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Any of you made your own Radiator (grill) covers? Any pics/instructions?

T

Thyatt

New member
Hey folks, I sold my 2014 spyder RTS and bought a 2024 spyder RTL so I have a lot of mods to do in order to make it mine. On a recent trip to Minnesota, the guys I was riding with ate sunflower seeds all the way there and back. Guess what was inside the nacelles (inlets, if you prefer…) when I got home. That’s right, they were full of sunflower seed shells! I’ve been looking at grill covers to protect the radiator from such fiendish devices. The prices seem a bit high for something so simple. Have any of you manufactured your own? If so, could you please share some pics and instructions?

Thanks!
 
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I installed a metal screen on my 23. Also put them on a 2019 before that. I cut a cardboard template that I used as a pattern to cut out the screen. I just installed it over the factory installed ones. The new screen is of finer mesh than factory ones. Seems to catch a lot of bugs and stays in place without any extra fasteners. Sorry no pictures but a simple install.
 
Are you aware of of SpyderPops KOTT (Keep Out The Trash) grills? He invented the original solution, the others are copycats.
 
Chasdog said:
I installed a metal screen on my 23. Also put them on a 2019 before that. I cut a cardboard template that I used as a pattern to cut out the screen. I just installed it over the factory installed ones. The new screen is of finer mesh than factory ones. Seems to catch a lot of bugs and stays in place without any extra fasteners. Sorry no pictures but a simple install.
Click to expand...

I take it you installed them all the way back, up against factory screen?
 
Yes. The screens are pushed back against the factory grill. The side tension of the screen holds it in place.
 
I made mine also from fine mesh stainless steel screen. I didn't think the Kott grills would stop the all the smaller bugs. I took my frunk apart and sandwiched them in-between where the factory screens are. I also put screen in front of the factory screens.
 
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Thyatt said:
Hey folks, I sold my 2014 spyder RTS and bought a 2024 spyder RTL so I have a lot of mods to do in order to make it mine. On a recent trip to Minnesota, the guys I was riding with ate sunflower seeds all the way there and back. Guess what was inside the nacelles (inlets, if you prefer…) when I got home. That’s right, they were full of sunflower seed shells! I’ve been looking at grill covers to protect the radiator from such fiendish devices. The prices seem a bit high for something so simple. Have any of you manufactured your own? If so, could you please share some pics and instructions?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Many years ago, I made my own from the OEM grills after I removed them. I pop-riveted small pieces of angle sheet metal in four places around the grill then used small sheet metal screws to attach them from the outside, which makes it much easier to keep the grills clean, because I can vacuum them first. ..... Mike :thumbup:
 
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Mike, I’m a bit hesitant to drill holes in a 2 week old spyder; maybe next week I’ll break out the drill cuz it will be old then…:ohyea:
 
Thanks for all the comments! I decided to go with Chasdog’s solution of using fine screen. I used fine aluminum screen material after creating a template so I can make more moving forward should I destroy one while cleaning.
 
Could you mount the screen to back of the KOTT grill.
Then eliminate the factory screen.
Then take off the KOTT cover and really clean the radiator??
 
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Thyatt said:
Mike, I’m a bit hesitant to drill holes in a 2 week old spyder; maybe next week I’ll break out the drill cuz it will be old then…:ohyea:
Click to expand...

I hear ya on that ....... However, I couldn't think of an easy way to allow grill removal. :dontknow: Mike :thumbup:
 
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Those radiator ports are bug catchers. The 2019 that I bought used ran much hotter than the current model does. I had put finer screens in that one, which is why I put extra screens in the 23.
I carry a stiff bristle brush that I sweep the bugs out with often. On our last trip the grasshoppers were stuck all over the screens.
 
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Chasdog said:
Those radiator ports are bug catchers. The 2019 that I bought used ran much hotter than the current model does. I had put finer screens in that one, which is why I put extra screens in the 23.
I carry a stiff bristle brush that I sweep the bugs out with often. On our last trip the grasshoppers were stuck all over the screens.
Click to expand...

Here in Oz, where some areas have real bug problems AND get pretty hot during bug season, many have found that adding ANY extra screening material at all simply makes the running hot thing MUCH WORSE! :yikes:

Just Sayin' :rolleyes:
 
Yea I can see how capturing too many bugs could cause overheating. That’s why I carry that brush. The thing I more worry about is the radiators getting plugged and the fins smashed down from bugs getting through those large factory grills. And on the 19 trying to get them cleaned by running water through the back side didn’t seem to be much of an improvement.
Anyway that’s my 2 cents.
 
I made some cheapo homemade bug filters from air purifier/cleaner filter material. Got it from ace hardware down the road from my house. Used a piece of cardboard and gradually cut a template out that barely fit. Traced it out on material and cut out with scissors. Same template just flip over and trace it again. There you go. A left and right hand side filter!! Paint them black on the side you see from front of grill. Stick them in and done. They last all season long and keep the bugs out… Take them out every now and then and clean them if they need to be sprayed black again do it and take a shop vacuum and get the bugs out when you take them out of the bike. Your radiators will be nice and clean no picking bug guts out or anything… if you cut them too small and they don’t want to stay in you can take a coat hanger and the long straight piece on the bottom in half and use those as a keeper over the new bug screen and behind the edges of the body in front of the factory radiator screen… You just wedge them in there
 

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Rockdog said:
I made some cheapo homemade bug filters from air purifier/cleaner filter material. Got it from ace hardware down the road from my house. Used a piece of cardboard and gradually cut a template out that barely fit. Traced it out on material and cut out with scissors. Same template just flip over and trace it again. There you go. A left and right hand side filter!! Paint them black on the side you see from front of grill. Stick them in and done. They last all season long and keep the bugs out… Take them out every now and then and clean them if they need to be sprayed black again do it and take a shop vacuum and get the bugs out when you take them out of the bike. Your radiators will be nice and clean no picking bug guts out or anything… if you cut them too small and they don’t want to stay in you can take a coat hanger and the long straight piece on the bottom in half and use those as a keeper over the new bug screen and behind the edges of the body in front of the factory radiator screen… You just wedge them in there
Click to expand...
I'm looking at the same filter material that you used and they use a MERV scale to determine how restrictive it is. What is the number that you used?
 
I don’t know what rating it is. It was the most porous thing that I saw on the rack there. All I know is I put it on my bike, and I’ve had three pair so far. Because of course, they wear out sometimes, or I just want to make a new pair and have them clean looking. I’ve got 24,000 miles on the bike and I’ve had the filters in there since about 3000 miles. I went for trips up to 4200 miles in the middle of summer in 105° weather pulling a Leesure Lite Camper Trailer, and it’s never moved off the middle of the temperature gauge. It only kicks the fan on when it needs to, just like normal. In fact, one of the pictures you can see the light shining through this stuff, so it’s very porous. It’s just enough to keep all the bugs out and when you take it out to clean, all you have to do is vacuum out the bottom of the area where the radiators are. Right at the bottom, some of the road crap and bugs collector there. Like I said, I take them and paint them black, wait for it to dry, and put them back in. And I wedge a half a coat hanger wire (from the bottom of the coat hanger) in there, and it works just fine to hold it in if you happen to make it too small. One side is like a pattern to hold the material on, and the other side is just porous material. Thing works great no problems ever. If it doesn’t work for you or you don’t like it, you only wasted 15 bucks at the most, and 30 minutes of farting around with it. It’s all good! lol
 
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Yeah, I saw it somewhere on the Internet. I was kind of skeptical. Then I decided what the heck, cheap and easy, and it keeps rocks, bugs, and everything else from hitting my radiators. So, I did it, and I’ve been doing it ever since! Not the prettiest, but nobody’s ever looked at them and said, "Hey, those are ugly!" They don’t even notice them.
 
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