I've never deviated from air-cooled with an oil cooler setup.
I'm considering a bike that doesn't have an oil cooler.
The seller tells me he'll idle for close to 20 minutes before the engine gets hot enough to have to turn off.
If that's the case maybe I don't need to spend the extra thou for an oil cooler.

Do you ride oil cooler-less and if so, how long do you idle before shutting off?

 

Oil cooler has always been the first thing I put on a HD. What year/model? And an extra thou is quite a bit, oil coolers are easy to install and should set you back no more than $300 for a decent one.

 

Actually, on second thought, I don't think an oil cooler makes much difference at idle unless there is a fan on it. And I don't think I'd let any vehicle idle for 20 minutes, unless it was a diesel designed for it.

 

Oil cooler isnt going to do jack unless youre moving or its fan equiped like the other poster said.

 

Interesting, then what's the point of the oil cooler? If I'm already in motion the engine has airflow why do I need it cooler in motion, more power?

 

To cool it more. Get an oil temp gauge and ride around a few days, then throw an oil cooler on and see how much the temps drop. What's really fun is having a fan assisted oil cooler and watching my oil temps drop at idle on a hot day

 

Even moving Oil cooler don't do much. The heat is in the heads and not enough oil flows there to cool it . All the oil does is lube. The Fans like Lenale and other will reduce the head temps.
As for the bike over heating never had one do it yet. They get hot no way to deny that.

 

To cool your oil?

 

I'm inclined to say that it's not needed, since I believe the MoCo did extensive testing when they developed their engines. In the summer where I live, it gets to be triple digits and I've never had a problem riding in the heat.

In the hottest of days at a long red light, it'll ping a little bit on takeoff but once I get going it's fine. I run 91 octane and synthetic oil, though. Just my opinion.

 

i have seen police units run at fast idle for hours and hours, and no cooler. air cooled sumps run less sump temps than wet sump engines. goes back to GOOD oil and PROPER maintenance!