Foaming handlebars-A HOW TO with pics!

[chrishall]

 

[ReX]

(but I still wish the bars were quicker to heat up)

Rex if you want them to heat up quicker foam the bars. If air conducts heat like foam why do people insulate with foam in many comercial applications? Why put foam under heated concrete slabs when heat rises? Why put foam in Refrigerated 54 ' trailers? Why are coolers made of foam or use foam filled walls? If air worked as well as foam dont you think more manufactures would just leave the foam out for an air gap just to be less expensive? Foam is an insulator. Period. If you dont believe us why not try it yourself ?

I know it works cause I tested with a thermometer and it made a serious difference.

Its not that it doesn't work, its that I don't think it can make much difference.

Stationary air is a very poor conductor of heat. Much of the best insulation is simply air with some sort of structure to stop it from moving. Same thing with foam. It is mostly air (or some similar gas at first) and it traps the gas in "bubbles" of foam.

Where air does not work well as an insulator is when there are two tall vertical panels on each side of it and no baffles (one side cold, one side hot). In this situation you end up with convection currents in the air so the air pumps itself around and around taking the heat from the hot side to the cold side. Throw in some baffles to stop the air flowing and you've got very decent insulation.

After having said all this, the real reason I don't think foaming the bars can make a huge difference is if you compare the conduction of non-baffled air inside the bars to the metal bars, the bars themselves will be conducting the majority of heat away.

On top of that, the air movement and temperature on the outside of the bars is a much bigger heat sink than the stagnant air inside the bars so insulating the outside of the bars should make a bigger difference than insulating the inside of the bars.

How did you do your tests to ensure nothing else could influence the bar temperature? What were the results?

 

[rightarm]

Just curious as to what you guys are wearing for gloves? that are complaining about poor heat.

 

[Mikey]

As per my earlier post.

Before I foamed I took the sled out and rode it for 5 minutes and tested the grips for temp. I then foamed them the next day I tested the temp again and it was definatly aprox 10 degrees warmer. Both tests were done inside the garage after 5 minutes of running. To get a matching temp without foam I had to turn the grip warmer down to half way

used digital watch and a digital pyrometer and I measured the temps both times inside the garage as to not be influenced by the outside temps being dfiiferant from day to day.

The temps in the garage were withing half a degree from one day to the next. The temps of the grips were 10 C / 18 F difference. As soon as I got the reading I turned the grips down until the before foam temp was equal to the after foam temp. To make them equal I had to turn the heaters down to Half.

And guys I checked my foam in both ends of the bars after a few days and they were both dry mabee my humidity was higher I have no Idea but I know that both sides were solid and I did it all in one shot from one side of the bar.

 

[ReX]

Just curious as to what you guys are wearing for gloves? that are complaining about poor heat.

I have lots of different pairs of gloves (and wear through them fairly quickly).

My favorite pair, that I'm still using, are custom made full leather gloves with multiple pairs of felt liners.

Over the miles the felt compresses on the palm which lets the bar heat get to my hands and whenever my hands get too sweaty, I simply pull a new pair of liners out of the trunk and swap them.

I wouldn't say I'm really complaining about the heat though. The heat is borderline on the coldest days and nights (-30 to -40), but as long as I keep riding my hands don't get cold.