What I saw on my bike was 60 MPH was the point where I stopped seing a substantial cooling benefit. I've seen reports from others claiming 70, and that may be true on another bike, but individual bikes will all be little different. The new fans I know work well up to 80 MPH and possibly further, thats just where I left off, I don't think there is a concern for damaging the fans running them at higher speeds.

 

I have just decided to run them all the time. I just leave them on now.

 

Just left you a $50 deposit to help with your fan acquisition costs. Least #85 could do to thank you for all the hard work. Can't wait for my "notification".

 

Uh oh, he PM'ed me that I was #85. Scratching head.....

 

Uh oh, I have an email in my inbox that says I'm #85 too. Maybe Jason can explain.

 

Yep simple explanation, I accidentally double slotted you, has happened a couple times, No trouble both #85s will ship at the same time.
Jason

 

Jason,

Got the fans while at home--they looked great and I couldn't wait to get them installed.

I had already ordered one of the and had the pin diagram from this thread printed out, but it was still rather disconcerting to not have a set of installation instructions included. Saw the note about getting the instructions from your web site, but couldn't access them from my smart phone. I figured that it was either a small price to pay for getting one of these fans early, or that the installation was so simple that even a caveman (or squid in this case) could do it--I mean, if an Army guy could come up with it, then the Navy could at least figure out how to install it, right? Couldn't have been simpler.

The longest time for the install was spent either re-thinking how I wanted the wires run, or having to go borrow my brother's soldering iron to solder the pins on the Deutch connector. This install was completed in less than an hour in my parent's side yard, with a small Craftsman tool bag that I keep on the bike. That "less than an hour" includes the time re-thinking how I wanted to run the wiring, and then removing the tank and running the wires up the original bike wiring harness back to the plug under the seat. Could have used about two inches more wire between the fan and the fuse, but I ended up running the wires out of the plastic channel under the tank just about where the back of the tank bolts down, leaving the fuse available if needed. Plugged in the Deutch connector and the fan works as advertised (a bit quieter than I thought it would be).

Pros: Fan works as advertised--Didn't really need it for the first part of my ride from MI back to VA, but when I hit VA and the idiots who can't drive/cause accidents on I-64 between Richmond and Hampton Roads, it was stop and go--and the oil temps stayed low and EITMS never activated. On a side note, with the oil temps never getting excessive, the oil pressure remained well over the zero reading that I had gotten last summer in similar conditions, and the bike didn't require any extra revving of the motor in order to keep the pressure up.

Cons: At certain engine speed/gear combos, the fans would lightly tap the fins making me think initially that I had a knock in the motor. Didn't really notice it until I had about 700 miles on the bike after installing them, and when I did discover it was in the middle of the night somewhere between Columbus OH and Lexington VA (trip report in the "Road Trips" forum). Once I figured out it wasn't a knock IN the motor, I went back to worrying about other things. Now that I'm back at home I'm going to see whether I can reposition them slightly, or maybe find a slightly stiffer vibration dampener for the horn. Haven't seen this issue discussed before, so it may just be my bike--wouldn't be the first time.

Overall, a great product. Works great, much better looking than the Harley and Lenale Parade fans in my opinion. Since I was at my parent's 50'th anniversary, showed them to an uncle who used to be a Harley mechanic--he was surprised that they weren't manufactured by HD. Thought they looked stock!

Thanks Jason!

 

Mike M,
You are the second person to report light contact with the cylinder fins. This should be a rare occurrance, but I will address it in the new install instructions. Whatever you do don't try to "manipulate" the fan housing assembly to gain clearance, with enough force it is possible to break the welds. The vibe damper stud is pretty short, but you can try a washer behind the horn mount bracket to shim it out. Dont place it between the fan housing and the horn bracket, it can let the fan housing slip out of alighnment while riding. If you need more than a thin washer's wort of clearance, you can place a washer between the vibration damper and the head bridge bracket to shim everything out board. Another option is to loosen the head bridge bracket bolts to try and cheat the bracket in a favorable direction to gain clearance. I'm sorry that I failed to capture this issue and give you fair warning. I will make sure to get the word out to verify clearance from Idle to about 2500 RPM, before operating after install. My prototype only had 1/8" clearance and I never had contact, just to be on the safe side, I opened that clearance up to 1/4" for the production model. As we all know there can be a lot of variation in alignments and fitments from bike to bike, so its something that must be considered. How much clearance do you have on the front and rear cylinder in a static condition?

 

Jason,

Thanks for the quick response.

Measurements were taken with bike off and on the sidestand:
Front cylinder spacing between 1/4" at top & 3/8" at the bottom
Rear cylinder spacing between 1/4" at top and ~1/16" at the bottom

Think my horn mount may be slightly twisted and causing the issue. I was planning on just getting some high temp RTV or something to use as a bumper, but I think I like the idea of just adding a washer to the horn as a better idea. Easier to think after having had some rest, and I think I have a fender washer sitting on the workbench that will fit the bill nicely.

Anyway, it's a minor issue at this point in time as even with the spacing I have now it only manifests itself when in 2nd - 5th gear right around 2K rpm. First and sixth, haven't heard it at all, and when the bike's sitting at about 2500 rpm, it's nice and smooth.

 

I'm the other guy having the contact issue, and like yours mine is minor and sporadic. OTOH I've only noticed it at idle. Since Jason hadn't run across it before I assumed it was a matter of the '07's having the 96" engine with the old-style engine mounts, as these bikes seem to shake more than bikes that came before or after. But you have a 2011 which would seem to nix that concept.

A few days ago I tried installing a washer between the FCS and horn, which Jason just said not to do, and that helped but didn't totally get rid of the light contact. Trying to isolate the contact point while off the bike caused the tapping to stop, naturally, but today I pulled the assembly off and placed two 1" OD washers between the damper and horn. I didn't ride the bike today but jiggling the assembly reveals that this will probably do the job. The problem is that shimming it out at that point reduces the threads available for the nut to get a grip on. I had this happen with the air horns and never had any problem with it, so even though not ideal I think I'm okay now.

On my bike the engine stabilizer link is attached to the horn mount (weldment) and trying to gain some play there would require readjusting the link, which probably requires raising or removing the tank. That's a PITA on my bike so I'll pass on that solution. In a cursory look today I couldn't figure out how the damper attaches to the horn mount, but I'll take a closer look at that tomorrow, as I would rather shim it somewhere besides at the damper if possible.