Question for Ninja 1000 and Z1000 owners

[whynot]

The rear brake rotor on my N1K (2014 with 8500 miles) gets pretty warm, even hot when I check it after riding for a while. Swing arm too. I have checked the caliper -- all good -- the pads are not dragging. I suspect the parts are heating up from all the heat radiating off the stock mufflers. Has anyone else noticed this?

I posted a couple of days ago on a Kaw forum, one response so far suggesting it could be a bad wheel bearing heating everything up.

Thanks ...

[TheIglu]

Got an IR temp gun?

Be easy to figure out if it’s a bearing. Hub would get really warm.

[whynot]

Got an IR temp gun?

Be easy to figure out if it’s a bearing. Hub would get really warm.

That would be good, but I don't have one. It all gets pretty warm, and the heat really pours off the inner flat surface of the stock cans.

When I spin the wheel, I can hear something, not a rumbling, more like a squeak, hard to tell ... chain, sprockets, chain rubbing on guide blocks ... or could be bearing(s).

Think I'll just pull the wheel off and check the bearings.

[number9]

That would be good, but I don't have one.

They are cheap nowadays, you can get one for about $16 on Amazon. They're surprisingly useful; I used mine to diagnose a misfire on the El Camino once upon a time by looking at the exhaust port temperatures.

[StumpyNB]

Could be a wheel bearing. The stock exhaust also gets way hot at the collector/cat. I ended up getting an exhaust heat wrap kit from an auto parts store, and wrapping the collector. You can't see it with the plastic on unless you really were looking for it. Did a lot to cut down on the heat.

[whynot]

Could be a wheel bearing. The stock exhaust also gets way hot at the collector/cat. I ended up getting an exhaust heat wrap kit from an auto parts store, and wrapping the collector. You can't see it with the plastic on unless you really were looking for it. Did a lot to cut down on the heat.

Thanks. Did you use heat wrap tape, like the 1" or 2" wide? Or some kind of mat?

... but I'm wondering if a catalytic converter might get too hot wrapped ...

[08zxcpb]

Next time I ride I'll make sure I give it a feel and see what sort of heat is back there. I'll let you know what I find. It's one of the warmer bikes I've had which some claim is reduced with Ivan's tune and the lower fan turn on temp he does. Love the blue on yours. I have a 15 and didn't want the green so I have the black/grey color

[whynot]

Next time I ride I'll make sure I give it a feel and see what sort of heat is back there. I'll let you know what I find. It's one of the warmer bikes I've had which some claim is reduced with Ivan's tune and the lower fan turn on temp he does. Love the blue on yours. I have a 15 and didn't want the green so I have the black/grey color

Thanks. Approach the muffler heat with great care, the inner surface is like a stove

Overall, I find the that heat management for the rider pretty good, the way the fairing is made. My lower legs and ankles take some heat off the engine and exhaust, though.

As to my original neurosing over the rear rotor heat, I find that the rear brake works as it should. The rotor heat varies, but not proportional to brake use -- I tried riding 10 miles or so without using the rear brake, and the rotor was still warm~hot, so I'm pretty sure it's the exhaust heat. If the wheel bearing were the source of the heat, I'm pretty sure it would have failed by now -- I've put on a few hundred miles while worrying about all this. Now I'll just ride and not worry.

Some background -- a couple of weeks ago I decided to change out the brake fluid front and rear, I'd waited too long, 2 years and 8K miles. Flushing and bleed went well, resulted in nice firm lever and pedal. Flushing the rear caliper, the first few CCs of fluid that came out were totally black, so I flushed til clear, using BelRay Super DOT 4.

Thanks re. the color. I bought my '14 as a leftover in 2016, SVM also had the green with hard bags, I thought I could live with the blue longer. For comfort, I have added Murph's bar risers, and had the seat re-foamed by greatdaytoride.com. And the rear shock re-worked by Traxxion Dynamics, they do good work at a reasonable price. New tires last fall: Dunlop RoadSmart III -- they are great

[StumpyNB]

I used 2" wrap tape. No signs of any overheating or damage. Its been on there for probably a year and a half now with no issues. I figure my worst case scenario, is something eats thru the pipe at some point, and I replace the headers and eliminate the CAT that way. Which is something I was considering doing anyway.

[whynot]

I used 2" wrap tape. No signs of any overheating or damage. Its been on there for probably a year and a half now with no issues. I figure my worst case scenario, is something eats thru the pipe at some point, and I replace the headers and eliminate the CAT that way. Which is something I was considering doing anyway.

I've got some 2" tape on hand, think I'll wrap the connector pipes between the CatCon and both mufflers, looks easy enough to reach. And some ThermoTec sheet left over from another job, maybe there are some areas that can be shielded from heat. Will have a look ...

[08zxcpb]

Over the weekend I checked for heat after riding about 35 miles out to inspection and I hardly ever touch my rear brake. The disc was very warm. Everything in the general area as well, I could only imagine after a more extended period of time and not at highway speeds how much hotter it would get. This was also with my side cases off. I wouldn't be surprised if those make it hotter back there.

[whynot]

Over the weekend I checked for heat after riding about 35 miles out to inspection and I hardly ever touch my rear brake. The disc was very warm. Everything in the general area as well, I could only imagine after a more extended period of time and not at highway speeds how much hotter it would get. This was also with my side cases off. I wouldn't be surprised if those make it hotter back there.

Hey thanks. Confirms my suspicions, just an excess of exhaust heat. Good point about bags, they could keep some of the heat from blowing away. My bike has the SW MotoTech "Blaze" bags.

Anyway, the other day I found enough 1" wrap to wrap the two mid-pipes. That might keep some heat off my ankles and legs. Then i dug out some ThermoTec heat reflective sheet and applied it to the front face of the swing arm, and to the vertical heat shield back there, too. This may not do anything for the heat on the brake, but makes me feel like I'm doing something. The brake works fine, I'll just be sure to change out the brake fluid every few thousand miles. (Last year Seacoast worked on my '05 Multistrada (new rear m cylinder) -- they use the Castrol racing brake fluid, charged me $46 for a half quart -- that, and the $110/hour labor, convinced me to do my own brake work lol ... .)