New to Goldwings. Durn, my feet get hot

[saltydog]

I am a proud new owner of a 1986 Aspencade. I have been reading through the posts on this forum and learning about the bike. I have one question that I have been unable to find an answer to. It has been about 105 degrees here in North Texas for the past few weeks and my feet are burning up. My wife went for her first ride with me yesterday evening, and she complained about her feet getting hot. As you know, if mama is not happy, nobody is happy.

Are there any shields available for your feet? Any other tips for getting away from the heat? Aluminum foil around your ankles?

Any thoughts will be appreciated.

[Oldsmores]

highway pegs (of course that doesn't help your wife). There are also engine side covers out there - can't vouch for them personally, but have heard they help.

[saltydog]

I have highway pegs(floor boards), but you can't move out there until you are thru shifting.

[neoracer]

engine covers are a viable option for you but the wife's problem is a little harder,some lower leg chaps might be a possibility,whatever works

if she is vertically challenged (short) this option may help and even if not this might work,take a 2x4,cut it to the approximate size of her foot rest and tape it on for a test,may just get her feet up high enough that it helps,try two also if one doesn't help enough

again whatever works

only drawback is it makes getting the centerstand down a little harder

[arkansassuperdrafter]

Don't know how much it helps the passenger, but I put the plastic side covers on mine and it makes a world of difference on the amount of heat on your legs. Got them off Ebay at a decent price.

[saltydog]

Don't know how much it helps the passenger, but I put the plastic side covers on mine and it makes a world of difference on the amount of heat on your legs. Got them off Ebay at a decent price.

I'd like to see a pic of your side covers. I'm thinking I may have a lot of heat coming from the radiator. I intend to look, when I have time, to see if I may be missing any of the rubber that may have been intended to redirect the radiator air, maybe to the grills on the lower fairing.

[bluewing]

I have the side covers and they really help the heat. I also have air wings and they help direct the air, I close the wings in the cold weather and open them in the warm weather.

[KnoxSwift]

I have the side covers and they really help the heat. I also have air wings and they help direct the air, I close the wings in the cold weather and open them in the warm weather.

Do you have a picture of your side covers?
Do you think they hinder airflow for the engine at all?

[olddude53]

Not just wearing running shoes etc ??? Wearing Proper Boots will also help

[robdavspa]

Hey, Saltydog. If you are having heat problems with a GL, maybe you should ride a v-twin with the exhaust just under your right thigh. Also, 105 is very hot to be riding and you should expect some discomfort. I just came off a H-D Heritage Softtail. My 1200 is not even close to hot as compared to that bike. Heat was one reason I have gone back to Gl's.
Ride safe, Bob

[Guest]

I pulled off the lower fairing section to do a carb sync and just left them off for now, much less heat effect around town.

[arkansassuperdrafter]

Salty Dog, Olddude53 posted a picture of the plastic side covers today for sale. Check it out. If you still want a picture of them on my bike, let me know and I will try to get one.

[Granpah]

GRANPAH'S GL1200 "COLD FOOT" EXPERIMENT

Guys, I couldn't sleep until I tried to solve the hot foot problem -- which I also get in tropical St. Louis! hock:

So here's what I came up with ... an experiment to try solve the problem.

First I looked up small inexpensive 12 volt turbines with potential to cool that could simply be mounted on the engine crash bar. There are such things called bilge turbines designed to ventilate boats, PERFECT :YMAPPLAUSE: 'cause (water proof!) they're sealed to prevent explosions. So rain won't short out these turbines in the rain or driving through puddles.



$23.59 on Amazon.com. These puppies are only 4-inches (10.16 cm) in diameter and move 240 cubic feet of air per minute, called SeaChoice 4" In - Line Bilge Blower. They operate on 12 volts (motor boats) at 4.5 amps (or 54 watts each -- about equivalent to a driving light). The original purpose of these small powerful turbines is to eliminate the danger of explosion on a boat from build up of gasoline fumes in the bilge. That's why they have to move a lot of air ... fast (usually through a long pipe of the same diameter that has some air flow resistance).

Before buying two of them, I calculated an estimate of what kind of wind these turbines can produce on the feet while the bike isn't moving. Hopefully, I didn't make too many mistakes :oops: in my calcs.


Face velocity of turbine is 240 cfm:

240 cu.ft/min = 240 cu.ft/min X 60 min/hr = 14,400 cu.ft//hr
A GL1200 Experiment

Cooling potential of bilge fan

1 cu.ft = 12 in x 12 in x 12 in = 1,728 cu.in

14,400 cu.ft//hr X 1,728 cu.in/cu.ft

414,720 cu.in/min X 60 min/hr = 24,883,200 cu.in/hr
_______________________________________

Diam of fan 4 in

Area of circle = π X ®sq = 3.14 X (2 in)sq = 12.56 sq.in is face area of fan
________________________________________

Convert face velocity to linear velocity: miles/hr

volume X 1/area = distance

24,883,200 cu.in/hr X 1/12.56 sq.in = 1,981,146 in/hr

5,280 ft/mile X 12 in/ft = 63,360 in/mile

1,981,146 in/hr X 1/63,360 in/mile = 31 mile/hr breeze

OR for our neighbors to the North: about 50 Km/hr breeze.

I figured that's about the speed you have to be moving to begin keeping cool on a hot day. :d

__________________________________________________

Intuitively, the results of my calculations seemed about right because the measured face velocity of my 1966 lab fume hood (in Edmonton ... BEFORE going metric :lol: ) used to be about 100 fpm and produced a pretty good breeze of about 15 mph.

BUT

To be on the safe side, I looked up the conversion of CFM to MPH and BINGO! I was right on the money. :YMHUG:

So maybe next week I'll get the turbines and be able to report back here on what happened, in about 2-3 weeks from now.
The turbines come in white plastic so they can easily be painted to match any GL1200. If this scheme works, they may not even make the bike look bad.

Crazy, huh? B-(

[bs175dths]

Since you did the calulating, could you calculate the estimated increase in gas mileage if I mounted a pair of these under my saddlebags, facing toward the back of the bike.?
I would think enough of these and the neccessary batteries and I could go full electric!!

I am only kidding. It is late in the day and the meds are wearing off................

the covers, wearing boots and removing the lowers all sound like good ideas.

[SIR tricky]

Gee whiz are we getting near to air conditioning.... :YMPRAY: :YMPRAY:

So much for the the "keep the bike stock group" :d :d :-@ :-@