Re: RE Continental GT (Cafe Racer)

Do bike engines heat up? Yes. Will the engine of the CGT heat up? Yes, its basic physics. Does the engine of the CGT heat up enough to make you uncomfortable? Not in my experience. I havent faced any issues with the footpegs either.

Can you share what sort of riding conditions you expect to encounter?

Re: RE Continental GT (Cafe Racer)

thank you so much

Re: RE Continental GT (Cafe Racer)

[MENTION=5986]deepak[/MENTION]
I can very well relate to you, and probably those were the reasons I bought the GT inspite of obvious more Bang-4-Buck bikes available.

Yes it does heat up - But - only when in chock-a-block traffic, you'll not even notice the heat when youre on a move & you'll not even think of heat on a regular weekend ride when youre riding on open roads.

Re: RE Continental GT (Cafe Racer)

well im from bangalore. ill be expecting about an hour of freeway early morning and bumper to bumper for another hour in the evenings. and i know itll heat up lol. by "a lot" i meant, does it heat up so much that it becomes an issue to ride in traffic. i know my physics buddy. wouldnt be doing my B.E. otherwise.

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yes its air-cooled so, makes complete sense that you arent gonna feel the heat as long as youre on the move :P so how bad is it in "chock-a-block traffic"? my uncle burnt his leg real bad about a few months ago on his DS500. Thats the real cause for my concern. is it normal or is it just coz he wasnt careful enough? and how careful do you really need to be? or am i doing something completely wrong by comparing the DS500 to the CGT? :P [MENTION=75833]Kaushik Iyer[/MENTION]

Re: RE Continental GT (Cafe Racer)

Unless and until you happen touch the exhaust down pipe, nothing hot enough to harm is there. I do ride the above-mentioned "bang-for-buck bike" and GT alternatively for daily office commute pucca traffic 35 km to-fro a day and it won't heat up 10% of how my liquid-cooled partner heats up. Even did 800 km rides and it never showed any signs of heating (enough to harm). Unlike our mighty Monk, I had only denims. Only fatality so far was hole in a bag when it was hanging on handle bars during a pit stop.

Re: RE Continental GT (Cafe Racer)


Half an hour of bumper to bumper traffic should be perfectly fine. I commute 3 hours up and down (to Whitefield and back, traffic doesnt get worse that that) and havent faced any real heating problems. If the CGT had issues with heating (like what early Dukes had but which has been rectified now), it would have been widely reported on this forum and others by fellow owners. The fact that it hasnt means you have nothing to worry about.


How did your uncle burn his leg on his bike? Ive never heard of that happening.


On a lighter note, didnt your B.E teach you when the engine heats up

Re: RE Continental GT (Cafe Racer)

well, I travel from whitefield to malleswaram everyday so, now Im convinced there are no issues with the heating since you know about whitefield traffic :P and i dont exactly know how my uncle burnt his leg either lol. and about the whole BE thing lol. It started with "basic physics". Well even if you know basic physics, reading a bunch of numbers off a website and taking a testride for 5 mins just doesnt convince a few curious people. they wanna know what the owners have to say. they wanna know real facts straight from the horses mouth. Thats the reason ownership threads even exist right? not to cater to people that dont know physics lol. but to help out in making a life changing decision(eg. buying a bike). So [MENTION=11787]neil.jericho[/MENTION], the fact is you dont even need to know basic physics to know an engine produces heat. but you do need some good old ownership threads to really know the intricacies of your prospective bike, sitting at home, in front of a laptop.

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That pretty much sums it up for me [MENTION=19745]Devil[/MENTION]e_56 thanks! the exhaust down pipe is very much exposed in all REs :/ is there any kind of coating or cover that you know about, to protect kids that touch the motorcycle from a serioud burn, after ive parked it? any aftermarket accessory you know about?

Re: RE Continental GT (Cafe Racer)

Try for an aftermarket wrap on the exhaust pipe, They do protect from getting burnt and can withstand upto 500+ degrees i believe. Also it add a good aesthetic look, unless you find the bike too flashy with chrome.


check this - Banggood Thermo Bandage Exhaust Heat Wrap Turbo Manifold Header 15 Meter: Amazon.in: Electronics

Or you may check for something similar too.

Re: RE Continental GT (Cafe Racer)

I got fiberglass wraps. It reduces the degree of burn to some significant level. Drawback it makes horrible smell till the fine particles are burnt and everything seats in. It smells sometimes when riding in rain.

Re: RE Continental GT (Cafe Racer)

[MENTION=64547]TheArcher84[/MENTION] [MENTION=16677]deville_56[/MENTION] thank you so much exactly what I needed to know. And [MENTION=21789]Thearcher84 The thermo Bandage must be looking hot! If you Dont mind, could you post a picture? And [MENTION=16677]deville_56[/MENTION] are fibreglass wraps transparent or do they change the looks of the exhaust??

Re: RE Continental GT (Cafe Racer)

Agree, since you havent seen owners complain about it on forums or ownership threads despite the bike having been out for quite some time, there was nothing to worry about in the first place. Not sure why you latched on to the 'basic physics' part. Anyways for better or for worse, my ownership thread on Team BHP is probably one of the more widely read Continental GT threads and it has helped other prospective buyers, some of who have gone on to buy the bike in the end.


That said a topic like heat is relative, just like vibes are. I've owned a Continental GT for a year and 3 months now and I dont often complain about the vibes. My friend rides a new R3 and complains about vibes at 7000 RPM or so. I wonder what he will say if he rides the Continental GT!

deville saare, namaskaram after a long time. I've read that the wraps end up doing more damage than good in the long term, though that could be half information. Any reasons as to why you went in for it in particular? Was it just the aesthetics?

Re: RE Continental GT (Cafe Racer)

Namashkaar, long long time

Main reason was kids at home and bag burning incident made us more fearful. Was planning to do it for some time for looks after seeing them in some custom-built bulls. Fear catalyzed the decision. Bought it from our beloved Sabu itself

Never heard of the damage before, but after you saying so just Googled and found some people saying so. Anyway kids are more important than bike and owning a bull long-term is not gonna be a peace-of-mind experience


Full roll costed me 1.6k. Big roll. Enough to wrap a car header or 3 bikes. Smaller rolls are available at 600-700 range. Bought big one so that I can wrap all 3 household bikes. Original color is titanium/ceramic ivory. These are dyed and available in many colors.



Wrapping can be done DIY. But playing with fiberglass won't be pleasant experience. Gotta use elbow-length gloves and a face mask. I used old probiker gloves in hurry and ended up itching for 2 days and hand was full of microcuts and it hurts every time you wash you hands.



This is the final outcome.



Red hot exhaust + diesel spray + pressure wash, voila black wrap turned white. Dumb morons at service center.

Re: RE Continental GT (Cafe Racer)

For exhaust wraps there are a lot of various views on it.

But speaking of Bombay temps, I've seen 2 GTs which had engine turnoff problems & both had wraps around. The service center guys & owners were fighting on this, & I don't kow if they were able to find the real issue. I just suggested one of the owners to remove the wraps & see for some-time, havent seen that GT again in the service so not sure if he removed the wraps or if it was some other issue which got resolved! Anyway I only wanted to caution you on this.

For shielding I'd suggest just make a shield with an steel sheet, infact universal exhaust shields with clips are available at ebay.

Re: RE Continental GT (Cafe Racer)

Sorry Buddy, I didnt do the exhaust wrap, just gave that link as an info what you might be looking for. Besides, I already sold my bull.

Re: RE Continental GT (Cafe Racer)

Guess I'm late for the party, but regarding the Engine heat discussion;

1) For Liquid Cooled engines with high compression and Radiator (la katoom D390), many owners used to complaint of excessive engine heat. But this was actually the radiator fan kicking in, dissipating the engine heat, to avoid the engine temp going beyond alarm levels. In redesigned D390, Bajaj-KTM added a shroud and redesigned the fan to direct heat away from the riders legs, but many at the time of relaunch of D390, had felt that this added comfort for rider, actually came at the cost of sacrificing the capability of fan to cool the engine. How the redesign played out? I don't know, only time can tell (from reliability pointy of view).

2) For big air cooled engine (la UCE 535 or UCE/ CI/ AVL 500's) it relies on air flow around the cylinder fins and oil circulating inside for engine cooling duties. In stop-go traffic, since there is no fan kicking in to redirect the heat, you don't feel the heat from the engine, but the engine does heat up - A LOT. Only after 10 mins of riding in such condition, my DS UCE 500 is scorching hot. So it is better to stop and give the engine some cooling time after riding in these conditions. Manual of UCE 500 nevertheless asks for 10mins cooling after every hour of riding.

About your legs burning, I would say it will happen only if you are in your shorts and you have removed the heat shield from your exhaust header pipe. Avoid wrapping your exhaust pipe as it is not recommended. Many see it only as a Aesthetic addition, that may not help in the proper heat dissipation by your exhaust gases. It is better to wrap your legs in proper gear or at least a Denim jeans, every time you ride.