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.

 

[AustinW]

I voluntarily tried mine without the exhaust shields. I didn’t like the look of the bosses so refitted them PDQ. At £150 new to replace I think id look for a full coverage sump guard that does both jobs better. It’ll be more ££ but probably worth it. I think MyTech do one, as do others.

 

[JJH]

Put them back or loose the sump guard. Jjh

 

[theoneandonly]

if only you had lost the rhs one , I've got 1 of them.

 

[RSMike]

Put them back or loose the sump guard. Jjh

Yup, very good observation, neither one thing or the other at the moment!

 

[RSMike]

Yup, very good observation, neither one thing or the other at the moment!

And here it is sans skid:

 

[RSMike]

I voluntarily tried mine without the exhaust shields. I didn’t like the look of the bosses so refitted them PDQ. At £150 new to replace I think id look for a full coverage sump guard that does both jobs better. It’ll be more ££ but probably worth it. I think MyTech do one, as do others.

The bosses and narrower diameter link are the niggle for me also, but not annoying me too much yet. I'll probably opt for the Mytech covers in black, the red ones are the wrong shade of red for my bike. they do a skid plate also, though I can't see an all in one unit from them, if I go with the Mytech covers I may spray paint my skid plate black also. I'll leave it off in the meantime.

If I was a serious off-roader I might go for the Gammen Zinken "kinda all in one", but it's probably overkill for my 100% on road use, but might interest someone: https://store.gammazinken.net/epage...1079/Products/SM602095X/SubProducts/SM6020950