is 245F normal for 2-up riding in mountains?

I've got a 2001, all stock. When I bought it in Nov. the coolant overflow reservoir was empty, so I got some at the Honda dealership and topped it off (in March). PO said that a coolant hose used to leak so he tightened it up. No overheating problems till last weekend. I was riding 2-up on a road (South St. Vrain canyon) that climbs from 5000' to 10000' over about 10 miles. Gentle meaning my VFR has enough power to maintain 90 mph up it. I was riding conservatively since I had a passenger -- about 50 mph and keeping revs around 6K. Ambient temps around 85 F on the plains, lower in the canyon. My temperature gauge climbed to 245 and stayed there. Fans kicked on around 220 F. I'm pretty sure they stayed on, though hard to say with the wind noise at 50 mph. At top of the climb I turned onto a rolling road, temp stayed above 230. Then I started a long descent, mostly going 50 mph at 5K rpm, gradually dropped to 215 F. 16K service was done 2 years and 1500 miles ago, so coolant is fairly fresh. This is abnormally high, right? What could cause this? I searched some other threads and read about checking what temp the left side radiator gets warm at, will do that this week to see if it's a stuck thermostat.

Update 6/27 -- both radiators get hot around 180 (not sure of exact temp) so thermostat is not stuck closed. Did a fast ride up a long steep winding mountain road without a passenger and it was running around 230F (air temp gauge read 75F). I'm guessing it's due to how hard the engine is working at that altitude (6000-8000 ft.). I'm going to borrow my buddies VFR (same year) and see if I get the same temps. May try water wetter.

 

could be the radiator fins are clogged with dirt/bugs etc... so there is not as much airflow to cool? or a radiator fan not working well to pull air through the system, or the t-stat. Those are my guesses if you have the coolant/water mixture right. 100% antifreeze doesn't work as a coolant very well, it needs the water part. You may want to flush-n-fill just to know you have the right mixture and clean any gunk out... or use a hydrometer to measure the specific gravity of the coolant mixture - they sell them at auto stores, or a shop might loan you theirs.

 

I use the blue bottle of 50/50 premixed Honda motorcycle coolant that is recommended for the VFR. Radiator is free of bugs/gunk on the outside.

I didn't know to burp the radiator hose, will do that this weekend.