• 4 Stroke Husqvarna Motorcycles Made In Italy - About 1989 to 2014
    TE = 4st Enduro & TC = 4st Cross

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Louvers over radiator guards?

pmpski_1

Husqvarna
A Class
Hi All -

I just bought an 08 TE250 and I'm prepping it for duty. I got a set of radiator braces and guards. I'm wondering if I need to put the louvers back over the guards once everything is installed.

Most of the time I'll be riding lower speeds, mostly in single track. This weekend is the maiden voyage and temps are supposed to be in the upper 70s. This is my first water cooled bike so I'm slightly concerned about over heating.
 
Welcome to the MIX:cheers:
What kind of guards? brand
If they have frontal protection if you tried to zipty the louvers too it would create additionall restriction of airflow by making air have to change directions multiple times. That's my take on it- if it were a benifit certainly we'd all be doing it.

With "braces" like OFG racing you always use the louvers with those type. With the new 7602's you can conveniently use their front guards with their brace- and or take the frontal guard off and use the louvers as you chose- one and only system I know of that works that way.
 
engine ice helps with the heat. i have the flatland racing guards on my wr and they don't have tabs for mounting the louvers so i've run without them with no problems. no overheating issues here.
 
Hey you Seattle guys...where do you ride?

I would leave them off...you're TE has a fan that works well! I like Evans waterless coolant for motorcycle racing.
 
taneum, mattawa, tahuya, teanaway, entiat. whatever looks best. taneum this weekend. entiat next maybe, i have to get the snow report from my buddy first
 
entiat is probably my favorite. but it's quite a haul. mattawa is good desert stuff but small now since a new fence went up and cut the area in half. teanaway has the super steeps and serious technical stuff, one trail in particular has huge sections of no fall zones on tight st. mentally exhausting kind of stuff.

actually i rode liberty area a few days last year and really enjoyed it. i'll probably go explore it a bit more this summer.
 
fitness2go;101797 said:
If you ever get or need a mental health day on Tuesday or Wednesday for a ride, let me know!


will do. tough days for me though. i usually have friday through monday to work with.
 
I have no scientific data to back this . It is in my engineering opinion and from years of of offroad experience that it is a mistake to remove radiator louvers that have been designed by the oem engineers to keep the high pressure in front and direct air into the radiators and the lower pressure behind the radiators. I think the front screen type are the cause of many overheating stories. I do feel that most overheat issues that folks talk about need to be catagorized into many places. example with or without louvers, type of braces, type of fluids, type of fuel, fuel tank type etc etc. I for one always use the rad guards that allow for the continued use of the OEM louvers. In my case now enduring engineering rad frame type guards and on previous machines the CRD rad frame type guards. as an oem example, KTM hard parts sells rad guards, they are (too heavy IMHO) steel hoop type that allow for OEM louvers to be used/retained for use.
 
Depends on where you ride. Where I ride there are so many branches and trees in the trail that without the guards you will be fixing radiator leaks from punctures. Yeah it will run hot at times but I run a fan to keep temps under control.
 
420skirider;101872 said:
Depends on where you ride. Where I ride there are so many branches and trees in the trail that without the guards you will be fixing radiator leaks from punctures. Yeah it will run hot at times but I run a fan to keep temps under control.

I use guards but the frame type that also allow rad louvers. like I said no science only logic for going this route. also if you see all the dings and gouges in my baby........
 
I have the 7602s with the front guard. I plan on lots of sticks, rocks, and whatever else since I'm more into tight woods single track then wide open. I figured that I could go without the louvers since there's a fan, but I wanted to ask people who have more experience.

Robert, I hear you - there's a reason they put them on there from the factory. (I also wonder why they don't put braces on something that is meant to be ridden in harsh conditions, but I digress...)

fitness2go - I'm taking it out for the first ride on Sunday. I'm also taking Monday and Tuesday, possibly Wednesday off as well. I don't know how bad of shape I'll be in after Sunday, but I was thinking about a weekday ride. Disclaimer: I've been off a bike for over 18 months and I was a beginner before that. And I'm out of shape. So I'm assuming it's going to take me a while to get to a point where I'm not constantly keeping folks waiting. I ride my ride and don't try to kill myself to keep up with better riders.
 
PM me your info and we can hook up Tuesday or Wednesday! I'll do the same.

David

pmpski_1;101938 said:
I have the 7602s with the front guard. I plan on lots of sticks, rocks, and whatever else since I'm more into tight woods single track then wide open. I figured that I could go without the louvers since there's a fan, but I wanted to ask people who have more experience.

Robert, I hear you - there's a reason they put them on there from the factory. (I also wonder why they don't put braces on something that is meant to be ridden in harsh conditions, but I digress...)

fitness2go - I'm taking it out for the first ride on Sunday. I'm also taking Monday and Tuesday, possibly Wednesday off as well. I don't know how bad of shape I'll be in after Sunday, but I was thinking about a weekday ride. Disclaimer: I've been off a bike for over 18 months and I was a beginner before that. And I'm out of shape. So I'm assuming it's going to take me a while to get to a point where I'm not constantly keeping folks waiting. I ride my ride and don't try to kill myself to keep up with better riders.
 
You know its funny though- in open areas where you get plenty of air through the radiators- you don't need frontal protection so much-unless you go off trail.

BUT in tight areas where you are rubbing bars and getting face slapped- and winding around and through trees- that's when you are in NEED of all the air you can get- it is also the place where you'd be inspired to worry about a stick going through your radiator... This is where I have seen people overheat- in tight woods-singletrac.

So its kinda a dilemma that you have to wade through and make a personal choice based on the most imposing problem you are faced with or threatens you. That's the beauty of 7602's guards/braces-can do either- for that matter you can run a left rad with the guard and the right radiator with just the brace!

I went with OFG's braces this spring and stock louvers as my bike would heat up and flameout with no guards- But I have since made some tweaks and lost the flame-out- I will continue as I am and ride mostly tight singletrac and "dualsport".... If I puncture a rad- I'll be calling Kelly from Motosportz if Mylers can't fix it.
 
HUSKYnXJnWI;101984 said:
You know its funny though- in open areas where you get plenty of air through the radiators- you don't need frontal protection so much-unless you go off trail.

BUT in tight areas where you are rubbing bars and getting face slapped- and winding around and through trees- that's when you are in NEED of all the air you can get- it is also the place where you'd be inspired to worry about a stick going through your radiator... This is where I have seen people overheat- in tight woods-singletrac.

So its kinda a dilemma that you have to wade through and make a personal choice based on the most imposing problem you are faced with or threatens you. That's the beauty of 7602's guards/braces-can do either- for that matter you can run a left rad with the guard and the right radiator with just the brace!

That's exactly how I thought through this. I came to the conclusion that I'll skip the louvers for now and see how it does. BTW - how do you know it's overheating? I read through the manual this morning but I may have missed it.
 
pmpski_1;102175 said:
That's exactly how I thought through this. I came to the conclusion that I'll skip the louvers for now and see how it does. BTW - how do you know it's overheating? I read through the manual this morning but I may have missed it.

the coolant puking out the overflow is how i usually tell
 
I've read articles where people have measured engine temp louver & no-louver. With louver resulted in a cooler engine.

But........ that is with no front guards. Measuring engine temp is not that difficult (temperature stick on labels), I'd try it both ways and see if it makes any difference. :)
 
I have seen up to 40% more air flow with the louvers directing air flow instead of it bouncing around which causes more problems.. Most Jap bikes don't seam as tempermental as the Euro bikes to rad guards and such.

Chow, Carl
 
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