05-29-2019, 12:43 PM
Welcome, Sk8r! 
I've been riding air cooled bikes in the desert for about 40 yrs now. The only problems I've had were when I was sitting motionless, idling in traffic for 1/2 hr. or so in 100+ temps. The simple solution is to just shut the bike off if you're not going to be moving. Even moving slowly will allow the engine to keep it's cool.
As for guards, I'll have to give a plug to the OVER Racing guards available from Samurider. Thanks to a suicidal deer, I got to test out the left side guard a few years back and it was impressive. Although I cracked the instrument housing and scraped a lever, nothing on the left side of the bike got so much as a scratch.
I have the polished stainless ones, but they're also available in black powder coat, here :
https://www.samurider.com/?p=26952
I've been riding air cooled bikes in the desert for about 40 yrs now. The only problems I've had were when I was sitting motionless, idling in traffic for 1/2 hr. or so in 100+ temps. The simple solution is to just shut the bike off if you're not going to be moving. Even moving slowly will allow the engine to keep it's cool.
As for guards, I'll have to give a plug to the OVER Racing guards available from Samurider. Thanks to a suicidal deer, I got to test out the left side guard a few years back and it was impressive. Although I cracked the instrument housing and scraped a lever, nothing on the left side of the bike got so much as a scratch.
I have the polished stainless ones, but they're also available in black powder coat, here :
https://www.samurider.com/?p=26952