Finally the weather was nice and sunny, about 72 degrees... Stopped by the dealer after work and rode my bike home.

I did have a bit of a problem with the bike over-heating at the dealer while idling for a long period, once in the middle of a turn lane after stopping for a while waiting for a traffic opening, and again shortly after I had left while i was stopped at a long light.

It seems it doesn't like to idle for long periods of time. It's a carbed bike, no fuel injection, so I understand that they can be a bit touchy, especially when new. The dealer said this would go away after break-in. But is this normal? It seems that the bike kills itself pretty much at the point that the fan turns on, about 220 degrees, give or take. Anyone else have this problem? Should I take the bike back to the dealer?

I took it out for another spin after I got it home, at around 9:30pm. WOW this thing has great headlights! I didn't have any problems with overheating at night. I'm assuming it's because the weather cooled off greatly.

And don't worry, pictures are on their way...

 

my bike climbs to the same temps when I'm waiting in traffic too. Normal temp for me is around 208 deg. during the day around town. Not sure what you mean by it "kills itself", but once you get going, the temp should drop back down to around 200 deg.

 

Kills itself, meaning the engine dies, and doesn't like to start again until it cools down to under about 190 or so.

I've now put about 38 miles on her this morning (all back roads) and on my way home I got stopped at another red light (I'm beginning to hate red lights). This time as the temp got close to 220 I could hear the fan turn on. I took it easy, slowly rolling on the throttle so as to try not to kill it, and all was okay. Maybe the engines really are just a bit touchy when they're that new.

-g

 

This doesnt sound right. I would tell the dealer that it is dieing and overheating. I got my ZRex in august....in Texas!! And never had the bike overheat and the fan rarely came on. You might check the coolant bottle to make sure it has coolant.

 

Definately go to the dealer and talk to the service guys and get their inputs. Being in Vegas and the dry heat that we have, hearing my fan turn on is nothing new for me, but the motor dying is something that I would be worried about.

 

I've been riding quite a bit today... No more engine dying, even when parked at a few traffic lights for extended periods of time.

I stopped by the dealer and they said it was probably just because it was left idling so long as I picked it up. I'm talking about 30 minutes, idling while the salesman walked through all the things on the bike with me, and took some pictures/etc. I should've told the salesman to shut it off... I just didn't expect him to keep talking. If it happens again I'll definately take it back in, but it seems quite happy now.

Overall I'm feeling MUCH more comfortable on the bike than I did when I first picked it up. Partly because I'm not afraid it'll die on me, and because I'm getting used to the feel of the bike. I've got about 58 miles on her now. Looking to do more this weekend. Break-in is sooo hard... Right at about 4krpm I can feel the bike just wanting to start pulling harder, and the engine tone sounds so much better. Oh, i can't wait for 500miles...

Thanks for all the help!

 

Glad to hear that you got a better reason for the bike dying on you at lights then what we talked about. I didn't realise that this was on the ride home from the dealer.

I feel you on the break-in period, here's some interesting info that came across the boards on that very subject. Take a read and form your own opinion on the subject...

Break-in