My friend Tommy G., director of Tenacious D's music videos, rode his motorbike to a party in Venice tonight and said it was quite cold on the way. When I was a teen, I once seriously burned my leg on the tailpipe of my little Yamaha 100cc Enduro at our summer house in Vermont. These mind streams collided in to this halfbakery: use the heat from the exhaust to warm the driver. While directing the exhaust gases directly onto the biker might be the most efficient heat transfer approach, the toxic properties of the spent combustion mixture make this a heavily downsided solution angle.

My idea would be to modify the tubes of the exhaust pipes to increase their surface area between the head manifold and the tail pipes then efficiently channel airstreams over the hot metal and into the air space surrounding the driver. The heat exchanger could be in the space ahead of the fork beneath the headlamp. The pipe shape might have a series of S and U curves or several smaller straight tubes clustured between pipe sections of a single larger diameter.

The air intake port will be designed for maximum temperature gain and minimum aerodynamic impediment to the motorcycles operation. The streams of heated air created by the system should then be controlled through a subsystem of hoses and vents to create a more comfortable environmental envelope for the driver.

I found other solutions to this same problem here in Halfbakery but not this one - I'm new here so I hope it is original and intriguing.
-- Cube, Jan 21 2006

motorcycle heater motorcycle_20heater
problem presented sans suggested solution [Cube, Jan 21 2006]

Motorcycle warmth Motorcycle_20warmth
silly solution [Cube, Jan 21 2006]

Ski Rack for your Motorcycle Ski_20Rack_20for_20your_20Motorcycle
A ski rack, for your motorcycle. [ato_de, Jan 26 2006]

[21 Quest] //I suggest making a way to turn it off// This should absolutely be a primary design consideration of my proposal's //subsystem of hoses and vents//
-- Cube, Jan 21 2006


(+) for mentioning Tenacious D. Not to mention a pretty good idea.
-- PollyNo9, Jan 26 2006


//rode his motorbike to a party in Venice tonight and said it was quite cold // Presumably also a little wet.
-- coprocephalous, Jan 26 2006


I'm a rider myself, so I have a couple of things to add.

Coincidentally, I did a ride to Huntington Beach tonight, and it was cold as hell.

Unfortunately, this is already baked. The Honda Gold Wings do have heaters. Also, they make heated hand grips.

The second reason, the main one, is that bikes are all about weight. My CBR929RR is around 420 lbs, and every pound counts. People buy Marchesini wheels for their bikes, at about $1200, just so they can drop TWO pounds. The added weight for the heating system would make any serious rider instantly shy away from it.

I like the idea, unfortunately it is not entirely new or economically viable. I'm going to have to give a fish to this one.
-- DeliveranceRiverBoatCaptain, Jan 26 2006


I like this one - if you use the Bernoulli principle, you could use the partial vacuum created by the warm gas flow to power the bike's suction ashtray. [+]
-- coprocephalous, Jan 26 2006


//bikes are all about weight// ..and here I thought bikes were all about being bad ass. Shaq's West Coast Chopper Superman custom looks like it might have some excessive poundage. This heating system extends the exhaust pipes, but twist the tubes right and it could work well and look cool too.
-- Cube, Jan 26 2006


I guess it works for old man cruisers (AKA Gold Wing) and 80 MPH top speed gaudy choppers (AKA Small Penis Syndrome, *See Lifted Trucks). I don't count those as real bikes though :o).

But because there are people out there that may go mentally insane and buy one of these aforementioned motorcycles, I'll change it back to neutral.

Oh, and Cube, I'll take 180 MPH top speed and cornering through canyons any day over Shaq's bike. To each their own and all that crap I guess.
-- DeliveranceRiverBoatCaptain, Jan 26 2006


[DRBC] At 180 MPH, the adrenaline rush probably negates the need for a heater anyway. I was thinking of something for the soft cyclist - and Tommy G. is no two wheeler light weight!
-- Cube, Jan 26 2006


Most of the big tourers have heaters of a more traditional make up. (i.e. engine heat taken from the radiator and routed to the operator through the fairings and other bodywork. The main problem I see with this is that it would create drag under the bike where the air is re-directed. Probably not a big deal on an 800lb cruiser or touring bike but a huge deal on a 400lb sport bike. this would be an excellent compliment to the "ski-rack for your motorcycle." [link]

I think you've got a good halfbaked idea.
-- ato_de, Jan 26 2006


anyone who's driven in an aircooled volkswagen knows that the heat generated by the engine, while copious is not really enough to do the job on a cold day and it operates on a similar principal of capturing the heat from the exhaust manifolds. I can't imagine this would help enough to make the extra weight worth it...I think some heated leathers would be a better solution.
-- redsimple, Jan 26 2006


Snowmobile suit. Works on the coldest days, needs no batteries, exotic fuel, or rerouting of exhaust system. Can be found at most stores that carry winter apparel. Best of all, for warm weather riding, you simply leave it at home.
-- whlanteigne, Mar 23 2007



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