Snowbike Temps - What Are you Seeing ?

[dhdey]

CR500

ktm 55C stat. tunnel cooler no rads 120-140 all day anywhere, second head output goes to copper U around my carb and right back to coolant bottle

 

[camo323]

Kxf450 with 70c ktm t-stat, engine cover and radiator blocks runs between 140 and 205 depending on how hard your working it.

 

[DarenC]

13 KX450, thermost. Trails normally 140 ish + or - depending on air temps. Rode yesterday with 2' of fluff and really struggled even hit 100. I see a lot of people stating they are in the 90-100 range in fluff. That is really hard on a motor to run that cold. That would be like starting a bike cold off the trailer in the summer and immediately hitting it wide open for a big hill climb with no warm up. I am going to get an engine shroud to cover the motor and try to get temps to stay above 140.

 

[DarenC]

Has anyone done the shroud around the engine and then rode in deep fluff and been able to get their engine temps up?

 

[summithd]

After riding the last two days and keeping a close watch on engine temps and snow/ice on radiators, it appears that whenever the snow/ice starts to build up and stick to the radiators (the very bottom where the hoses connect) the temps will drop immediately. When there is no snow/ice on the radiators the temps stay up where they should be - 160+.

At this point I believe the ONLY way to keep temps up is to build some type of plastic deflectors on the lower part of the radiators (or maybe more than that) so snow cannot come in contact with them and ice over - in addition to the other temp mods. The SRT radiator guards are not helping as they collect a lot of snow n ice.

Quick note: In the conditions the last two days blocking the radiators did very little or nothing, which makes sense when riding in deep fluffy snow when the temp was around 5-10 with some wind. Was also running the closed cell foam pad under the engine.

 

[mnsnowhawk]

After riding the last two days and keeping a close watch on engine temps and snow/ice on radiators, it appears that whenever the snow/ice starts to build up and stick to the radiators (the very bottom where the hoses connect) the temps will drop immediately. When there is no snow/ice on the radiators the temps stay up where they should be - 160+.

At this point I believe the ONLY way to keep temps up is to build some type of plastic deflectors on the lower part of the radiators (or maybe more than that) so snow cannot come in contact with them and ice over - in addition to the other temp mods. The SRT radiator guards are not helping as they collect a lot of snow n ice.

Quick note: In the conditions the last two days blocking the radiators did very little or nothing, which makes sense when riding in deep fluffy snow when the temp was around 5-10 with some wind. Was also running the closed cell foam pad under the engine.

Contact Les from Gary's Engine. J&L Snowhawk on here. He has made some engine covers and might have one for your bike.

 

[summithd]

Contact Les from Gary's Engine. J&L Snowhawk on here. He has made some engine covers and might have one for your bike.

Yup...I'm well aware of Les and what he offers. Already got a cover that is easily removable that doesn't have to be screwed/bolted on. I ride roughly 50 days a season and since temp/snow conditions always vary I wanted something that could be easily removed and put in the backpack.

It's amazing how hot the bikes get when no snow is hitting the engine/radiators...

 

[summitboy]

I finally got my Pulse on the snow. Ran no covers, no stat, no carb jacket etc. i was a little lean on the trail at 2000ft but at alt it was a freight train lol. Temps were 100-120F all day in the deep. Carb heater i made was mint. Not a stitch of ice or slide sticking. Bike idled perfect all day. Left bike on the mountain for 2 hours. Solid block of ice. Started 3 kicks with choke. 2ft of fresh Revy pow pow. Burned 6 gals of fuel !

 

[teal_210]

With regards to ice build-up on the radiators, I tried several things over the years including blocking them off with plastic like many are doing.

The best solution I've found are outerwear pre-filters made for the radiators. They allow airflow but block snow. Helps keep water temps up and gets rid of the ice build-up. Best of all, you don't have to remove them on non-powder days like you do with the plastic. More time riding less time tinkering.

These with a thermostat and the moto365/sxs engine cover is a pretty good all-around set up. Not perfect, but way better than anything else I've come across.

 

[Corban_White]

With regards to ice build-up on the radiators, I tried several things over the years including blocking them off with plastic like many are doing.

The best solution I've found are outerwear pre-filters made for the radiators. They allow airflow but block snow. Helps keep water temps up and gets rid of the ice build-up. Best of all, you don't have to remove them on non-powder days like you do with the plastic. More time riding less time tinkering.

These with a thermostat and the moto365/sxs engine cover is a pretty good all-around set up. Not perfect, but way better than anything else I've come across.

Are those an off the shelf product or did you just give them the measurements? I didn't find any on outerwear's website.

 

[lonespin]

temp

running as low as 100F in cold deep powder,designing a set of shrouds for KtM450 right away!

 

[lonespin]

engine cover

Contact Les from Gary's Engine. J&L Snowhawk on here. He has made some engine covers and might have one for your bike.

How do I contact Gary to ask about a engine cover??

Thanks

Lonespin

 

[J&L Snowhawk]

call

you can call me anytime. im out till next monday tho cuz im out hawking it up.. Les605-225-6900 check them out on garysengine.com

 

[teal_210]

Are those an off the shelf product or did you just give them the measurements? I didn't find any on outerwear's website.

They're on the outerwears website. However, they don't make them for a KTM.

They are pretty generic though, they just stick to the plastic fins with sticky-backed velcro. Just looking, the KXF radiators appear to be about the same size as KTM's. RMZs have one big radiator and one smaller one so I wouldn't get those ones.

 

[Patches88]

SC vs Pulse

I finally got my Pulse on the snow. Ran no covers, no stat, no carb jacket etc. i was a little lean on the trail at 2000ft but at alt it was a freight train lol. Temps were 100-120F all day in the deep. Carb heater i made was mint. Not a stitch of ice or slide sticking. Bike idled perfect all day. Left bike on the mountain for 2 hours. Solid block of ice. Started 3 kicks with choke. 2ft of fresh Revy pow pow. Burned 6 gals of fuel !

You probably don't want to spend the time changing back to a Smartcarb since its hard to start in cold but how did it compare at the top of the mountain vs the Smartcarb?
That peice of metal that was stuck in the reed petal during last seasons Smartcarb maybe doesn't give a fair comparison? Always something messing with these like to like comparisons haha.

 

[summitboy]

Lol. Nice bait job ha ha. We will have to save that for another thread. I had that piece jammed in there for one day. It is now gone LOL

Please keep this thread on track with temps you specifically see on your bike.

 

[tillbuilt]

i posted this in another thread, but I thought it may be useful here also.

This season I built two 2014 WR450's with Avid 180deg thermostats. KoSo mini gauge with the sensor mounted into the end of the Avid thermostat housing. Yesterday, 15deg. ambient temp 1 1/2' of fresh.

I let the bikes come up to full flow operating tempature of 190deg. I took the same runs through the trees just a few feet apart and saw 113deg. and a continuing drop on the un-shrouded bike and 173deg, constant on the shrouded bike.

Going down the trail un-shrouded ran a constant 180deg. and shrouded ran 173deg. The difference could be in the opening of the thermostat or even temp sensor resistance. This was the thermostat opperating temps I saw as a constant all day.

I did let the shrouded bike sit an idle to long one time and saw 240deg. I was with a beginner that was struggling and would not charge very fast. It took a while of moving slow to cool back down. I even stopped and packed snow in it I was so concerned.

Ending the day on the shrouded bike the ambient temps had dropped below 0deg. and I did see the bike temp drop below the thermostat to 163deg. at 40mph going down the groomed trail.

I conclude shrouds do keep snow build up off the motor and keep the motor temps at the thermostat set point. The bike might carry a little less snow weight.

 

[J800]

2014 ktm 300.
Avid carb heat kit.
The rest of the bike is stock.
2 ft of fresh.
100-134 all day.

 

[summitboy]

What is the trail temp specifically going up loaded ?

 

[summithd]

Thought I'd post Brad's contact info out here since I have received several PMs asking about the kevlar engine cover:

Brad
406-446-2019
Powersports Tech

The best thing about this cover is that it is completely removable and has a great fit and look to it. Also, there is a 1" foam pad that goes under the engine to help keep the engine heat from escaping.

A couple pics: