Finally it's home...

[BigC]

Hi folks I've made a couple posts some of which I had no clue about oil heads early on but through lurking I've learned quite a bit. I bought the bike based on the combination of form and function. I wanted something agile enough to get around town yet pack up and head out on the road if I so desired. I was looking at a brand new vstrom 650 but then this bike came up on Craigslist and the game was over at that point:

http://www.bigczone.com/r1150r.jpg

It's an '04 with just over 8k on the clock and it was $7200. Based on what I've seen elsewhere, I thought that was a fair deal given that the hardbags and touring screen were included.

I've learned one thing and that's don't let the bike sit at an idle unless necessary. I fired it up in the garage just to ....ummm hear it run and a couple minutes later the header pipes are cherry red!!! I was like oh %$& and shut it down. I think I could let my honda idle a tank away and it wouldn't really care

Anyway, cool site and great info!!

[TX2Step]

Congratulations!!! You made a wise choice picking an R1150R over a 650 V-Strom. Not that it's a bad bike, but for the money, you got A LOT more! That's one sweet-looking bike.

As far as the pipes turning red, that doesn't sound right to me. I would have it checked out. I own two oilheads and I sit in traffic idling in 95 degree heat and never see red pipes. I'm sure other people here have a better insight on this than me.

Again, congratualtions and enjoy!

[johnt650]

The pipes are single walled and will definitly turn cherry red when idled without airflow. This happens sometimes when synching the throttle bodies even though fans are set to blow on the engine. BMW does not recommend warming the bike up but simply cranking up and driving off. The red pipes are not a sign of damage.

[BigC]

Thanks guys! It was rather late in the evening when I had the bike fired up and while in broad daylight these bikes may not glow at the header sitting at at a stop light, in the dark, I bet they do...at least in summer anyway.

[boxermania]

BigC......Kudos on your new bike it looks very nice and I hope you enjoy it.

However, as a user and taking your post at face value, if your exhaust pipes glowed red after 2 minutes running there is something wrong. So, not just saying that and leaving you aghast, I thought about the possibilities:

1) It ran, at idle, significantly more time than "2 minutes" in a non-ventilated area
2) Extremely lean A/F mixtures will elevate the engine temperature, this can happen if there is a partial blockga from the exhaust port onwards.....say at the Cat converter.
3) Or it can also happen if the injector or injection system is operating at reduced rates.

Looking at the mleage on the bike I would have to rule out number 2 and 3 so that leaves number 1 as the potentially correct answer. Sorry, no magic here........

[Kazushi]

Hey, nice color bike, Got one just like it

The VStrom is a great bike, but the R is better...
After my Funduro I was looking to buy either the Vstrom or KLV 1000, but after I rode the R for the first time, I fell in love with it...

Got mine with 20K Km. packed with goodies, ABS, Tank Bag, Top Bag, sport fairing... The best bike I've owned to date !

Temperatures can go up to 40 degrees during the summer months here, and traffic lights last a loooooong time, the R does get hot while idling, but nothing it can't handle. Personaly I'v never seen my pipes glow !!

Enjoy your new ride !

Hi folks I've made a couple posts some of which I had no clue about oil heads early on but through lurking I've learned quite a bit. I bought the bike based on the combination of form and function. I wanted something agile enough to get around town yet pack up and head out on the road if I so desired. I was looking at a brand new vstrom 650 but then this bike came up on Craigslist and the game was over at that point:

http://www.bigczone.com/r1150r.jpg

It's an '04 with just over 8k on the clock and it was $7200. Based on what I've seen elsewhere, I thought that was a fair deal given that the hardbags and touring screen were included.

I've learned one thing and that's don't let the bike sit at an idle unless necessary. I fired it up in the garage just to ....ummm hear it run and a couple minutes later the header pipes are cherry red!!! I was like oh %$& and shut it down. I think I could let my honda idle a tank away and it wouldn't really care

Anyway, cool site and great info!!

[BigC]

boxermania, I think you may be correct with solution #1. It didn't seem like it was very long but I might have been slightly distracted while listening to it run and looking it over.

Kazushi, is that 40 degree's celsius? If it is that's bloody warm!! Out heat index's may get higher than that but usually not actuall temp. Sounds like your rig is pretty well outfitted I need a trunk as I think it's much easier to access than the hardbags.

I found out the battery is weak so I get to experience the fun of removing the tank. We'll see how good my disconnects are I know I still have the factory crimped hoses. I pulled a spark plug and it looked pretty gunked up with deposits so I'll replace those too. I wonder what the combustion chamber looks like

[boxermania]

BigC

Throw a new set of plugs in. Put a half bottle of Techron concentrate in the tank and go have some runs through the gears, accelerating hard and then slowing down to clean out the combustion chambers.

[Doug]

Congrats on the new ride, and welcome to the site!

FYI BigC is our newest member! Thanks for the contribution BigC.

[Greybeard]

Good purchase! You'll love it for years.

However, let's kill this once and for all. Red, glowing headers are NOT from a lean condition.
If the combustion chamber temps were high enough to start your headers glowing the pistons would be in a puddle at the bottom of your cases.

Glowing headers are caused by excess fuel burning in the headers themselves.
Too rich mix or timing.

Find something with carbs, yank the choke on and watch the results.

[BigC]

I've got some Seafoam on hand. I'll toss half a can of that in the tank and see what happens.

Thanks Doug!!

Greybeard, I'm not sure how to approach a fix to that problem...would a bad O2 sensor cause that issue or maybe an air temp sensor? I'm going to change out the plugs and obviously can check the air filter when I have the tank off to replace the battery. I've never had a fuel injected bike before although I'm not sure they're that much different than our 4 wheeled friends in that respect. I suppose I could qualify your theory and see if I could get the old Honda headers aglow, lol.

Thanks for the input!

[Greybeard]

Truly, without knowing any of the bikes history I wouldn't dare to hazard a guess.

Mods( both intended and/or accidental ), loose connections, bum components, etc. My advice is to have it base-lined at your dealer so you have firm knowledge of where you are and which direction to go in.

Fear not though...they're man-made so they can be man-fixed!

(Your indulgence ladies? )

[boxermania]

Greybeard.....a point of clarification, regarding my post and your subsequent comment.

First, what I said was that "extremely lean AFR will elevate the engine temperature" of course it follows that continous operation under such conditions will lead to severe heating of the engine followed by seizeing (due to expansion of the piston) well before the pistons melt.

On the other hand fuel combustion outside of the chamber, although possible under the conditions you stipulated, hoeever, the owner in his post never reported any type of exhaust poping so I had to rule that out.

A boxer left at idle or "choked" (hand accelerator) will glow it's pipes in due time, this will happen much quicker if the motor is running lean.

I want, (quote) "just to kill this once and for all"