Guys!
Before you go Daytona.
Every year i seen alot of people with the same problem. Yes,... the radiator got busted.
Daytona is such a fast track, with alot of little stones on the bankings. and yes,..those stones love to hit your radiator.
What i did, and worked well.... I used a regular window screen. /the metal one/
Fold it double and cut it to the radiator shape. Than i use zipties thru the radiator to hold it on.
Cost only couple of bucks and like half an hour of your time.
Or,... if you have alot of money and you dont know what to do with it, you can buy some radiatorguard about 100-130$
But definitely better than you cant go racing because of your radiator leaking.
regular window screen may block airflow, i used wire mesh house gutter covers from any hardware store. They come in 3' sections or so and cutting them down to size, 2 small pieces will cover it up. zip ties could work, but saftey wire was a better alternative as it is not suseptable to the heat.
GREAT idea though, and you are correct, that place will eat rads.
Wire window screen was the first mod I did to my CBR last year right after buying it. I do this to all my bikes. There is no noticeable effect on cooling on any of my bikes. I originally did this to my VFR streetbike just to keep out all the really small gravel.
you guys up in the NE may get away with window screen and not see a rise in coolant temp, but down here in FL summer you will. I had some heavy duty marine application screen with about the density of window screen. DUring the summer the bike ran hot, and even after poking holes with a screwdriver it ran hot. Yanked that and got the wider mesh gutter screen and no more issue. The pattern is like a pain roller screen that hangs in a 5 gal paint bucket..
SOmething is better than nothing though, you can always remove the top portion if you have cooling issues.
we are not exctly running in the summer heat now are we :ahhh:
was nearly 90deg F today...