V85tt - Lost Exhaust heat shield - Replace or not?

[RSMike]

Right… confession time.

This one is 100% my own stupidity. I loosened the left‑hand exhaust heat shield before doing the annual oil service, then realised I didn’t actually need to take it off at all (genius at work). So I left it sitting there, half‑attached, and carried on.

Fast‑forward to Sunday morning: I take the bike for a 30 km spin to warm the oil… return home… and the V85 is now proudly sporting the “one‑sided heat‑shield delete mod”

Cue me riding the whole route again like a bargain‑hunting truffle pig, scanning the ditches for a shiny bit of tin. No joy. It has either:

• been adopted by a magpie
• achieved low Earth orbit
• or is now part of a Fiat Panda’s sump guard

While deciding what to replace it with, I took the right‑hand one off too and polished the link pipes. They’d gone a bit “archaeological dig” in places. The OEM heat shields are about €150 each (for something roughly the thickness of a Quality Street wrapper), and they love cracking around the mounting holes anyway. So if I replace them, it’ll probably be an aftermarket set — maybe Mytech.

But here’s the question: Does the bike look ridiculous running no exhaust heat shields, or can I pretend it’s a weight‑saving performance mod?

 

[wessie]

linky to piccy no worky

 

[RSMike]

Thanks, replaced with photo

 

[theoneandonly]

no photo for me ?

 

[Oldrat]

Nor me

 

[cbritton]

Right… confession time.

This one is 100% my own stupidity. I loosened the left‑hand exhaust heat shield before doing the annual oil service, then realised I didn’t actually need to take it off at all (genius at work). So I left it sitting there, half‑attached, and carried on.

Fast‑forward to Sunday morning: I take the bike for a 30 km spin to warm the oil… return home… and the V85 is now proudly sporting the “one‑sided heat‑shield delete mod”

Cue me riding the whole route again like a bargain‑hunting truffle pig, scanning the ditches for a shiny bit of tin. No joy. It has either:

• been adopted by a magpie
• achieved low Earth orbit
• or is now part of a Fiat Panda’s sump guard

While deciding what to replace it with, I took the right‑hand one off too and polished the link pipes. They’d gone a bit “archaeological dig” in places. The OEM heat shields are about €150 each (for something roughly the thickness of a Quality Street wrapper), and they love cracking around the mounting holes anyway. So if I replace them, it’ll probably be an aftermarket set — maybe Mytech.

But here’s the question: Does the bike look ridiculous running no exhaust heat shields, or can I pretend it’s a weight‑saving performance mod?

Looks ok to me. But can you live with it ?

 

[Clifton]

I prefer that over the shields actually.