I just got back from a 700 mile 3 day camp trip with my terra. the bike preformed great , from interstate hiway to some single track trail riding. I rode the bike hard doing up to 80/85 mph for an extended period of time. At one point i cross a stream that was up to the top of my boots. i notice when i got home the header turned dark brown all the way back to the cans. Is this normal ?, the bike never got hot, temp gauge was always at he half way point. I was careful not to hit redline either.
The temperature gauge is that of the coolant around the engine and only gets in the 200-220 range. It has little if any bearing on the temperature of the exhaust system. The exhaust, however, gets to be anywhere between 500 and 1000 degrees and has no gauge for reading. You can polish them if you want and you might them to more a golden-brown hue, but otherwise exhaust pipes are doing their job of carrying away exhaust gas and heat from the engine. Discoloration of stainless exhaust is completely normal.
