Is there any issues relocating the oil cooler? ie the oil lines and mounting points?

 

Hey, just wanna mention, just because someone bolted on one stock radiator instead of two does not mean it was a functional bike. It seems like maybe the factory had some R&D that went into the design of the bike for actual use. I mean, Honda has built a few successful bikes, right? These bikes already run hot, so how could halving the cooling surface help? I have seen many guys do similar things only to just trash a perfectly good bike. I mean, they will sell bikes & tools to ANYONE (apparently). No requirements at all. Oh, and I mounted the larger oil cooler in the stock location. No need to relocate, I just went to a local oil lines guy to buy the fittings. Its just plumbing.

 

A front mounted radiator will get more air than our side mounted ones.. And our bikes run hot because they are designed to run at those temperatures.

I am not saying it is going to work 100% for sure.. But by moving the radiator to where it gets more air he will get more than 50% cooling. And if that single radiator gets enough air, that combined with the bikes thermostat will mean his bike will run at the same temperature as someone with 10 radiators and that same thermostat.

I wouldn't do it in Phoenix, but in Colorado he might get away with it.

 

Getting close, swingarm getting here tomorrow, so I should be able to get a report back on how that single rad goes.

BBB

 

Just bring a bucket of cold water to sprinkle on the radiator if you plan to travel further than the corner 7-11. (Now I am just kidding). Hey I am as interested as anyone to see if this scheme/caper works. I really believe that Honda didnt leave enough room behind the front wheel to put a viable radiator. If you compare it to an SV there is about half the room. Maybe they painted themselves into a corner. I just wouldnt expect it to be a trusty steed, more like a time bomb. Just two more of my cents.

 

Well they are going naked, so the space the fairing takes up becomes available..

 

Personally, the dual side rads is what I find so iconic about the VTRs.

 

I agree, I'm currently working on some very small scoops to sit at the rear of both rads, fab'd them up just gotta find the time to disassemble the bike and have my friend weld them right on

 

So for thoes that are gonna do this or have done this, what has been the results? Im currently mounting my single headlight and speedo so if I get good results from this thread then I will do the rad next. So please chime in......

 

So far its been running cooler if anything!

I may have jagged it a bit because I think the rad guard has only contacted the very end of the front mudguard, but it wasn't a ***** out fullstop though.

More to come tomorrow, I'm riding to work, no doubt some f***wit will have a go at me and brakes will need to be applied.

BBB

 

Cool let us all know what your results are. Got my headlight mounted and my speedo secured, so lets hope you can shed some light.

 

Well I did over 600k on the weekend and can report the following:

The single rad using the RHS stock does work, however, there is little tolerance for temps. What I mean is that when the speed comes right down the temp goes up, and does so just that bit quicker than 2 rads because I'm only using exactly 2 litres of fluid, as opposed to around 4 standard.

When it did hit 104c it did climb to 108 before I got some speed up after traffic. This never happened with the stock arrangement.

As far as clearance goes, I may have jagged the correct position, because the only thing that was touched was the rad guard which sort of unhooked itself off the bottom clip mounts.
Also after fitting the fork brace the fork protectors are now just spinning around because even after I applied some silastic it appears they may be hitting the bottom fork brace.

Anyhoo, further report after the big weekend away with the Firestorm owners. Should be some interesting feedback after 2000ks or so.

BBB




Oh almost forgot, this was all done two up. No point in taking it easy first up!

 

So it seems that there are not a lot of differences in the single or the stock radiator location??? Is this correct?

 

Well, apart from playing around with coolant mixtures, as I'm going to use less coolant and more distilled water, and the very limited space to put your single rad, nah there's not much difference.

I will qualify that statement as I haven't ridden it on a hot day yet, and I want to spend a little more time on the road before I can give the 100% reassurance.

BBB

 

i,ve done the single rad mod on my bike. i used the right hand side radiator with fan. all last summer i ran the bike and it wasnt a problem,even in traffic. this year however over here in lincoln england we are having what is to us is a heatwave temps approaching 30 celcius and the radiator cant cope if my speed drops much below about 40mph i have replaced the radiator fan switch with one from a nissan micra which helps a little but the bike soon gets too hot 110 celcius and climbing if you get stuck in traffic. i just won a radiator on e-bay for peanuts its off a tdm 850 so over the next week i will have a play with that and see what i can come up with.
regards
twidge

 

a bit of a thread necro but has anyone tried an upprer rad from a TL1000R? It's thin and curved. Just a thought. I might still have one around form when I parted out my TL - I'll have to see