Hot Bird

This subject raises as lot of points in the discussion forum. Guys being concerned about the fact that the Blackbird engine seems to be running hot. Well that’s the way they are, Sir!

As you will know, Mr Honda spent millions trying to make the Blackbird as slippery as possible to help reduce wind drag and earn the bike the top speed crown and give it it’s renowned ferocious performance. This incorporated making the radiator on the bird, and indeed the oil cooler as small as possible, without going to extremes. This makes the bird run hot as standard, and is certainly no reason to worry.A few guys complain about the needle entering the “H” on the temp gauge when either stuck in traffic or in slow moving traffic. Normal temp positions on the clock is anywhere between ¼ and ¾ . If it gets too high, the fan will kick in and help cool the motor down. So do not worry!! They are all like that.

This seems to affect the Injection birds (especially new, tight motors) more than the earlier Carburettor models.

What you can do to help matters when being stuck in traffic is to REV the engine a little bit more whilst being stuck in traffic, this gets the coolant circulating at a faster rate to help cool that motor down, and it does work. I know that this seems like a funny thing to do (rev a hot engine) but it does get things cooling down almost immediately…try it!

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Last reviewed July 05