Been sporting a rad guard since I bought the blade. To be fair its done a stirling job protecting the rad. The problem with the guard is that it stops the stones but allows the grime through to bake itself onto the rad. This is impossible to clean off unless you remove the guard everytime you wash the bike. I've now ended up with a 3 inch strip of road grime cemeted down the middle of the rad that is absolutely indestructable. It is noticeably reducing the efficiency the the radiator. My bike gets used in all weathers, does anyone have the same problem or am I just not cleaning the fecker properly? does anyone have any quick cleaning wins? like a magic chemical that will 'bang and the grime is gone' sort of solution. Also do any of you guys that use a fenda extenda still feel the need to also use a guard? Ideally I want to stop using the guard. cheers Jon
Gets hot quick even in this weather when sitting at lights, cools down quickly when on the move, just want to get sorted before the summer!
best thing is take the radiator out and wash/spray light pressure from inside to outside to push the grime out when i tried cleaning my rad. i used a very thin needle but ended up damaging more when i soaked it in hot water and every possible cleaning product i did get rid of loads of grime but still overheats in traffic being a rr04 i think even buying a new rad will not cure my problem. after reading your post i decided not to buy radiator guard for my next bike as well.
Like you cleaned the radiator last spring, used all sorts but nothing would shift the grime. In the end just before the summer I put in a switch so I could manually control the fans, actually did a good job but not a fan(see what I did there!!) of solutions that do not cure the underlying problem ie a cacked up radiator!
It's why I've not bothered with radiator guards on all my bikes ... I prefer to wash the radiator properly each time the bike is washed especially so on a year round bike ... Holed radiators do happen but it's pretty rare tbh in my experience.
Rot caused by road grime can happen too though. I use a fender extender, but no rad guard, other than the short plastic one that you get on an RR4/5. No problems here.
Yes, I think I will take the same approach and drop the guard, you are guaranteed to end up with a cacked up rad using a guard if you use the bike 365, but might never get a holed rad if not. Think I will get an extender though to reduce the fling. Thanks All!
got an extender on mine too ,no problems, just put one on my hyperstrada too ..lots less horse poo on the cylinder head today.
Got one on mine, it's a carbon one from Pyramid. Fitted perfect but now putting on a new Honda Racing Carbon fender I'm going to buy another to save taking it off the original blue Repsol one. Bargain at under £20.
Fenda extenders are one of those things that I think are a good idea, but I'm not sure I like the way they look. For now I will continue using a blast from the pressure washer to keep the crud to a minimum.
putting my order in too. The OEM is so small/short not sure what it is there for! Got the same scheme as JCB and it doesnt detract from the HRC handsomeness at all.
