Question about air cooled engines

After buying my 76 KZ750 and riding it the 100 miles home, my brother who rode with me on his bike said I needed to shut the engine off immediately after coming off the highway speed and let it cool so I don't burn out the engine. We took a break about halfway through and just sat and chatted with the engines off because he said we had to.

This true?

My 1980 kz 1000 is air cooled. I have never pulled over just to let the engine cool, mainly because as i am driving down the road the air is cooling my engine. (** Not trying to be sarcastic. **)

Did he have any visible reason with the bike to say you needed to pull over???

When I ride my 82 GPZ1100 B2 to work I shut down and go to work inside the building and later come out and put my bike cover on it. Going home sometimes it's stop and go traffic and nothing special is done about "cooling down".

"This true?"

No, It's not true.

KZCSI

Not true. Kinda like a runner after a high speed run, most runners will continue to walk for awhile. It's a cool down period. When you get off the freeway after a high rpm cruise and shut the bike down it will continue to build major heat, cruising through town will help it cool down better.

All the above from the others is on the spot.

Way back when bikes didn't have water cooling and the majority of bikes on this forum are 30 year old KZ's, air cooled and they're still around kicking major ass.

Hell, I live in Arizona (summer heat index average 110 plus) and the only problems I ever see regarding over heating is in HD's where they chromed the entire (bling) engine thus retaining heat...

I know, I know, slight stab at Harley's but this is true. Air cooled bikes weren't designed with chroming the whole damn engine...

OMR

Old Man Rock - HERE HERE!!!

Ashbane wrote:

After buying my 76 KZ750 and riding it the 100 miles home, my brother who rode with me on his bike said I needed to shut the engine off immediately after coming off the highway speed and let it cool so I don't burn out the engine. We took a break about halfway through and just sat and chatted with the engines off because he said we had to.

This true?

In my opinion, that's plumb silly.

Once the engine has reached operating temperature, why in the world would you want to go through a cooling/heating cycle to get it up to operating temperature again, that increases engine wear.

We usually find the nearest Hockey Rink. There is usually a pile of shaved ice the Zamboni's dump outside. Then we pack our bikes in it for a while till they stop clicking.....

Actually chrome does a very good job at heat transfer. While maybe not "Chome" as we think of it in the HD sense but nickel chromium coating can greatly improve cooling, think of a Nikasil coated cylinder, very strong and very good heat transfer.
anyway back to the question, the circulating oil in the engine does a large amount of the cooling, at least in the cylinder head and quickly shutting it off when you stop will not allow the cooler oil from going to the upper end thus allowing it to sit a cook when you stop.

Actually chrome does a very good job at heat transfer. While maybe not "Chome" as we think of it in the HD sense

So your saying it's the bike itself (HD) that is dying in the Az heat? :huh: :ohmy: :dry: :laugh: ...figures.

OMR

naa, OMR, i blame all my problems on bad gas and hope it goes away