Most of the heat is generated in the head, conduction at the headgasket carries some of it into the cylinder. The head typically runs hotter than the cylinder in an aircooled engine. Some of the low powered 50cc and 80cc bikes have hardly any fins on the cylinder, but rely mainly on the head for cooling.
The water would add thermal mass, prevents sudden upswings of head temperature with short term power demand, soaking up the sudden heat and could prevent detonation in a situation where you are using a lot of power with no movement. It could be useful on a highly tuned trail bike if it was absolutely reliable. My Blaster is liquid cooled, and I realize it is another thing that can go wrong. I like the simplicity of air cooled. That said, mine is tough and reliable and has not been prone to overheating even when stuck in mud.
I thought about a fan too, and of course the battery and stator and rectifier and complex wiring needed. Yuck! So much for simplicity. So far I have not needed a fan.
$250 is cheap for the whole set up. I'd consider it. By the time you buy rad and hoses and fiddle around trying to make your own set-up, you are into $250 worth of time and money anyway. With a well designed kit you could put in half a shift of overtime to pay for it and STILL install it at the end of the 12hr workday! Design your own system and you may be days, weeks or never get the bugs out of it. This from someone who does it for a living. A lot to be said for a well engineered product.
The water would add thermal mass, prevents sudden upswings of head temperature with short term power demand, soaking up the sudden heat and could prevent detonation in a situation where you are using a lot of power with no movement. It could be useful on a highly tuned trail bike if it was absolutely reliable. My Blaster is liquid cooled, and I realize it is another thing that can go wrong. I like the simplicity of air cooled. That said, mine is tough and reliable and has not been prone to overheating even when stuck in mud.
I thought about a fan too, and of course the battery and stator and rectifier and complex wiring needed. Yuck! So much for simplicity. So far I have not needed a fan.
$250 is cheap for the whole set up. I'd consider it. By the time you buy rad and hoses and fiddle around trying to make your own set-up, you are into $250 worth of time and money anyway. With a well designed kit you could put in half a shift of overtime to pay for it and STILL install it at the end of the 12hr workday! Design your own system and you may be days, weeks or never get the bugs out of it. This from someone who does it for a living. A lot to be said for a well engineered product.
