DN-01 radiator - is it used on any other bike?

Jaz

New member
Hi all... as per the title really - my radiator is shot. Honda are quoting £650 for a replacement; the pattern ones I see on AliExpress look like they would last about 5 minutes. I know mechanically the DN is a bit of a parts-bin special, so what would really help is if I knew what other Hondas use the same radiator.

Any suggestions gratefully received. Cheers!
 

Knob

Active member
Site Suporter
Hi all... as per the title really - my radiator is shot. Honda are quoting £650 for a replacement; the pattern ones I see on AliExpress look like they would last about 5 minutes. I know mechanically the DN is a bit of a parts-bin special, so what would really help is if I knew what other Hondas use the same radiator.

Any suggestions gratefully received. Cheers!
I'll spoil your day. The answer is no.
If it helps then, barely any motorcycle model share same radiator.
For rest of the Europe the suggested retail price for DN's radiator is 723 eur (w/o VAT).
As the DN is so rare it is quite sure no aftermarket radiator exists.
Bummer.

rad.jpg
 


Jaz

New member
That's the one I saw, the welding looks like what we call "pigeon s***" over here.

I've found a place that will re-core it for £240, which seems OK compared to a new one.

Thanks for your help chaps, much appreciated!
 

Knob

Active member
Site Suporter
That's the one I saw, the welding looks like what we call "pigeon s***" over here.
As long as I recall all hand made aluminum radiators look like this. Mostly used on classic racing bikes. Typical aluminum welding look. OEM radiators are made with different (cheaper) technology.
Re-coreing is a good choice if you have such a service at hand.

Wholesale Tarazon seems to provide the same Golpher radiators:
https://tarazon.com/motorcycle-radiator.html
 

Knob

Active member
Site Suporter
It happened so this aftermarket Golpher radiator appeared in my hands today.
It reminds those hand made radiators from 1960/70's GP bikes as I already said earlier. I can not say if this radiator is welded by robot or by hand. If by hand, then it is made by one very good welder. Overall the Golpher radiator look stronger than OEM part. I will not hesitate to use it on my bike if need for new radiator will strike.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000075576396.html
Took some closer photos too.

01.jpg 02.jpg 03.jpg 04.jpg 05.jpg 06.jpg 07.jpg 08.jpg 09.jpg 10.jpg
 
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Alexandre

Member
Thanks again Knob for all your precious info. I've ordered a Golpher radiator as mine was clogged with gravel and the bike tends to heat up in traffic. Hopefully this will help, with the addition of a fender extension ! I also plan to have the exhaust pipes ceramic-coated to reduce the heat level. I'll keep you posted !
 

Knob

Active member
Site Suporter
I also plan to have the exhaust pipes ceramic-coated to reduce the heat level.
Interesting viewpoint. I used to have understanding the ceramic coating (inner tube one) is supposed to help exhaust gases to slip away easier, giving you theoretically a bit more HP. Not really an issue for this non-sport bike.
Outer ceramic coating certainly will not help the heat level to get lower, the engine will still produce the amount of exhaust heat as it does.
But ofcourse, it is your money :) DN just is not a sport bike, modifying exhaust will not help considerably developing it in any direction.
And yes, my personal problem is I dislike too noisy bikes.
I would instead develop a higher/wider more practical windscreen or buy a Dynojet or a new GPS or some interesting m/c video recorder system or...
All things NASA had developed just will not give much effect on DN.
 

Alexandre

Member
The theory is that ceramic coating the outer tube will reduce the heat radiating out.
I can testify the thing works on my 4-cylinder 400 Katana - you can touch it right after having had a ride which is quite surprising.
I hope the effect will be enough to reduce the number of "fan on" cycles on the DN, as well as reduce the heat on my right leg on warm days !!! I feared my rain pants would melt in Italy 😅
 

Knob

Active member
Site Suporter
The theory is that ceramic coating the outer tube will reduce the heat radiating out.
I can testify the thing works on my 4-cylinder 400 Katana - you can touch it right after having had a ride which is quite surprising.
I hope the effect will be enough to reduce the number of "fan on" cycles on the DN, as well as reduce the heat on my right leg on warm days !!! I feared my rain pants would melt in Italy 😅
And the heat generated by the engine - will go where..?
It does not reduce, because amount of fuel mixture burned will remain the same, amount of energy released remain the same. It's high school physics we know it from.
Gasoline engines will leave heat generated by burning fuel mainly in two ways: by liquid cooling (or air cooling) system and by exhaust gases. If you will invent some system making exhaust pipes cooler, like covering them with glassfiber rags for example, the amount of heat leaving the engine in given conditions still remain the same.

While you are driving against the airflow (like normal driving you do) it will cool the engine thru radiator and the cooling agent (the cooling liquid). If standing and not moving the same kind of airflow (the "wind") will be generated by radiator's blower. But some considerable amount of heat will also leave the engine with hot exhaust gases.
The surface covering thin ceramic material may make the surface of exhaust pipes a bit cooler (probably not much), but heat amount leaving engine thru the radiator will remain.

The temperature of the engine fluctuates in quite a big amounts. I installed a digital engine thermometer on DN and as the result I have seen fully warmed engine cooling liquide temperatures between 68C...99C degrees. The fan kicks in when engine temperature is about 94..95C deg. and stops when it is 90...92C deg. And 68C deg. it is while driving steady about 100kmh at +12C deg. or lower weather.
 

Gizmo

Active member
Site Suporter
And why did someone invent 'a thing' called a 'heat shield?' Alexandre is concerned about the heat near his right leg and the ceramic coating would reduce the heat on his leg. The heat from the end of the exhaust would still be the same! (NO LOSS OF HEAT)
 

Knob

Active member
Site Suporter
And why did someone invent 'a thing' called a 'heat shield?' Alexandre is concerned about the heat near his right leg and the ceramic coating would reduce the heat on his leg. The heat from the end of the exhaust would still be the same! (NO LOSS OF HEAT)
Interestingly despite I have experienced riding for example in a parade formation in a pretty hot weather (+38C deg) and slowly (about 30-40 kmh) for about 45 minutes inline, I never felt any mention worth issue of the "excessive heat on the right leg". Nor the heat coming from radiators vent will bother.
Never had overheating (boiling over) issues of the DN also.

There is overall very few things worth of complaining about the DN, isn't it a great bike to own? :)
Try to wear those special hi-tec riding jeans with Kevlar inner lining, perhaps it will help a bit with a heat issue ;)
 

AussieDN01

New member
Hi all... as per the title really - my radiator is shot. Honda are quoting £650 for a replacement; the pattern ones I see on AliExpress look like they would last about 5 minutes. I know mechanically the DN is a bit of a parts-bin special, so what would really help is if I knew what other Hondas use the same radiator.

Any suggestions gratefully received. Cheers!
Any progress?
.
 

Jaz

New member
Any progress?
.
Re-cored for £240 as per the earlier post... no pics because it's back on the (now-operational) bike again, but it looks a lot better job than those snot-welded Ali Express jobs and is working a treat - no more fan coming on all the time. The previous owner, a mate of mine, had fitted a fender extender but I guess the damage must have happened when the first owner had it. Hopefully it will protect the new one and there shouldn't be any further issues. I did all the odd jobs that you never get round to because of the bodywork, so it's not been a totally negative experience.

Thanks again for all the input.
 

plodd

New member
Hi all... as per the title really - my radiator is shot. Honda are quoting £650 for a replacement; the pattern ones I see on AliExpress look like they would last about 5 minutes. I know mechanically the DN is a bit of a parts-bin special, so what would really help is if I knew what other Hondas use the same radiator.

Any suggestions gratefully received. Cheers!
just had mine replaced the garage got one from Honk Kong for half the price believe they looked on eBay for the company
 

Alexandre

Member
Hi all,
My bike is now fitted with the a Golpher radiator, ceramic-coated exhaust and brand-new coolant.
Of course this is the cold season here, but the fan does not kick in at every red light, and the exhaust does not cook my right leg any more - so I'm very pleased for now.
Of course the real validation will come next summer!
One thing to note about the Golpher radiator is that it does not have a lower ridge as the original, so the plastic shroud can't clip on it.
Two zip-ties did the trick and are invisible once all the body covers are fitted.
Except for that, it's plug and play if you use the mounting hardware that comes with it.
As you can see I also fitted a fender extender to reduce the quantity of mud being sprayed on the radiator in the future !
 

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plodd

New member
Hi all... as per the title really - my radiator is shot. Honda are quoting £650 for a replacement; the pattern ones I see on AliExpress look like they would last about 5 minutes. I know mechanically the DN is a bit of a parts-bin special, so what would really help is if I knew what other Hondas use the same radiator.

Any suggestions gratefully received. Cheers!
I bought a chines copy identical half the price and the quality seems good was slightly bigger couple of mm
 


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