Here is Curtis’ Road Glide.
We all know just how important it is to keep the oil flowing through the engine and from overheating which would break down the molecules of the protective additive package and not protect the motor parts. On an air-cooled motor how do you do this? Well you need to keep air flowing over the motor to cool the fins on the cylinders and heads. If you ride like me then going fast will do this but then you are pushing the motor a little bit harder, which also makes more heat. Well what can you do? Add an oil cooler, but which kind and which one works let alone looks good? I have seen and used all kinds of little coolers that hang from the frame rails but never really felt that they worked good enough, yes they worked but how well? To see that the motor oil is 10-15 degrees lower is good but how I ride, is it enough? And it needs to be up front to get airflow but then you can still see it. You could add a cover but then how well does it work?
01. To get started the bike was placed on the lift, the oil was drained and the oil filte
There is another choice, one that mounts under the engine and transmission out of the line of sight and gets great airflow, the Oil Bud oil cooler. At first I was a bit skeptical about it being under the bike, it seemed that if something was to hit it or I forgot about it and went over a speed bump of something like that, it could cause it to leak and that was a worry. However after talking with Bud Clarke owner and designer of the Oil Bud and seeing all the videos on his website I felt it would withstand just about anything we could do to abuse it.
I was impressed to see that it was made out of extruded aluminum with machined fin tips throughout the cooler not rows of thin aluminum strips stacked and spaced around oil tubes. It mounts up a tad higher on the frame rails about the same as the crossover for the exhaust and trans hangs. After reading the instructions it was a straightforward install.
02. The Oil Bud kit cost $645.00 and came with the cooler powdercoated black to help keep
We have been using Horn Cycle Works in Pomona, California, as one of our go-to shops for a long time and we always bring bikes to get worked on and the guys are always up for helping out. So when one of their own shop bikes needs something or is having an issue we see it as more tech for the readers. The owner Curtis had said that his ’07 Road Glide seemed to be running hotter now that summer is on us. He asked us about oil coolers and if we knew anything about the one that hangs under the bike. I said, “I happen to know a bit about the Oil Bud,” and if he would like to get one and test it out? The answer was yes, so we got some running temps before and after the install. After a week of riding back and forth to work and all the weekend miles, the oil temp was around 245 degrees. In the end, we saw a big difference after the install and Curtis said the cooler was worth the $ 645.00 it cost. B
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03. Next, the 4 Allen head bolts were removed that hold the adapter together, we installe
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04. Then we added the longer oil line to the adapter (the one with the gold end). Followe
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05. Here is the oil sending unit sensor and the thermostat in a nice clean shell.
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07. Then, the long hose from the adapter was routed behind the regulator along the inside
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08. Next, the adapter was placed onto the engineís oil filter mount. There is just enough
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09. The stock oil temp-sending sensor was removed and Curtis used a shorter one to clear