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I took my newly bought L6 out and after 15 min aggresive riding temp started to go up quite alot. Stopped took rad cap off topped up to find water had gone down 1 pint. I topped up before ride. After another 15 min the same again. Its not an airlock i know that much. Took out thermostat tried again same results. Topped up left cap off ran at idle quite alot of bubbling. Oil is water free water is oil free and there is no smoking. WTF. Is it head gasket?

How much is the gauge going up by?

The water level will drop after you have topped it up, the coolant will expand when heated and some will flow out into the expansion bottle, so i expect the level in that will be higher if you have topped up and its flown out.

After a damn good thrashing i would expect the temperature to rise. I wouldnt be worried unless the needle was more than 3/4 of the way up and only then that should happen if its sat in traffic on a hot day, but by then the fan should have kicked in.

Unless it taking an extraordinarily short time to warm up and the needle hits the red zone while riding i would say you have nothing to worry about.

It goes past 3/4 whilst riding not in traffic. The expansion tank level does not rise. I have confirmed head gasket gone as i can smell exhaust fumes with rad cap off

mine is doing the same thing. Have you nicked my bike?! Goes to check garage.... nope, just conincidence!

mine will sit at just over 1/2 at 80mph, but rises to over 3/4 at below 70. by the time i've pulled into a petrol station i'm in the red. Radiators had a good clean, so i know it's not clogged, and oil water levels are fine, no leaks or mixing.

so where's the best place to buy a good gasket set without being raped on price, and can it be done in frame? what's the drill with the cam chain, lift off cams, or split it? can the cams be left in head or do they need to be taken out to take the chain off?

If your engine is pressurizing your coolant system stop running your bikes before you warp your head and cause a bigger bill !

Driving at speeds that cause it to run cooler are NOT a cure !

Personally I wouldn't drop the engine but others will tell you to do so. Your going to have to strip out cams and chain and remove head so front engine mounts too.

If your confident at what your doing you can lift the barrels slightly and cut away the base gasket and put some engine case sealant in its place - only do this if you understand fully what it will do and how it can upset the cam timing on the crank and know how to reset.

I will be taking the engine out of the bike much better and easier in the long run. I will also be taking the bass gasket out. Cam chains dont have to be split just lift over cams lockwire to somthing so it doesnt fall into crank case. Gaskets from following link only 16.99 very simple job get a manual to help you.http://www.cradleykawasaki.co.uk/