Help Needed

[Steve Kolenda]

We are 700 miles from home, stopped for the evening and as my wife was unpacking she noticed that items that came out of the left side case were very hot. Not having had a problem with this in the past I went down to the bike to look at the side case. I discovered that the heat shield is gone and that there is some distortion to the area where the heat shield belongs. I am looking for suggestions on how to get home without completely destroying the bag. I am not sure how long the heat shield has been gone, whether its been missing for all 700 miles or only a few. Our plans were to put on approximately another thousand miles. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Going for a cold beer will check the board when I get back.

[ericfoerster]

Auto parts stores sell that heat reflective stuff that should stick right on there.

[Stan Walker]

Almost any hardware store will cary stick on insulation very much like the original shield.

 

Stan

[Firefight911]

It's time to go McGuyver!

 

Go buy some aluminum foil and some duct tape.

 

Layout a pattern of foil onto the bag where the old shield was. I would suggest putting SEVERAL layers of foil in place to aid in stopping/slowing the radiated/convective heat.

 

Tape up the entire perimeter of the foil as best as you can. Key on the leading edge as it will be the area that allows the pressurized air to enter and rip your foil job off.

 

Reposition any potentially damaged items to the opposite bag. Rearrange as best as possible and head on home.

 

And in the McGuyver way you can, put a piece of chewing gum in there! That always does the trick for him!

 

Good luck and let us know how it goes!

[wolcott]

Home Depot (and probably Lowes) sells a big square of heat resistant fabric in the plumbing section. You stuff this behind copper water supply lines in the house when you are soldering joints so you don't torch the insulation, wallpaper, or cabinet underneath the sink. I don't know a quick way of attaching it besides a high-quality duct tape. They make several grades of duct tape now- generally the higher the price, the higher the quality of the duct tape. I used it behind some copper pipes under a sink with the torch actually hitting the stuff.

[Steve Kolenda]

OK, so two beers. Thanks for your help, I think that there is a Lowes or Home Depot near by. If not we will continue our ride and replace the bag. Hopefully there is no danger of fire. Thanks again.

[Ken H.]

If not we will continue our ride and replace the bag. Hopefully there is no danger of fire.

Ah but there is. There have been more than a couple bag fires from lost shields. Do something, even if it's aluminum foil from the grocery store.

[Steve Kolenda]

OK, so we went to Home Depot, bought a 4 x 8 sheet of 1/2" foil faced styrafoam, found a section that hade been squeezed down to something less than a 1/2" and cut three pieces. Bought a roll of HVAC reflective tape and attached one of the pieces and kept the other two for spares, just in case. Stoped to check to be sure everything was intack after aabout 50 miles. Everything seemed fine but I am surprised at how hot the inside of the plastc was above the heat shield area. I have to say, in the over 90,000 miles that we have put on I have never opened the bag and felt the temperature of the botom of the bag but this centainly felt hotter than I would have ever guessed. Do I stll have a problem or just never noticed before? I would have thought that because the new piece is thicker than the orignal, it would have better insulating properties.

[JR356]

Hi,

 

When you get home,go to a MC dealer that sells dirt bikes.They should have self adhesive sheets of insulation material made specifically for insulating body parts from exhaust heat.Think the stuff I got was made by ANSWER.

Just cut to shape and apply.

 

JR356