Question about shutting down bike with fan on?

[Jcol]

My daily commute involves a lot of stop and go traffic and then a slow ride up to the 8'th level of a parking garage. On hot days because of the slow speed in the parking garage my fan usually comes on and stays on as I park the bike. It bothers me to shut down the bike with the fan on because of the heat so I typically let the bike idle until the fan shuts off. It doesn't take much more then a minute before the fan turns off however during that time it pulls the battery down below 12 volts. I have a good battery and have soldered the stator wires. So then I let it idle a bit more to get my voltage up above 12 again. I think I'm probably being over cautious with this routine so I'm wondering what others would do? Is shutting down a hot bike with the fan running worse then letting it sit a bit so that the fan can do it's job? Any advice would be appreciated.Thanks.

 

[mcgovern61]

Shutting it down with the fan running doesn't hurt anything. Most people do it with their cars all of the time and do not even know it. The aluminum cools fairly quickly. If you still want to let the fan run, speed up the engine to 2000 RPM and circulate the water. It will cool faster and increase the power back to the battery keeping the voltage up while the fan is running.

The only time I would caution against a quick shutdown on a hot day is when you just came off the highway at highspeed and the oil is at it's thinnest viscocity. I usually let the engine cool a few minutes (even in my car) before shutdown.

 

[zman]

Just to add to the good advice above the battery will recover after 5-10 minutes so dont worry about the draw.

 

[joedrum]

well one I don't use thermostat two I don't worry about fan ...if you let it run it pretty much cools radiator only ....want thermostat closes ...only bikes with no thermostate would evan come close to help cooling motor

 

[AApple]

My fan will run for a couple of minutes when I get home in the eve...especially when it's 97,000 degrees outside! :heat: Most of my ride to/from werk is on the freeway, but there is also about a mile of in-town traffic on both ends, so it's pretty much idling in that time.
I shut it down until the fan shuts off, then I'll fire it back up until the temp gauge moves back down to the lower end of the scale, usually just a few seconds at 2500 rpms will do it.
Then again, I also have a fan I put in front of it to help at home. Even so, normally, with NO fan blowing on it, it will cool itself back down within 3-4 minutes. I also worry about the fan drawing the battery down, but since it only runs for a minute or so, it doesn't seem to be an issue. If your battery is "iffy", it might be a problem.

 

[Jungo]

Have you considered installing a switch to activate the fan? I use it in similar situations as you mentioned a few minutes to keep the temperature warm. Usually I never keep activated for more than 5 minutes since it drops temperature in a quick manner. These old ladies doesn't like the heavy traffic.

Live long and prosper.