Heat and stop and go riding

Hi ....I have a V-Strom 1000 and am interested in something sportier. I am 6'4", so the VFR seems to be one of the few bikes I can fit on. One concern I have is about heat - does the bike over heat in stop and go riding (like heavy traffic or red light to red light) on a hot day? It looks like there are no fans on the radiators.

Also, what is the max load capacity of the VFR?

 

Has fans that click in when coolant reaches 110 deg c roughly, they work fine.

Says in the manual, maximum load 195kg

 

429 pounds....that's decent carrying capacity.

 

That includes rider, pillion and cargo.
I bet it would handle more easy enough.

 

I got stuck in a traffic jam on the interstate for about 30 minutes with the outside temp around 100 F. 5 to 10 MPH the whole way and no exit available. Even with the thin air here in Albuquerque (5500 ft), I didn’t overheat.

 

What temperature does yours run at while highway cruising?

At 30 deg c ambient temp, cruising at 120 - 130 km/hr, my coolant temp reaches 82 to 85 degc.

 

I have found that it really varies depending on speed, traffic and outside air temp. On hotter days (80-90 F) in moderate traffic (50-70 MPH) I run around 200 F. It seems that it doesn’t really start cooling well until above 50 MPH. I have started riding with the OAT display on instead of engine temp because it was distracting. I was constantly sneaking a peek to see what it was. If I’m in heavy stop and go traffic or it’s really hot out I’ll switch back but so far I haven’t had any problems and it was taking attention that could be better used else ware. Now of coures I'll have to eat my words....

 

Took a bit of metric conversion, but at the speeds and ambient temps you have, our bikes run at similar temperatures

 

OK thanks for the replies. I just want to make sure the bike doesn't turn in to an oven when traffic slows. I want to have the option of not having to do lane sharing if I don't want to.