kz2zx
Pro
Nobody in Particular
Posts: 1166
|
posted May 17, 2004 05:37 PM
Notes on long rides, road grime & bugs in the radiator
Well, I had a ride of over 690 miles this weekend. Went to clean all the crap off the bike, and discovered chewing gum straight down the centerline of the bike, plus whipped over the front and rear fenders. A little Goo-Gone, and it was gone goo.
Sodium Laureth Sulfate, an anionic surfactant, works really well at dissolving insects.
While I was cleaning, I noticed a lot of the bigger insects had embedded themselves in the aluminum radiator, but had started bending a lot of the radiator fins. This is at three thousand miles - what's it going to be like at 18,000? Will I need a new radiator? Need to keep an eye on it, fer sure.
Oh, and the stock tires are not much longer for this world.
  
|
worm~hole
Needs a life
Miles to go before I sleep....
Posts: 10623
|
posted May 17, 2004 05:48 PM
...I'm perturbed that Kawasaki didn't see to fit a bug screen in front of that expensive radiator...bent fins and imbedded debris makes for less than efficient cooling, yes?...www.coxracingroup.com said they're 6~8 weeks to production for a 10R screen...
____________
“We sleep safe in our beds because rough men
stand ready in the night to visit violence on those
who would do us harm.”
-George Orwell
|
Bagster
Zone Head
Posts: 630
|
posted May 17, 2004 06:41 PM
I just checked the Cox racing site and they don't make one for the 10 yet.
Maybe someone could get ahold of them.
|
bluedevil
Expert Class
Posts: 115
|
posted May 17, 2004 08:04 PM
I bet when Kawasaki built the bike they din't care about the bugs. Come on guys you wanted a race bike not a total street bike so stop complaining. It's like the cake thing. Maybe next year!
|
worm~hole
Needs a life
Miles to go before I sleep....
Posts: 10623
|
posted May 17, 2004 10:26 PM
quote:
I bet when Kawasaki built the bike they din't care about the bugs. Come on guys you wanted a race bike not a total street bike so stop complaining. It's like the cake thing. Maybe next year!
..dude, whaddaya talking about?...this is a racetrack-capable STREETBIKE with race-bike ergonomics...but its still a STREETBIKE...if we actually wanted a racebike and not a total streetbike we'd be riding Aprilia 250s and NSRs and such...this bike needs a radiator bug screen...and a dampener...and sometimes complaining or suggesting gets desired results...yeah, maybe Kawasaki doesn't careabout bugs so that they can have their dealers charge us $600 radiators for high mileage street ridden ZX-10Rs that will eventually need one...its a STREETBIKE 
____________
“We sleep safe in our beds because rough men
stand ready in the night to visit violence on those
who would do us harm.”
-George Orwell
|
swft
Needs a life
Full throttle!
Posts: One MEEEEEELLION
|
posted May 18, 2004 12:58 AM
This thread is starting to bug me...
|
kz2zx
Pro
Nobody in Particular
Posts: 1166
|
posted May 18, 2004 05:24 AM
Looks like the buzz I created is taking wing, maybe we'll all be bitten with the bug?
I wasn't complaining - just commenting. I think I'll try to straighten some of the fins and see what that does, but if I have to buy a radiator in a year, then I have to buy a radiator.
It'll accelerate me getting another bike for daily driving.
|
bovinespongiformencephalo
Pro
variant Kreutzfeldt-Jakob
Posts: 1060
|
posted May 18, 2004 05:40 AM
Make your own bug screens out of 1/4" hardware cloth. Try hanging a sticky dot race tire on the front. That'll pick up everything that isn't nailed down and shot-peen your radiator with it. Without some kind of screen the radiator is good for about 6,000 miles.
|
worm~hole
Needs a life
Miles to go before I sleep....
Posts: 10623
|
posted May 18, 2004 06:10 AM
quote:
I think I'll try to straighten some of the fins and see what that does, but if I have to buy a radiator in a year, then I have to buy a radiator.
...they make different sized radiator 'combs' to straighten out the cooling fins...but I don't remember where Isaw the ad...
...if a person with a daily-rider 10R has to buy a new $600 radiator every year, that's an unexceptable additional yearly expense for a bike...tires?...sure...plastics?....sometimes inevitable....but a 'hard part' such as the bike's radiator?...unexceptable!...I could see replacing it at maybe 60,000 miles without a bug screen, though...we bitch about insurance...well, here's another insurance bitch...insurance that any watercooled bike without a bug-screen over its radiator will efficiently keep its cool for more than a year at a time...
____________
“We sleep safe in our beds because rough men
stand ready in the night to visit violence on those
who would do us harm.”
-George Orwell
|
dnwhoop02
Expert Class
Posts: 204
|
posted May 18, 2004 07:48 AM
this all seems kinda familiar..........
http://www.bikeland.org/board/viewthread.php?FID=19&TID=12350
____________
David
'04 ZX-10R
'00 SV650
|
worm~hole
Needs a life
Miles to go before I sleep....
Posts: 10623
|
posted May 18, 2004 07:57 AM
related issues
____________
“We sleep safe in our beds because rough men
stand ready in the night to visit violence on those
who would do us harm.”
-George Orwell
|
|
|
HOME
NEW TOPIC