the air cooled nature of the Scrambler is the problem. I've ridden other air cooled stuff that was no where near as warm.
It's the positioning of the exhaust's on the side. They seem to be the main heat source. I'm guessing the restrictive catalytic converter right under the seat doesn't help either.

I've ridden the 400cc scrambler (smaller engine I know) and with it's under engine exhausts, my legs were a lot cooler.

I'd say there are two main options:

1. Heat wrap the headers .This might help contain more heat within them to be ejected out the back and provide a more efficient surface for the surface heat to be radiated. I'm guessing ceramic coatings do something similar.

2. 'De-cat' the bike and get a remap. Losing the really hot cat under the seat and letting the pipe flow more freely should reduce the heat around the middle of the bike. It's been widely reported that the engine also runs a lot cooler following a decent remap.

I find the Scrambler uncomfortable at times but never totally unbearable. I rode it around Scotland during a heatwave last year at about 25-28c though. So could be different in hotter climates.
I'm going to Europe in a couple of weeks so we will see how it is.

 

[Custard Tart]

For Littleowl .... As you can see we only wrapped a small length of the pipe, but double thickness & its helped enormously & only cost £20...

 

[littleowl]

That certainly might be worth trying - as you say only £20. Not used heat wrap before, is it literally just wrapped round or does it stick? And are there any downsides to using it ..

 

[Custard Tart]

For Littleowl .... As you can see we only wrapped a small length of the pipe, but double thickness & its helped enormously & only cost £20... View attachment 5333





View attachment 5333

That certainly might be worth trying - as you say only £20. Not used heat wrap before, is it literally just wrapped round or does it stick?

Really easy...bit fiddly....might need extra pair of hands to help keep it taut...we did.
Its not sticky it has some metal ties ( like cable ties )...very neat. Trim off excess length thats left on roll.
Then we literally just screwed the heat shield back on, pushing the screws through the bandage.

It smokes on first start up but thats only for first few minutes....have done about 500 miles now & no problem...& no burnt leg ;-)