evening all. bike nearly sorted now after a few usual problems but now has a rad leak.i have been looking at other posts but still unsure which route to go about fixing it . do i try some sort of radweld first bit will it damage engine or try 1 of the Chinese or try to find a cheap second hand 1 .looking for a quick fix any info much appreciated.
Personally, I'd avoid a bodge job with rad weld. You can have it repaired properly. I have some good experience with a Chinese rad on my 1098. A quick look on eBay shows reproduction 916 rads for £70 - £80. You can pay a bit more for a genuine 2nd hand item, but you take your chances.
can relate to this and without a doubt would go for a Chinese or similar aftermarket (around £80) rather than a secondhand one - only my opinion.
Not in the NW , no affiliation but these guys did a great job with my multi rad - quick turnaround via courier and fair price - http://www.westmerciaradiators.co.uk/
Hopefully someone can assess the damage before attempting repair. If it’s corrosion or damage in one or several of the matrix tubes ( and hard to get access to) then it could be a lost cause/prohibitively expensive. With patience, have managed to eek a little bit more life out of a rad by sealing the area with resin but time-consuming and quite hit and miss. I used to strip and re-soldered in the old days myself when brass and steel were used. Could get aluminium car rads repaired in the past when quite new and a decent gauge was used for the matrix but the problem with our secondhand aluminium rads is that the material used is very fine in the first place plus is polluted and possibly delaminated metal by now if original fitment, from a welding point of view. If you are lucky, weeping might be from one of either end of the rad or the takeoff elbow joints which would be easy by comparison.
Could be wrong but sounds spot-on for normal corrosion/wear from road spray/dirt, the last rad I tried to save on 851 was in just the same place.
you could be right their Chris .found a local rad repair shop so will see what they say.but looking at a Chinese 1 on fleabay for £73 with free postage .does anybody know how much import taxes are .
I wouldn’t bother with a repair , West Mercia Rads will replace the core and recon the end tanks - mine was as good as a new one for around 200quid ( New from dealer was 800) No experience of the Chinese rads, so can’t comment
Fitted a chinese one to a 1098R. Quality was good although perhaps finish not so nice. Only slight problem was one of the fan mounting lugs was in the wrong location. It was made to fit 2 identical fans but for some reason the OEM fans are handed.
