****** guards / engine heat guards

I am going with a Verex slip-on exhaust in satin. That will remove the cat and help with some heat. Actual temps yesterday were about 94-95F and the heat was miserable. It has about another 10-15 degrees to climb yet for summer. That isn't even factoring in what the temps are on the asphalt.

I may hold off on other solutions until I swap out the exhaust. Maybe dropping the temps at which the fan kicks on might help as well.

A quick update. I reached out to Capt Itch. They sent me a leftover (defective) piece of leather to play around with. I need to get some leather shears to work with it but first I am going to make a template out of cardboard and then transfer to the leather. Hopefully, I can come up with something that actually helps with the heat. A big thanks to Isabel at Capt Itch for being willing to work with me.

Taz said:

A quick update. I reached out to Capt Itch. They sent me a leftover (defective) piece of leather to play around with. I need to get some leather shears to work with it but first I am going to make a template out of cardboard and then transfer to the leather. Hopefully, I can come up with something that actually helps with the heat. A big thanks to Isabel at Capt Itch for being willing to work with me.

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There is no better customer service than Captain Itch. I’ve sung their praises on the Indian forum for years.

Got my Carpenter back from Jet Hot yesterday - I really like the look, to me it looks like polished aluminum. As for the pipe itself it is a very tight fit, a real chore to get it mounted properly and sealing correctly. I've dealt with aftermarket pipes before on other bikes so I was half expecting some issues. The bad news is it doesn't seem to have been designed with the GT in mind. As you can see in the pics I had to use spacers on the foot peg bracket to get clearance for the brake master cylinder. I ride with the pegs all the way back and there was no way it could mount without the spacers. Even if I moved the pegs all the way forward there would only be about 1/16" clearance for the m/c cover. I'm going to have our local machine shop make a proper aluminum block spacer to replace what I used. The mounting bracket you see in one pic is the bracket that came with my Verex pipe - it was far beefier than the bracket that came with the Carpenter and I just needed to drill an new hole to use it.

I haven't ridden the bike yet as the left side is apart with another project I am working on. That machine shop is making a bracket for me to mount a Harley Jiffy stand from a Pan America. Its going to give me a little more lean and the comfort of the locking Jiffy stand. I'll post some pics when it's done.

Tripps said:

Funny you posted this today, I was looking for some type of half chap/ leg shield for the **** Carpenter pipes on my Rocket, didn't have much luck, the couple I found had bad reviews. I think I'm going to wrap the header

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Did you already wrap? I'd not recommend it!
Building another leather leggin' with inserted heat shields tomorrow. Lost the original in my garage!

Dr.D said:

There is no better customer service than Captain Itch. I’ve sung their praises on the Indian forum for years.

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From pix I've seen, doubt they work with a header???

1olbull said:

From pix I've seen, doubt they work with a header???

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I don’t think they have a product yet that will solve the header heat .

Deer skin, velcro, 1/2" thick aluminum sheet bonded to insulation inside a leather pocket.
Test ride soon as rain stops

I found a site that has some interesting products Funk Motorsports in the UK. I have one of these coming in the 2x3 size to protect my master cylinder since it still fairly close even with the spacer.

The machine shop is behind schedule on my jiffy stand mount so I'll be picking up my stock side stand from them today and will take the bike out for its first run with the Carpenter. Its supposed to be around 80F today so should be an okay test to see how the Jet Hot coating does with heat management.

Got back from my ride and can say the Jet Hot does seem to make a difference. Riding with the Carpenter I can feel more heat than with the stock manifold but it is nowhere near unbearable. It's Laconia Bike Week starting tomorrow so the real test will be getting to the Weirs and getting stuck in the traffic there - the weekends are usually the worst and I am planning on going up most of the week.