By AndyW Sept2005

It's surprisingly easy to get a punctured radiator from a stone kicked up from a bike or car in front of you so one of the first mods I always do to my bikes is add a Rad Guard.  As a bonus you can improve the looks of the bike covering those flimsy aluminium radiator fins that'll soon look tatty otherwise (or cover already tatty rad fins!)

There were no after market parts available when I bought the SV1000 way back in April 2003 so I made up a cardboard template and had a local metal shop fabricate this for me:

Not the best looking in the world but very functional and saved me a few ££$$ to boot. I've never replaced it with a more bling laser cut stainless steel one (e.g. www.hamicad.co.uk) as it works fine, doesn't look half bad and of course it's individual.

If money is an issue for you or you simply want to do something yourself, here's a few really cheap DIY Radiator Guard solutions.......well worth doing.

Poncho Villa May2004
Take a look at this guard I made from a piece of 6"x36" galv expanded heavy gage metal...Gutter Gard at HomeDepot $1.30. Cut it at 19.5" fold 1.5" each side, paint flat black and install. 30 minutes tops includes 25min dry time. It works great. went thru a swarm of bees and had the lil buggers sticking ass end out!

blacksheep June2004
I did what was described above. I painted mine gloss black and clear coated it as well. Pics are attached. Thanks for the suggestion!

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