really hot legs

[Guest]

Hello everyone, this is my first post and question, my wife and I now have a 1985 Aspencade 1200, we have ridden it quite a bit since getting it road worthy really enjoy it, we have owned it for about 2 months and have put a voyager trike kit on it. The only really unconfortable thing about the bike is the engine heat I get on my lower legs (calves), at first I left the engine exposed but I have now placed the covers over the engine thinking it would not fry my legs, but I was wrong, made no difference. I do have highway foot boards and use them alot (when on the highway), is this a normal thing with this model or do I just need to man up and shut up about it. Also the right front brake caliper is froze and will not operate, any suggestions? Other than replacing.

Thanks
Frank in Independence Missouri

[Tropicalsuns]

Frank,

Welcome to the forum. Yea these bikes are warm and give off quite a bit of heat, no changing that. You will appreciate that they do in a couple more months!

[Guest]

I have to agree about the engine heat. The best thing I have found is to wear some good motorcycle boots, mine are Cruiserworks and they help a lot. You have to expect some heat though, look where your toes are when they are on the pegs... they are about 3 inches from the engine heads! I figure that it is worth the heat to have the smooth power of these old Wings and once they are road worthy and have all the belts, hoses, brakes and everything in good order they go forever. (Mine now has over 104,000 miles and is my daily transportation for about 300 days a year).

As long as your temperature guage stays in the operating range the heat is normal but if it starts overheating then you need to find the problem ASAP. From what I have read the engine covers could cause overheating problems so keep an eye on the temp.

The other question about the brake caliper being frozen. You need to get a rebuild kit for that caliper (I think both fronts are the same but don't remember for sure) then rebuild the caliper.

Wow I just noticed that you are in Independence, MO. I was born and raised in Lee's Summit, MO and have family all over the Missouri side of KC (go Chiefs!)

Here is a picture of my other transportation.



It is a little time consuming but not real hard to rebuild a caliper. Since you are new to Wings you may not know that the one of the front brake calipers is linked to the back brake caliper (both operated by the foot brake) while the other front caliper is operated by the hand brake.

When you say it if frozen, have you taken the caliper off the rotor? c-clamps work great to get the pistons to go back into the calipers (slowly while the resevoir is open but don't get any brake fluid on any painted surface!).

Anyway if you describe the brake issue I'm sure that someone here can help you with it and I will give it my best shot to help out. If you ever decide to ride to the West Coast let me know and I'll get you my number and would love to meet you and the wife

[roscoepc]

Welcome to the Site!! As far as the heat, do you have a set of wind wings on your bike? They help quite a bit in the heat and when it's cold.

As far as your brakes. If one caliper is frozen chances are all three need to be rebuilt and new pads installed. Honda has the dust seals and the O-rings for the rebuild and it's not that hard to do. Once you get them broke down I believe you'll find the main problem is corrossion build up behind the O-ring seats which will need to be cleaned before reassembling.

Good luck with her!!!

[Guest]

welcome from apple valley ca. yes the heat is normal and you will like it when it gets cold. i have wings on my 85LTD and when the air is directed into your legs it is nice. wind wings are one thing you gotta get. keeps cold air off the legs in the winter(the only time i won't ride is if cajon pass is closed by snow)
and funnels air to the legs in the summer.

[neoracer]

Yes you will find that front left and right calipers are different sizes and also that what u think is frozen
really works only when the rear brakes are applied...found out the hard way too when i rebilt mine

[motor22]

Ride a Road King some time and you will never complain about heat from a wing again.

[MikeM]

My first GL1200 had foot pegs and yes the legs got hot. My newest one has floorboards and I can move my feet out farther and catch the cooler wind now. My first one also had the wind wings and no matter where I placed them I could tell no difference.

[Guest]

Thanks everybody for the welcomes, I did not have a clue that the two front calipers were not linked to each other, I will look at the right calpier on Saturday and see if it does operate from the rear brake lever, if it does then I will start looking at the left caliper because it is very spongy and not real strong, tried to bleed it the other night and the fluid did not rush out like it was under pressure, just oozed and the lever did not tighten up, so I will clean out the master and do a little flushing. As far as the heat from the engine I guess I will man up and shut up, but will look into getting some wind deflectors, and you are correct the heat will be a welcomed companion when the weather turns cooler.

[bluewing]

I use my windwings all the time, cool air in the summer and block the air in the winter so I can enjoy some of the heat from the motor.

[Guest]

another helpful tip is to get some of those wooden cab driver beads for your seat.

I popped alll of $8 at Wally World, and several zip ties later presto, no more medium rare inner thighs.

course you colud always do the old time "480" air conditioning...but then just how many windows DOES a Wing have? :lol:

[HarrysToy]

I use my windwings all the time, cool air in the summer and block the air in the winter so I can enjoy some of the heat from the motor.

When I turn my wind wings in full blast it will blow a pack of smokes out of my shirt pocket (even my debit card :oops: )
I love-em they work great!