Radiator guard (homemade)

[WVtriple]

Thank you gents for the inspiration for a DIY project, I was looking at Mikes Rad guards but thought really how hard is that to make. Well not hard at all by the looks of your posts, I'll save some money and put it toward something else for the Sprint.

[Will]

What you did is almost exactly like what I made for my race bike. The radiator had a leak during the last track day from a rock hit, so I got some 1/4" hardware cloth and some aluminum bug screen. I cut both just a little bigger than the radiator, and used the excess size to fold over the edges. The bug screen is in front of the hardware cloth so the larger wires of the hardware cloth will hold it away from the radiator. The smaller mesh from the bug screen should protect the radiator from smaller rocks than the bigger stuff can catch, and with it held slightly away from the radiator, I figure it will not get knocked back to the point it does any damage. I zip tied the whole mess to the radiator. It isn't beautiful, but the race bike has been pitched into the bushes a few times and won't win any beauty contests, either. The whole assembly cost about $5 and about 15 minutes.

[f1xedgear]

^^

Ooo, I like the bug-screen idea. Might think about placing some screen in between when I pull the guard for cleaning or whatever and see what happens. I really like the sturdiness of the two pieces of hardware cloth.

[triblackville]

F1 you a hogs fan??

[f1xedgear]

Originally Posted by triblackville

F1 you a hogs fan??

Yep. Woo PIG . . . SOOIE!

[terraplaneblues]

I'd like to send out a Hotty Toddy to F1 and TriBlack. Thanks for lending us HDN for a few years.

[Ken M1]

My homemade radiator guard is working spendid! I used the Helix mesh between the tanks. NO problems with temp difference. Wish I could post pics but every time I try it says "file too big"? At any rate..racers have been doing this for decades. You don't need a fancy rad guard...just get some wire mesh screen (or top end stuff like Helix), a pair of tin snips, and "get 'er done"! It's really easy!

[f1xedgear]

Originally Posted by Ken M1

. . .Wish I could post pics but every time I try it says "file too big"? . . .

Ken, I'd really like to see your helix guard. I use the "paint" option to reduce the size of my pics. I suppose there's an FAQ around here, but the way I do it is open the pic file, left click to get the menu, click "edit." Click "image" then "stretch/skew" on the drop down. Then I just play with the percentages until I get the size the system can take. (course, this is all pc-based stuff--if you're on a mac, I don't have a clue)

[GarbageKID]

i too am interested in pics.