That's about right. Best was when I found a rock jamming my fan. Pulled the rock and forgot to check the fuse, the next day in HEAVY traffic the temps soared WAY above 220... didn't notice until the guage was blinking. Pulled over and swapped out the blown fuse and all was well. Man, I about had a heart attack.

 

I'm very interested in this topic, I've had my Superhawk up as high as 240! Is there a possibility of additional/different fans, or thermostat that would help this?

 

By chance has anyone ever checked oil temperature ?

These things are hard on mere mortal oils correct ?

 

Having left the SuperHawk world for the VFR world for four years and now back, it's so funny to see parallels and this thread is one.

Only new model owners with the digital temp readout are "complaining" about high temps. Us with analog guages aren't. Here in the fall, my fan comes on between 1/4 and 1/2 on the scale. That sure "looks" a lot cooler than seeing 215f or 225f ! Same thing happened in the vfr lists with they switched over in 98.

Also, the side rads aren't as effective (IMO) at very low speeds and need more airflow over them to pull the BTU's effectively.

Doug

 

My 2000 Hawk ussually runs at 1/2 to 3/4 on the analog gauge and my fan doesn't kick on untill just before the red

 

in the summer 90deg and up my fan comes on at 215 but temp my temp never has gone higher than 220 in town stop and go when it not hot as hell 210-211 is norm on my bike i don't know if that help ya or not

 

i usually don't worry about my temp my last bike was a harley so no matter what my temp reading is i know that is not even close to what my harley ran i know this cuz my superhawk doesn't roast my bag at a stop light in the summer

 

Mamisano makes a good point about the cooling fan and overheating. The day I bought my first VTR, I ran into a bit of afternoon traffic, and the temperature gauge suddenly shot-up past the half-way point (on the pre-2002 temp gauge).

Once I saw that the VTR was overheating--and rather quickly, at that--, I rode along the highway shoulder so I could take an exit ramp and pull into a gas station about 1/2 mile away. I was still new to the world of VTR, so I didn't yet know that listening for cooling fan operation is part of routine riding procedure.

I then checked coolant level and allowed the VTR to cool for about twenty minutes. I was then able to ride backroads to keep the bike moving (and thus cooling sufficiently) until I got back to the dealership--which, by the way, should have checked cooling fan operation before they even sold the used VTR.

They found that a large bug had become lodged in the cooling fan blades and that the fuse had consequently blown. They removed the bug, replaced the fuse, and I was off, cooling fan functioning properly.

I now make it a point to listen regularly for proper cooling fan operation, especially since SuperChicken III does not yet have the '02-and-up instrument cluster that includes a digital temperature gauge.

(Fuses are much less expensive to replace than engines are.)

cheers,
--HotStreetVTR

 

I would like to revisit this topic for a couple minutes, I was just wondering if anyone has successfully mounted a bigger oil cooler, and if so did it make a difference? I was also thinking that a couple small fans on the cooler (maybe CPU fans) might make quite a difference. As another thought I was wondering if there were any fans that would look stylish that could be mounted to the outside of the radiators to help pull through air. Thoughts?

 

I don't think more fans are the answer. Better airflow would probably work better...?
My bike has sat for 15 minutes in traffic after being run hard, and never got much past 1/2 on the gauge. Certainly never anywhere close to 3/4! I need to change emy coolant though, and I'll add some wetter water, just for fun (I think it's supposed to make the bike warm up slightly faster). I'd be willing to bet that even when getting raced, oil temps don't get too bad. Keeping in mind, a synthetic is good to over 230F.

Adding a larger oil cooler would be super easy, just cut the metal lines, flare them and use a nut. Another oil cooler off a similar bike would probably bolt right up to the stock location, given the lines are long enough. I just don't think there's a need until I see some oil temp data.

 

I've though about trying out a coolant additive this summer called WaterWetter.
Anybody else tried this stuff before?

http://www.redlineoil.com/products_coolant.asp ....

 

I used it and when my bike reaches the mark where the fans come on it goes down in temp almost immediatly it doesn't run to much cooler but doesn't seem to heat up as much.

 

I used to think that my hawk might not be getting the propper airflow since it's got sharkskinz on it and no internal directional ducts anymore, but now I've realized that without those directionals, the radiator is still getting air when you are moving, but also, when you're stopped, there is less crap to keep air from getting to your radiator so it was actually a blessing in disguise.

 

I've actually wondered about that too, in fact I concidered running one of the ducts as a cold air intake to the carb Has anyone done that?