I am looking for a set of new radiators for my cr500. I can get a set of chinese radiators for less than $120 with free shipping. Is there any brands I should buy/avoid? or should I leave them where they at?
Chinese Radiators
Started by
Dirty Harry 4
, Apr 14 2012 01:01 PM
12 replies to this topic
Posted 14 April 2012 - 01:36 PM
I've heard really good things about the asiperformance radiators selling on ebay. I'm going with a set for my 250 once I can afford to replace the bent up stock ones I've got on there now. Not sure if all the chinese radiators on ebay are the same. They all seem to be oversized at least. The pricing on the asi ones is really good too.
Posted 14 April 2012 - 02:04 PM
I guess this topic is popping up more and more... here's my reply from another forum:
I bought a set... quick shipping (direct from china), fit ok (not great), and they are soft as butter. I had to drag my bike out of a bog on its side, and just laying it over was enough to bend a rad. I have rad guards now (took a bunch of tweaking to fit the rads to the Devol guards), but I think it would have been money better spent for me to get my original rads straightened.
As an example of the quality on them, I have trouble putting on my rad cap, just doesn't fit well. My right side rad is 1/8" from my pipe, and that's after adjusting the pipe to get clearance.
No clue on the cooling capacity vs stock, as I haven't had overheating problems
I bought a set... quick shipping (direct from china), fit ok (not great), and they are soft as butter. I had to drag my bike out of a bog on its side, and just laying it over was enough to bend a rad. I have rad guards now (took a bunch of tweaking to fit the rads to the Devol guards), but I think it would have been money better spent for me to get my original rads straightened.
As an example of the quality on them, I have trouble putting on my rad cap, just doesn't fit well. My right side rad is 1/8" from my pipe, and that's after adjusting the pipe to get clearance.
No clue on the cooling capacity vs stock, as I haven't had overheating problems
Edited by Abeo, 14 April 2012 - 02:05 PM.
Posted 14 April 2012 - 02:40 PM
Abeo, on 14 April 2012 - 02:04 PM, said:
I guess this topic is popping up more and more... here's my reply from another forum:
I bought a set... quick shipping (direct from china), fit ok (not great), and they are soft as butter. I had to drag my bike out of a bog on its side, and just laying it over was enough to bend a rad. I have rad guards now (took a bunch of tweaking to fit the rads to the Devol guards), but I think it would have been money better spent for me to get my original rads straightened.
As an example of the quality on them, I have trouble putting on my rad cap, just doesn't fit well. My right side rad is 1/8" from my pipe, and that's after adjusting the pipe to get clearance.
No clue on the cooling capacity vs stock, as I haven't had overheating problems
I bought a set... quick shipping (direct from china), fit ok (not great), and they are soft as butter. I had to drag my bike out of a bog on its side, and just laying it over was enough to bend a rad. I have rad guards now (took a bunch of tweaking to fit the rads to the Devol guards), but I think it would have been money better spent for me to get my original rads straightened.
As an example of the quality on them, I have trouble putting on my rad cap, just doesn't fit well. My right side rad is 1/8" from my pipe, and that's after adjusting the pipe to get clearance.
No clue on the cooling capacity vs stock, as I haven't had overheating problems
I have to add that my devol guards suck for my cr . The procircuit braces suck even more but these are better than nothing. When I get my chinese bigger rads in the future I'm also going to make or adapt to my original guards added stuff to make them stronger.
Posted 14 April 2012 - 10:20 PM
Abeo, on 14 April 2012 - 02:04 PM, said:
I guess this topic is popping up more and more... here's my reply from another forum:
I bought a set... quick shipping (direct from china), fit ok (not great), and they are soft as butter. I had to drag my bike out of a bog on its side, and just laying it over was enough to bend a rad. I have rad guards now (took a bunch of tweaking to fit the rads to the Devol guards), but I think it would have been money better spent for me to get my original rads straightened.
As an example of the quality on them, I have trouble putting on my rad cap, just doesn't fit well. My right side rad is 1/8" from my pipe, and that's after adjusting the pipe to get clearance.
No clue on the cooling capacity vs stock, as I haven't had overheating problems
I bought a set... quick shipping (direct from china), fit ok (not great), and they are soft as butter. I had to drag my bike out of a bog on its side, and just laying it over was enough to bend a rad. I have rad guards now (took a bunch of tweaking to fit the rads to the Devol guards), but I think it would have been money better spent for me to get my original rads straightened.
As an example of the quality on them, I have trouble putting on my rad cap, just doesn't fit well. My right side rad is 1/8" from my pipe, and that's after adjusting the pipe to get clearance.
No clue on the cooling capacity vs stock, as I haven't had overheating problems
which brand were these?
Yes the ASIs are good units. I have their radiators and hoses on a few bikes for multiple years. Plenty of crashes and they still are like new.
Posted 15 April 2012 - 06:21 AM
They are ASI
They only bent a little, but they went from rectangle to diamond shaped. I had to use a slide hammer to bring them back square to fit the rad guards
They only bent a little, but they went from rectangle to diamond shaped. I had to use a slide hammer to bring them back square to fit the rad guards
Posted 15 April 2012 - 06:42 AM
I bought mine from Mylers. They are similar to the ASI's but he charges more for them. I bought them from him because he is local to me and I wanted a local person to deal with. I had bought a set of asi's for my crf450 and they wouldn't fit at all so I returned them and bought the new set from mylers. He gave me a trade in price for my old bent up radiators and discounted that from the price of the new ones. He also reenforced them for free to make them even more durable. Mylers is awesome, he is a motorcycle enthusiast and will do whatever it takes to make his customers happy. It was quite a bit more expensive but worth every penny for me. I bought a set for both my 450 and my 125.
Posted 15 April 2012 - 07:51 AM
David_L6, on 15 April 2012 - 06:51 AM, said:
Myler's makes mistakes too. I bought a set of radiators from him for an '03 CR250. They didn't fit. He did refund the money but, after that experience, I'll only buy OEM radiators (and NO Chinese made parts).
Mylers is just reselling the Chinese radiators, same as ASI. You get defects with some of them. That is why I went to him, if I had a defective one, he would replace it and I wouldn't have to wait for shipping.
Posted 15 April 2012 - 04:58 PM
Abeo, on 15 April 2012 - 06:21 AM, said:
They are ASI
They only bent a little, but they went from rectangle to diamond shaped. I had to use a slide hammer to bring them back square to fit the rad guards
They only bent a little, but they went from rectangle to diamond shaped. I had to use a slide hammer to bring them back square to fit the rad guards
your radiator guards are most likely what did all the damage. Remove them.
Posted 15 April 2012 - 05:21 PM
I didn't have rad guards when they bent (which was the first or second ride with them), I bought rad guards so they wouldn't bend again after seeing how weak they were. I had to straighten them a bunch before I could even put the rad guards on, the left rad shroud mounting points on the rad were 3/4" off from where they should have been. If I had guards on it would have prevented the damage.
Posted 17 April 2012 - 02:58 AM
Thanks for the input guys. I might have a look at Mylers. The bike currently has devol radiator guards so protecting the rads shouldn't be an issue
