Red headers and silencers may be a spectacular sight to behold, but the bikes themselves are not at all happy with this treatment. Still, a lot of riders choose to rev their bikes at rallies and similar parties until pipes turn glowing red… but seeing such a display of recklessness is a rather rare thing.
Some riders simply keep the bikes a long time as close as possible to the rev limiter, while others set up a richer air-fuel mixture, so the unburned fuel is ignited further down the exhaust line and generates more heat.
One of the bad things in either cases is that the engine also overheats, regardless of whether we’re dealing with a 2-stroke or 4-stroke lump. Both types need a moving bike in order to properly cool down the excessive heat and prevent damage.
Overheated engines also cause the oil to become less viscous and reduce its lubricating properties, allowing damage to occur more easily. Even the engines in sport bikes, which are engineered for much harder conditions will be damaged by such treatment. Anyway, some guys just look like they don’t care and prefer to put on a YOLO smile and throttle even harder.
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