Filling Aluminum Bars for heat retention

[volcano buster]

I have read reviews on various products that offer better heat retention so the bar warmers work better, plus the added bonus of reducing bar vibration.

What has been found to work well?

 

[monster715]

Believe it or not, myself and several guys I ride with all basically get a can of that expanding foam and fill that bars with that. Works great and its cheap.

 

[NapaMatt]

X2 what Monster715 said


Foam in a Can works Great!!

my .02

 

[EricW]

Used THIS in the Skinz bars on my TD8. Way less arm pump. I did the RSI H/O heaters so I don't know what difference it made on heat retention. The RSI heaters were always on low and I have wuss hands. EW

 

[sevenhundo]

i would think something more like a mortar would work best to retain heat but it also would retain the cold also. The bad thing about the spray foam i would this is that it is an insulation which is meant to block out the element so in my opinion it would serve its purpose and not retain the heat in the bars but it would heat up the grips better from not having the cold air space. A mortar or a concrete based product might take longer to heat but i think would give you a more even area on the grips and stay for a while. And the weight would only be about a half pound. I would say mix it nice and thick let it set up for a few and stuff it in there. Dang im smart i might try it. Just kidding about the smart part but i still might try it

 

[mountainhorse]

IMO.. the foam is more of a "placebo"... the issue is not about transferring heat to the dead space air inside of the bars... but that the aluminum "wicks" away the heat faster than the steel and transfers it to the outside air over a larger surface area.

The trick is to keep the heat in the heaters and prevent it from being absorbed into the handlebars.

You can either use high powered grip heaters OR .. an insulating layer between the grips and the bars... ski doo has this in their handlebars/grips.

For example...2009 XP... #29, Insulant,
I think about $4 each from your dealer.

Adhesive backed very thin insulator that goes between the bars and grip heaters.
Very effective.

.

 

[sevenhundo]

Im with you on the placebo affect.

 

[knee deep in it]

i am going to give this a try. IMO, it should be more than a placebo effect. The amount of cooling is directly proportional to the surface area and the heat transfer coefficient. The spray foam should improve both factors. Imagine spraying the foam on some cooling fins. How would that affect their ability to cool a piece of electronic equipment??

It might not be an immediate effect but, once the bars warm up, they will cool down less which means more heat available in the other direction (to the grips).

The theory is good. How much it will improve is another question. It might not be enough to actually notice or it might be significant??

 

[550iq]

Just be ready for the spew of foam that'll come expanding out of the handle bar, especially if one were to fill 'er full. That stuff sticks to everything and will make for a quick disaster if one is not prepared. Cover everything. Twice.

 

[mountainhorse]

Trying to be helpful here... not trying to be a PITA... so please take this in the way I'm intending.

Spraying foam on the cooling fins of a heat sink would not be a good analogy....Unless you planned on foaming the Outside of the your handlebars where cold air takes the heat away.

Aluminum is a faster conductor of heat than steel. The heater passes its Heat into the bars where it is conducted down the length of the bar at a fast rate where the cold air/snow draws away that heat over a larger area than steel due to the rate of transfer of heat. This is where the major amount of the heater energy goes on a set of aluminum bars.

Hi power heaters can pump heat into the bars/grips faster than it is drained off.

Carbon/resin covered aluminum bars like those from RSI and Fly have the CF/resin as a barrier to transfer of heat into the bar which is the big benefit here... the CF adds negligible strength. The CF/Resin Aluminum bars actually stay warmer than steel bars... High power heaters on these are actually too hot IMO.

IMO, slow the transmission of heat from the grip to the bar... an isolator/insulant will do that... this will be significantly more effective.

The foam inside of the bars will only retard transfer into dead air which will be negligible ... like a radiator with no fan and no vehicle movement.... Wrapping the outside of the bars where the air hits them would be much more effective than the inside.

Just my 2cents.

I understand that the heaters are already stuck and that they cost money... a can of spray foam is only about $8 at HD so you are really not going to hurt anything...You will need to hog out the foam after it fully cures to put any hooks back in.




..

 

[550iq]

Foam filled bars did no help for me last year - just left a mess. Thinking about it (?), I doubt that much heat even goes into the metal, I am of the mind now that all the heat radiates out away from the element. Whatever, my grips are either too cold or too hot with transition time between on and off. Then there's the Ski-Doos that lose hot-grip power below 3,000 rpm (by design) - no warm grips during warm-up - foam filled or not.